PicksInSix Review: SANDY DUNCAN - MIDDLETOWN at the Apollo
SANDY DUNCAN - MIDDLETOWN at the Apollo
Dan Clancy’s play “MIDDLETOWN The Ride of Your Life!” is about two couples who meet and forge a 33-year friendship.
It unfolds simply, at first. The all-star cast—Sandy Duncan, Adrian Zmed, Donny Most and Kate Beddeke—take their places on a bare stage with scripts on stands and begin to present, as in a staged reading, the story of their lives together.
Once the nuance of the presentation format settles in, however, something quite remarkable happens.
You begin to deeply care about these characters—what they are saying to each other and the challenges they are facing. And somewhere along the way, you will be hooked on the absorbing content and reality of it all, and it will feel as if the mechanics have been stripped away to expose the individual beauty of the story of how each of us lives our lives and how we must ultimately face our own mortality.
Those everyday challenges of making and maintaining friendships, our roles as parents and lovers, the joys of accomplishment, and the sorrows of infidelity, illness and death emerge elegantly from Clancy’s work. “MIDDLETOWN” is moving and emotional, magnified by the charming performance of Sandy Duncan—who radiates a sincerity that is all her own—and the fine professional cast members who all feed a healthy dose of reality into the 90-minute production that is honest and satisfying.
Following the opening last week, Sandy Duncan joined me for a delightful CONVERSATION to talk about her role, the unique staging and the underlying messages of “MIDDLETOWN,” which is now running in Chicago at the Apollo Theater Chicago through March 22. PODCAST
GFOUR PRODUCTIONS
APOLLO THEATER CHICAGO
MIDDLETOWN
THE RIDE OF YOUR LIFE
through March 22, 2020
2540 N Lincoln Ave
Chicago, IL 60614
(773) 935-6100
For more reviews, visit: Theatre In Chicago