Chicago Shakespeare Theater presents the World Premiere of JUDGEMENT DAY.
Tony and Emmy Award-Winning Actor Jason Alexander brings his iconic George- Costanza-style-humor to Chicago. Alexander (Sammy) is starring in a new show about a morally bankrupt man grappling with the great beyond. After a near-death experience, Sammy learns that God and heaven exist. This realization makes him come back to life with a goal of faking his way to redemption.
Alexander engages in this familial role. He also has a talented ensemble backing him up. Yet, even terrific acting can’t save him from damnation when a play lacks substance. It’s not surprising to find out Playwright Rob Ulin has three decades of TV comedy writing. JUDGEMENT DAY plays like a sitcom. It’s light and frothy and has a simplistic premise easily solved in thirty minutes.
There is a secondary story about a priest trying to uphold the integrity established by the Catholic Church. Although an earnest Daniel Breaker (Father Michael) is compelling, the overall notion of using priests to symbolize virtue feels out-of-date and tone deaf. And making a disgraced Catholic Church into a role model of propriety is silly. And not absurdly silly… just silly.
On a different stage, JUDGEMENT DAY might attract an appreciative audience. Chicago Shakes, however, has anchored its productions in a playwright with content that has thrived for over 400 years. His comedies are complex, endearing and timeless. Premiering JUDGEMENT DAY on the home court for such masterpieces like “Twelfth Night” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is gutsy. Even though I can’t imagine Shakes’ subscribers embracing this show, Alexander might be enough of a draw to bring in the tourists off the Pier and into The Yard.
Running Time: Two hours and fifteen minutes includes an intermission
At Chicago Shakespeare Theater at Navy Pier
Written by Rob Ulin
Directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel
Performances are:
Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays at 7:30pm
Wednesdays at 1pm
Saturdays at 2:30pm 7:30pm
Sundays at 2pm
Thru May 26th
For more information or tickets
Production photos by Liz Lauren
For more Chicago theatre information and reviews, please visit Theatre in Chicago