TROUBLE IN MIND
at the Red Lion Pub
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Wiletta Mayer, an established singer/actress, advises John Nevins, the young educated black lead, to be a yes-man if he really wants to go somewhere in the business. He accuses Wiletta of being an Uncle Tom, but he heeds her advice.
But when rehearsals begin, Wiletta begins to regret her words. She starts to see the wrongness in a play that reflects absurd ethnic stereotypes, and she throws a wrench in the rehearsal process by refusing to be quiet about it.
The actors do nothing to help the play out, shamelessly mugging and making no attempt to motivate their actions. Particularly excruciating is Tom Elliott’s Henry the doorman. Granted, most older actors in Chicago are Equity. But surely they could have found someone with certain of the qualities of maturity. Elliott apparently believes that sprayed white hair and an affected limp are qualities enough.
Short and silly, Odd Songs and Rare Theatricals aims strictly to entertain. Billed as an English music-hall-style revue and put together by performers Will Clinger and James Fitzgerald, this show is a combination of comedy sketches and songs. Some are original, and even the numbers that aren’t at least keep the title’s promise–Tom Lehrer and Randy Newman, as opposed to Cole Porter.
