Days Like Today
Music and Lyrics by Alan Schmuckler
Book by Laura Eason
Directed by Michael Halberstam
Writers Theatre, 325 Tudor, Glencoe (map)
thru July 27 | tickets: $35-$70 | more info
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Now extended through July 27th!
More pleasant than impactful
Writers Theatre presents
Days Like Today
Review by Oliver Sava
If you’re going to create a new musical about love in all its myriad forms—arguably one of the most oft-explored themes in American musical theater—it needs to offer more than the thin conflicts, repetitive score, and clumsy lyrics of Days Like Today. An adaptation of Charles Mee’s 2000 play Summertime, this new musical by Laura Eason and Alan Schmuckler delves into the romantic entanglements of seven different people over the course of one year, looking at how they hurt and heal each other through trials and tribulations. If it sounds clichéd, that’s because it is. There’s a slight twist to the formula by having a gay couple contemplating marriage, but even that storyline is the typical engagement drama dressed in different clothes.
The path of Eason’s book is entirely predictable, and Schmuckler’s music delivers just as few surprises. The orchestrations are lush and lovely—heavily reminiscent of the work of Jason Robert Brown, specifically—but the composer relies on overly similar melodies that make the songs blend together. There’s a homogeneity to the music that isn’t particularly interesting, even with the sharp music direction from Doug Peck.
There is one transcendent moment in the score toward the end of the production during a song called “Ten Thousand Times,” which happens to be a moment when the characters are singing about exploring their individual potential without a partner. The different vocal parts layer beautifully during that section, and it makes me want to see what Schmuckler could do with less conventional subject matter.
Considering Writers’ history with new musicals, it’s surprising how insubstantial Days Like Today feels. The relationships fail to captivate, and the broadly drawn characters play like living ideas rather than real people. The ensemble performs the roles with ease—this isn’t very challenging material for Chicago musical theater stalwarts like McMonagle, Schellhardt, and Weir—but the production still leaves the viewer wanting.
It’s all very neat and clean, with precise direction from Michael Halberstam, but the production doesn’t have much impact. The music is pretty, but the lyrics paint a portrait of a composer flipping through his rhyming dictionary to find words that fit with his melodies. The strange vocabulary of the characters can be distracting. Theater patrons looking for a light meditation on various aspects of love—gay, straight, young, old, rich, slightly less rich—will be satisfied with Days Like Today, but anyone looking for a meatier musical should search elsewhere.
Rating: ★★½
Days Like Today continues through July 13tht July 27th at Writers Theatre, Glencoe (map), with performances Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 7:30pm, Thursdays and Fridays at 8pm, Saturdays 4pm and 8pm, Sundays 2pm and 6pm. Tickets are $35-$70, and are available by phone (847-242-6000) or online through their website (check for half-price tickets at Goldstar.com). More information at WritersTheatre.org. (Running time: 2 hours, includes an intermission)
Photos by Michael Brosilow
artists
cast
Emily Berman (Tessa), Susie McMonagle (Maria), Will Mobley (James), Jeff Parker (Francois), Stephen Schellhardt (Edmund), Jonathan Weir (Frank), Jarrod Zimmerman (Arnaud), David Schlumpf (understudy)
orchestra
Austin Cook (conductor, piano), Jocelyn Davis-Beck, Mark Lekas (cellos), Jeff Jacobs (guitar), Carmen Kassinger (violin, viola), Patrick Rehker (woodwinds)
behind the scenes
Michael Halberstam (director), Doug Peck (music director, orchestrations), Austin Cook (associate music director, conductor), Alan Schmuckler (composer, orchestrations), Tommy Rapley (choreographer), David Castellanos (production stage manager), Scott Bradley (scenic design), Jenny Mannis (costume design), Jesse Klug (lighting design), Palmer Jankens (sound design), Julie Eberhardt (props design), Kevin Kingston, Marti Lyons (assistant directors), Elise Hausken (asst. stage manager), Aurora Civic Center (scene shop, scenic construction), Caleb McAndrew (technical supervisor), Jane Heuer (wardrobe supervisor), Emily Waecker (costume supervisor), Simon Robinson (master electrician), Amanda Hosking (sound engineer), Nick Moran (orchestra contractor), Michael Brosilow (photos)
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