You Gotta Have Friends

Middletown – Apollo Theatre

Dan Clancy’s sweet, sometimes piquant drama is a 90-minute, readers theater production that’s guaranteed to touch the hearts of every audience member. It’s a particularly meaningful story for that large, growing group of theatergoers called Baby Boomers, patrons who are contemplating or already enjoying their retirement years. Because it’s so mysterious: one minute you’re 20, in the 70’s; the next moment, it seems, you’re 70, in the 20’s! This is a gentle story that deals beautifully with all the joys and sorrows of life. It tells the tale of two married couples, both of whom love their partners deeply, and who’ve been close companions for several decades. In the end, this emotionally compassionate production reminds us that, in order to get through the ups and downs of living, you gotta have friends.

Directed with simplicity and sensitivity by Seth Greenleaf, this touring production features a rotating cast of beloved actors from some of our favorite movies and TV shows. It brings to mind the days when celebrities from television and film appeared in person in summer stock productions all around the country. In the Chicago production, we’re treated to the talents of Chicago native, and Jeff Award-winning Goodman and Steppenwolf actress, Kate Buddeke, as Dotty; Donny Most, best-known for playing Ralph in the long-running sitcom, “Happy Days,” who plays Don; Adrian Zmed, another gifted Chicagoan, who starred in scores of musical stage productions, as well as in TV’s “TJ Hooker” and films like “Grease 2,” portrays Tom; and Broadway Sweetheart, the endearing star of “Peter Pan” and “The Boy Friend,” among many others, Sandy Duncan, stars as the play’s central character, Peg.

The story is as simple and human as “Our Town.” It’s filled with well-known, workaday situations and comic moments. Beginning in the present, each of the characters flashback to recount their individual and collective personal histories. Peg and Dotty meet when dropping off their daughters at kindergarten, on the very first day of school. From that day on, the two women begin a deep friendship that starts with their weekly ritual of having coffee together, during which they share their joys, problems and inner feelings. Eventually they introduce their reluctant husbands to each other at their weekly dinner outings. As time passes, we experience the birth of more children, the kids’ weddings, the birth of grandchildren, the tragedy of losing a child, coping with infidelity, the shock of being diagnosed with a terminal disease, the death of a spouse, dating in one’s senior years and the decision and strength to make a life change. Throughout the play one thing remains constant, and that’s the deep friendship that bonds the four characters together.     

Because less is often more, the show is presented simply as a staged reading. The performers read from or merely refer to their scripts at the four podiums, positioned in a row on the stage, with only a few decorative Oriental rugs at their feet to add a bit of color and texture. There’s no scenery or props and only Ryan Patridge’s dramatic lighting signifies scene changes and the passage of time. Occasionally the actors change their podium positions in order to share a scene with each other, but that’s the extent of Greenleaf’s blocking. The strength of this production comes from Dan Clancy’s compassionate writing, so filled with universal truths and emotions, as well as the honest portrayals created by this talented cast of professionals.

Dan Clancy’s play is a journey taken both by two couples and four close friends. It celebrates the highs and lows of life and illustrates how good will, harmony and companionship can help smooth over the bumps in the road that we all encounter. The play could be compared to A.R. Gurney’s popular, bittersweet, two-handed staged reading entitled “Love Letters.” 
This drama, laced with a lot of wonderful humor and comic moments, is bound to eventually become an easy-to-produce staple for regional and community theatres around the world. But for now, Chicago audiences can delight this Spring in a gorgeous, heartfelt story about the richness to be enjoyed, not only in married life, but in the shared friendships that occur in life outside of our families. And, especially for theatergoers of a certain age, this is a perfect, tenderhearted reminder that we all experience many of the same joys and sorrows of living and that we can navigate through all the highs and lows through our friendships.

Highly Recommended

Reviewed by Colin Douglas           

Presented February 27-March 22 by GFour Productions at the Apollo Theater, 2540 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago.

Tickets are available in person at the theater box office, by going to www.apollochicago.com or by calling 773-935-6100.

Additional information about this and other area productions can be found by going to www.theatreinchicago.com.