Opined October 30, 2003
Usher Nonsense #11 – Wilder
WILDER - Playwright's Horizon By Erin Cressida Wilson, Jack Herrick and
Mike Craver, Directed by Lisa Portes
Featuring Mike Craver, John Cullum, Jack Herrick, Lacey Kohl, Jeremiah
Miller
Closes November 14.
Matter is energy; it is never destroyed; it only changes form. Carried to a far
conclusion this means that we may be breathing in air molecules that were once part
of Jesus or Marie Dressler or the old Penn Station. Like that.
I got to thinking about this because I just saw John Cullum perform in person for the
first time. When Cullum is on stage it is as though his body was made from
molecules of every theatre ever built. He is like that work light they leave on a bare
stage each night. Part spirit, part matter. He could make a show out of reading the
phone book. I think Charles Laughton already did that, but hey.
Wilder, the show itself, does not fare so well. It is a tale of a boy whose parents
were so poor they had to lodge him in the attic of a whorehouse. It starts off with
promise and has a good cast of performers as well as some clever staging. But the
story wanders around without a chaperone and is never allowed to deliver itself to
us. The production ends up like those flotsam Halloween decorations that are meant
to remind you of cobwebs. Not a lot to hold onto.
©2003 Tulis McCall
Usher Nonsense #11 – Wilder
WILDER - Playwright's Horizon By Erin Cressida Wilson, Jack Herrick and
Mike Craver, Directed by Lisa Portes
Featuring Mike Craver, John Cullum, Jack Herrick, Lacey Kohl, Jeremiah
Miller
Closes November 14.
Matter is energy; it is never destroyed; it only changes form. Carried to a far
conclusion this means that we may be breathing in air molecules that were once part
of Jesus or Marie Dressler or the old Penn Station. Like that.
I got to thinking about this because I just saw John Cullum perform in person for the
first time. When Cullum is on stage it is as though his body was made from
molecules of every theatre ever built. He is like that work light they leave on a bare
stage each night. Part spirit, part matter. He could make a show out of reading the
phone book. I think Charles Laughton already did that, but hey.
Wilder, the show itself, does not fare so well. It is a tale of a boy whose parents
were so poor they had to lodge him in the attic of a whorehouse. It starts off with
promise and has a good cast of performers as well as some clever staging. But the
story wanders around without a chaperone and is never allowed to deliver itself to
us. The production ends up like those flotsam Halloween decorations that are meant
to remind you of cobwebs. Not a lot to hold onto.
©2003 Tulis McCall
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