Dorian
Playwrights: Ben Lobpries & Tommy Rapley
At: The House Theatre of Chicago at
Chopin Theatre, 1543 W. Division St.
Tickets: 773-769-3832 or
www.thehousetheatre.com; $20-$39
Runs through: May 18
Snow White and the
Seven Drag Queens
Playwright: Tony Lewis
At: MidTangent Productions at
Hydrate, 3458 N. Halsted St.
Tickets: www.tix.com or
www.hydratechicago.com; $15
Runs through: May 17
BY SCOTT C. MORGAN
Since theater is so ephemeral, why not revive hit shows for people who missed them the first time around? That's undoubtedly the reason why The House Theatre of Chicago is brining back Dorian ( which first debuted at the late Bailiwick Repertory in 2006 ) and MidTangent Productions has revised its 2009 Hydrate production of Snow White and the Seven Drag Queens.
Both crowd-pleasing shows have strong LGBTQ interest and imagine the extremes that certain people will go to in the obsessive pursuit of youth, beauty or "fierceness" as the case may be. Both also have magical objects that hold sway over the antagonists and both spring from established works of literature. Dorian takes its inspiration from Oscar Wilde's Victorian novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, while Snow White… steals from the Brothers Grimm ( in addition to pop songs and Disney flicks ).
Collette Pollard's sleek and modern setting for Dorian is initially a trendy nightclub, where the majority of audience members mill around promenade style. As the show progresses, the audience has to move and crane their necks to gawk at the beautiful and uber-trendy cast as they delve deep into the show's twisted story ( there is a seating area for those who don't wish to stand through the show or fully immerse themselves, like so many Jeff Committee members and critics on opening night ).
This Dorian, as dreamed by writer Ben Lobpreis and director/choreographer Tommy Rapley, means to meld dialogue with dance movement to tell the tale of the callow and bisexual title character ( played by Cole Simon ) whose outward youth and beauty is maintained via a magical painting that ages and degenerates to show his true nature.
The dance element in Dorian sometimes feels forced and isn't always as integrated as I'm sure the creators would like it to be. Yet there are times when the dancing beautifully captures the dramatic moment, like the derided performance art piece of Sybil ( Kelley Abell ), the deadly and very homoerotic duet between Simon as Dorian and Patrick Andrews as the artist Basil.
Also a major delight is Manny Buckley as the cruelly camp cultural critic Harry, who can poison the atmosphere with a strategically and cutting quip. The whole talented ensemble is truly dedicated to this modern-day Dorian, which shows that the pursuit beauty can turn deadly in any era.
Far more comic and camp ( and set in an actual nightclub ), MidTangent's current edition of Snow White… is a vast improvement over the original, since the great cast actually sings songs rather than lip-sync. The sound glitches were far fewer than before, and all the updated dialogue and songs feel far more polished. Once again, MidTangent's Snow White… is the perfect way to start an evening carousing up and down Halsted Street.
