Music and Book: Andrew Gerle; lyrics and Book: Eddie Sugarman . At: Porchlight Music Theatre at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont. Phone: 773-327-5252; $38. Runs through: April 17
You won't find a more prescient musical in Chicago than Porchlight Music Theatre's Meet John Doe. Now in a strong Midwest premiere production at Stage 773, Meet John Doe startles with the number of modern-day parallels between its fictional Depression-era plotlines and our post-Recession-era headlines.
Meet John Doe's origins stretch back to a short story by Richard Connell and Robert Presnell, which in turn was adapted into a screenplay by Robert Riskin for director Frank Capra's 1941 film version starring Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck.
As a musical, composer Andrew Gerle and lyricist Eddie Sugarman have been working on Meet John Doe through various incarnations since 2004 (it even won a Jonathan Larson Award in 2006). But what's shocking is how relevant the show has become, and it whets the appetite for hopefully more collaborations from this promising and insightful musical writing team.
The plot concerns a duplicitous newspaper columnist named Ann Mitchell (Elizabeth Lanza) who cooks up a phony letter written by a suicidal "John Doe" railing against U.S. policies during the Great Depression. When published, the letter stirs up such a major public response that Ann and her new power-hungry publisher, D.B. Norton (Mick Weber), must find an actual person to play "John Doe" to harness a burgeoning political movement dedicated to the common man.
Enter out-of-work baseball player John Willoughby (Karl Hamilton), who takes on the mantle of John Doe. A hesitant love attraction develops between John and Ann, which is tested when Norton also expresses his interest in the conscience-stricken columnist/speech writer.
No doubt publisher D.B. Norton's character in Meet John Doe was an allegorical warning to the rise of world fascism back in its day. But now the character immediately brings to mind not only News Corp. media mogul Rupert Murdoch (whose FOX News networks push a rigid conservative ideology), but also billionaire brothers Charles G. and David H. Koch who have been documented to front organizations that are major backers of the anti-government Tea Party Movement.
Director/choreographer James Beaudry moves his very talented cast around well on set designer Ian Zywica's thrust stage framed by enlarged newsprint backdrops and shifting film noir lighting of designer Mac Vaughey.
As gripping as the plot and staging is, Meet John Doe is somewhat let down in the music department. Gerle and Sugarman's score definitely crackles along with a quick pace and nice period sound, but some songs don't quite rise to the drama of situation (particularly in the post-climax Bridge Sequence).
Still, Meet John Doe certainly stirs the emotions. But more importantly, it offers a dramatic look at American idealism versus political movements that can be manipulated by the media and corporate moguls.