To the editors:
I am confused by Albert Williams’s review of On the Open Road by Steve Tesich [March 27]. He says that “Tesich’s story [is] undermined by Robert Falls’s visually spectacular staging” and that “a sensitive, sincere play about suffering is wrecked rather than enhanced by the sheer quality and cost of the production.” He concludes, however, that “all On the Open Road offers is a technically slick projection and a glib, preachy script.”
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Albert Williams replies:
I think a playwright who is sincere and sensitive about suffering is quite capable of expressing his sentiments in a glib, preachy way. I don’t think saying that a slick, expensive-looking production runs counter to the spirit of a script implies that “lavishing care and resources on a new play . . . is somehow not admirable.” The Goodman and its artistic leaders are to be defended for putting their best feet forward with top-quality mountings of new, untested work–even when their taste completely fails them.
