Playwright: Philip C. Klapperich
At: House Theatre at The Viaduct,
3111 N. Western
Phone: (773) 251-2195
In three years, the House Theatre has developed a critical reputation and lively following for its new works of popular theatre combining music, dance, magic and spectacle in the joy of storytelling, very much like the original Organic Theater. This new piece combines all the above-mentioned elements in what director Nathan Allen describes as 'a big bag of candy (with) rockets, ray guns, robots and romance.' It's a fair description of this sci-fi interplanetary love story, inspired by Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles, and by 1950's and 1960's space fantasy clichés. However, ultimately House gets lost in the stars en route to Mars, despite borrowing some nifty staging tricks from the Redmoon and Defiant theatres.
The heart of the show is a telepathic love story between beautiful Martian girl Ylla (Carolyn Defrin) and brave American space cadet Doug Spaulding (Chris Matthews). They must move the stars and planets almost literally to fulfill their love, which ends with a liebestod embrace. This is serious stuff, but it's buried by action sequences, buffoonery and wordy-but-unnecessary other serious stuff. Author Phillip C. Klapperich needs to select and focus the script, and he and Allen need to decide if they want comedy or drama. Right now, they've thrown in every gimmick in the House, and peppered the script with ostentatiously gratuitous four-letter words that are completely alien to the Bradbury source material.
With tremendous energy, high spirits and admirable ingenuity the large cast and production team rev up The Rocket Man with enough physical action and shtick to fill Soldier Field. These actions—especially two wonderfully choreographed musical space fights—are the highlights of the show, yet they run contrary to the serious theme. Yeah, individual pieces work like gangbusters, but there's no unity of style or tone. The opening night audience wanted the entire thing to be a rock 'n' roll stone-cold gas and to hell with serious. The production too often caters to that taste rather than remaining true to the tale it tells.
The House following probably will make The Rocket Man a hit. At a venue with a full bar where you can bring drinks into the theater, the feeling is far more club-like than Temple of Drama. They will enjoy—as I did—the choreography of Tommy Rapley, the special effects (including 3-D) of Lucas Merino and Chris Burnham, the kitschy costumes of Laurie LaMere Klapperich among many other lively production elements. But there's more than just a slam-bang good time in this tale of mind control and doomed lovers, or at least there should be. Perhaps The Rocket Man needs to be truer to Ray Bradbury. These smart House boys and girls could do so and still have tons o' fun.