Steppenwolf Theater presents the World Premiere and Broadway-bound AIRLINE HIGHWAY.
Everyone has a story. And Playwright Lisa D’Amour has a multitude. In her tightly-packed, ensemble-driven jambalaya, D’Amour tells tales of regret. From the moment we arrive at The Hummingbird Motel, we are intrigued by these colorful misfits that are oddly detached but also together. This motel-made family is comprised of permanent transients. They each have a past and a questionable future. D’Amour impressively drops us into this behind-the-French-Quarter-curtain expose. D’Amour uses the city known for excesses as the home for her addicts, hookers, abused, and rejected. New Orleans serves as another character trying to recover from disaster and anchored in economic woe.
Under the skillful direction of Joe Mantello, this world is real. Too real! Conversations overlap with regular interruption. People are taunted for recent and decade-long mistakes. And between those barbs, the same people are fiercely protective of each other. The community has the co-dependency of a dysfunctional family. People are stuck in their genetic and environmental circumstances. Their reality is melodious melancholy. They sing out the blues cajun style.
The sublime ensemble also expresses their pain in gripping soliloquies. As the faded diva, Judith Roberts (Miss Ruby) hauntingly commands her own funeral party to live and celebrate each moment. She affectionately calls her premature mourners beautiful, yellow ducklings. Roberts effectively goes in and out of lucidity to deliver profound and surprising nuggets of wisdom to someone specifically and everyone in general. And similarly, others’ monologues are delivered to the group or to no one. At one point, Scott Jaeck (Wayne) believes he’s sharing his misfortune with another. When he turns around, he realizes he’s alone. The moment is both powerful and playful.
This is New Orleans after all. Frolicking is a requirement. So, D’Amour doles out the misery with plenty of bawdy laughs. The zesty Caroline Neff (Krista) flashes her tits for beads. The quirky Gordon Joseph Weiss (Frances) boozes it up for JazzFest. And the effervescent K. Todd Freeman (Sissy) regularly zings punch lines. In shiny-gold pants and a pink-streaked wig, Freeman stands out for his comedic timing interlaced in his unapologetic, bad-ass attitude.
The humor infused drama authentically parallels the ups and downs of life. Remorse is momentarily alleviated as a glimpse of a second chance appears. In the second act, Kate Buddeke (Tanya) and Carolyn Braver (Zoe) have a very, tender, maternal exchange. By this time, we have had a peek into their story making the conversation even more thought-provoking.
A youthful outsider to this tainted world, Braver helps focus the audience to see the human behind the label. She is interviewing the Hummingbird residents for a school paper. Braver curiously embraces this dynamic makeshift sub-culture. At one point, she startlingly asks Neff, “Are you homeless?” The look on Neff’s face is a combination of shock, repulsion and awareness. The moment is a gut puncher. It’s this kind of emotional layering that makes AIRLINE HIGHWAY a journey to human discovery…of others and ourselves. It’s a road worth taking for a self-assessment of our depth of character
Running Time: Two hours and fifteen minutes includes an intermission
At Steppenwolf Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted
Written by Lisa D’Amour
Directed by Joe Mantello
Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays at 7:30pm
Saturdays and Sundays at 3pm
Wednesdays at 2pm on January 21st, 28th and February 4th
EXTENDED Thru February 14th
Buy Tickets at www.steppenwolf.org
Production photo by Michael Brosilow
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