Playwright: Paula Vogel
At: Next Theatre, 927 Noyes, Evanston
Phone: ( 847 ) 475-1875; $20-$35
Runs through: Dec. 11
BY RICK REED
Don't let the title deceive you: this isn't some heartwarming holiday tale, a la Earl Hamner Jr.'s The Homecoming ( from which the Walton family emerged ) . No, The Long Christmas Ride Home revels in despair and dysfunction. It is the story of a fateful Christmas when everything goes wrong ( wrong being verbal and physical abuse, infidelity, familial discord, and weather-related traffic accidents ) and what effect that Christmas ( and other days like it ) had on three children. That particular Christmas is the lens through which we can view the barren landscape from which these three pour souls attempted to grow into adults. We see how the scars of their childhood visited each child individually ( all plagued with making bad choices when it comes to love—all are cuckolded, scolded, and one even dies as a result of his acting out against being emotionally beaten up ) .
No, it's not a happy story. Keep the kiddies at home. But The Long Christmas Ride Home does have much to recommend it. It's astonishing in its artistry; the production ( and play itself ) combines eastern and western artistic tradition. The children are near-life size Bunraku puppets ( designed by Michael Montenegro ) . There's a desperate desire to escape their damaged world through a Japanese concept known as Ukiyo-e ( translated as the floating world, seen in Japanese woodblock art ) . And there's an aural landscape ( with evocative and spot-on guitar music from Scotty Iseri ) that wraps around and envelopes Vogel's rhythmic and poetic dialogue.
Director Jason Loewith marries all the disparate cultural elements with grace and intelligence. He is blessed with a dream design team who has the taste and sensitivity to bring Vogel's story to mesmerizing life: Matt York ( set ) , Linda Roethke ( costumes ) , and Diane Fairchild ( lights ) . His ensemble is made up of some of Chicago's finest thespians, including Wendy Robie as the put-upon mother and Jennifer Avery as the youngest daughter, who blossoms into the put-upon half of a lesbian couple.
Yet for all its slick artifice, The Long Christmas Ride Home still lacks something. I was so bowled over by the puppetry, the amazing creative details in the music, set, costumes, and lighting and the fine performances that it wasn't until the next day that I realized Paula Vogel's script lacked a certain essential element to reach me in the way only a truly inspired work of art can. That element was hope. Vogel has crafted a heart-rending family: who couldn't feel sorry for, and identify with, the minor and major tragedies afflicting this very real family? The problem is Vogel doesn't give even one of them any strength. None of them ever rise above their tragic beginnings. And all I'm left feeling for these bruised souls is pity. Heartfelt, to be sure, but not enough.
