Blizzard ’67 at Chicago Dramatists
★★★☆☆
Chicago Dramatists. By Jon Steinhagen. Dir. Russ Tutterow. With John Gawlik, Andy Hager, Andy Lutz, Stephen Spencer. 2hrs 20mins; one intermission.
The Chicago weather conditions of January 1967, as described at the opening of Jon Steinhagen’s funny and affecting new play, were extreme even for our climatalogically challenging city, going from an unseasonably warm 65 degrees on January 24 to a 23-inch snowfall two days later. Yet Steinhagen’s play—for all the historical fact and Chicago flavor woven throughout and the archival footage of Mayor Daley the first addressing his subjects—isn’t a documentary. Blizzard ’67 tracks four west suburban businessmen who share a daily carpool into the city. The snowstorm is a backdrop for a portrait of these four guys navigating manhood at a volatile time when society’s definition of the word seemed as slippery as a slushy sidewalk.
The four actors—John Gawlik as an increasingly problem drinker, Andy Hager as a morose family man, Stephen Spencer as a smug single and Andy Lutz as the youngster whose greatest ambition is an office with a window, or at least an office—are marvelous, sharing group narration that switches seamlessly between first- and third-person. Director Russ Tutterow and his cast quickly establish the group dynamic—so quickly, in fact, that they highlight the major flaw of Steinhagen’s script: its length. Particularly in the first act, leading up to the blizzard that strands the guys in their car and sets off the life-changing events, the play can feel sluggish and repetitive. If Steinhagen shovels away a few extra inches, he’ll have a cooler comedy.—Kris Vire
Post a comment