Playwright: Maury Yeston, score;
Arthur Kopit, book
At: Porchlight Music Theatre at
Theatre Building Chicago, 1225 W. Belmont
Phone: 773-327-5252; $34
Runs through: May 18
Any diehard film buff should be interested in Porchlight Music Theatre's sterling production of Nine.
Nine is not only based upon Federico Fellini's classic 1963 film 8 ½, but this 1982 Broadway musical is slated to become a big-budget Hollywood film in 2009. Director Rob Marshall ( Chicago ) is currently attached to the project, as are stars Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz and Sophia Loren.
But why wait for the film when you can see Nine live in one of Porchlight's patented intimate reductions? Director L. Walter Sterns once again shows his skills at rethinking the scale of a big Broadway show and reshaping it down to its essentials for a thrilling production.
True, the musical's subject matter is a navel-gazer: A creatively-blocked famous Italian filmmaker named Guido Contini desperately tries to find an idea for his next film as he juggles the many, many women in his life.
Just why we should care about this egotistical, procrastinating and unfaithful man-child occasionally pops into mind, especially when you see the talented and beautiful women around him who are so slavishly devoted to him. ( Surely a few could ditch Guido and find solace with each other. ) But, then again, this musical could easily be taking place in the mind of Guido himself, so it's no surprise that it's all 'Me! Me! Me!'
Arthur Kopit and Maury Yeston's adaptation of 8 ½ offers the women in the cast many chances to shine in outstanding and witty production numbers. Alas, the second act doesn't live up to the frolicsome first, plus the ending fizzles out ( but that's the case with Fellini's original film ) .
What Porchlight does have in the plus category is an enthralling cast that fills out Bill Morey's stylish and plush costumes that pop out against Kevin Depinet's sparse spa set. If there is a complaint to be levied, the sometimes inconsistent accents are a distraction.
Jeff Parker makes for a slender and likable Guido, especially with his antic behavior at dodging the press and his many love interests.
Kudos go all around to the women, especially Maggie Portman's sex-kitten mistress Carla, who has a squealing showstopper from inside a bathtub. Bethany Thomas's big belting voice as the wild woman Sarraghina is also a standout, particularly when she reveals the mystery to being a great lover to young Guido ( aptly played by Matthew Gold ) . Her advice: 'Be Italian.'
Kristen Freilich is funny as Guido's mother, while Danielle Brothers and Brigitte Ditmars are appropriately domineering as Guido's latest film producers and critics. As Guido's long-suffering wife Luisa, Heather Townsend brings a humility to a woman who has put up with too much of dillydallying.
So see Nine now if you want to be ahead of the curve culturally before the film arrives in 2009. Nine's material might not be perfect, but Porchlight makes a skillful and entertainingly strong case for it.
