Review: Treasure Island (Lookingglass Theatre)

  
  
Treasure Island 

Adapted and Directed by Mary Zimmerman
Lookingglass Theatre, 831 N. Michigan (map)
thru Jan 31 |  tix: $55-$85  | more info
  
Check for half-price tickets  

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Grand pirate epic yields little hidden treasure

Lookingglass Theatre presents

Treasure Island

Review by Keith Glab

Mary Zimmerman has become well-known for adapting venerable stories for the Chicago stage, predominately at the Lookingglass and Goodman theatres. It’s therefore quite surprising how awkwardly her reprisal of Robert Louis Stevenson‘s 130-year-old seafaring adventure novel comes across. Treasure Island naturally appeals more to adolescent males than any other demographic, owing in part to the central character and narrator falling into that category himself. Zimmerman’s chief mistake in this adaptation lies in pushing this natural appeal to unnatural levels in gearing her production for a younger audience.

Even if a play is geared towards a younger audience, the biggest mistake you can make in producing it is to play down to them. Most of Stevenson’s characters read as two-dimensional on the page. Rather than work to give these characters more depth through subtext, most of the cast instead camps it up to near pantomime levels. A few of them are able to strike a balance between camp and believability, most notably Lookingglass ensemble member Philip R. Smith, as the matter-of-fact Captain Smollett.

Jim Hawkins, the main character and our narrator through this mutinous, treasure-hunting journey, is one character who does undergo a series of changes throughout the novel. As portrayed by John Babbo, Hawkins remains the same likeable, adventurous lad throughout. When Hawkins shoots Israel Hands (Ariel Shafir), we definitely see Babbo react to this life-changing moment. But once that moment passes, he snaps back into acting the same way as he did in the first two hours of the performance.

  

Babbo often becomes difficult to understand through some combination of his accent and his needing to project to all sides of a cavernous space. His task is a difficult one, particularly for a young actor, but Stevenson’s carefully constructed plot demands that the narrator’s words are fully understood. For the first act in particular, the action feels disjointed and drags due in part to the lack of clarity and in part to Zimmerman’s choppy adaptation of the narrative.

For all its shortcomings, Treasure Island does succeed in spectacle. The live musical accompaniment of a flute and several string instruments is both pleasant and appropriate. Kasey Foster has a gorgeous voice during her solo song and the ensemble pieces – while perhaps contributing to the pantomime feel – do help break up the meticulous plotting. Todd Rosenthal‘s set design is both stunning and stunningly functional. A large ship that’s roughly 50 feet long is suspended, allowing for it to rock and for sailors to crawl out of the ship’s hold. Actors climb cargo netting another 40 feet high, giving the production a tremendous scale. Adding to the spectacle, Long John Silver (Lawrence E. DiStasi) has a lifelike parrot puppet companion for much of the show.

Treasure Island is a grand staging of a classic tale that countless contemporary stories have borrowed from. But ultimately, this coming of age story requires some maturation of its own as adapted here.

Rating: ★★

Treasure Island continues through January 31st at Lookingglass Theatre, Water Tower Water Works, 821 N. Michigan (map), with performances Wednesdays and Fridays at 7:30pm; Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays at 2pm and 7:30pm.  Tickets are $55-$85, and are available by phone (312-337-0665) or online through PrintTixUSA.com (check for half-price tickets at Goldstar.com). More information at LookingglassTheatre.org.  (Running time: 2 hours 30 minutes, includes an intermission)

Photos by Liz Lauren

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artists

cast

Lawrence E. DiStasi (Long John Silver), Philip R. Smith (Captain Smollett), Andrew White (Dr. Livesey), John Babbo (Jim Hawkins), Matt DeCaro (Squire Trelawney), Travis Delgado (Dance/Dick), Christopher Donahue (Billy Bones/Redruff), Kasey Foster (Mrs. Hawkins/Musician), Greg Hirte (Musician), Anthony Irons (Pew), Steve Pickering (Black Dog/Ben Gunn), Ariel Shafir (Israel Hands), L.J. Slavin (Musician), Mathew Yee (Grey/Musician)

behind the scenes

Mary Zimmerman (director), Todd Rosenthal (set design), Ana Kuzmanic (costume design), TJ Gerckens (lighting design), Andre Pluess (sound design), Sarah Burnham (props design), Jeri Frederickson (stage manager), Liz Lauren (photos)

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