SPRING AWAKENING Promethean Theatre EnsembleGIRLS VS. BOYS The House Theatre of chicagocabaret The hypocrites
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Stephen Murray’s staging of Wedekind’s play for Promethean Theatre Ensemble attempts to borrow some of the contemporary sheen of the Sheik and Sater musical, in which the songs function as interior monologues for the anguished kids. Snippets of rock play during scene changes, and one or two anachronistic bits of dialogue (“this sucks”) work their way into the mouths of teenagers living in a profoundly repressed German provincial town at the end of the 19th century. As Melchior, the defiant atheist of the bunch, Nick Lake even resembles Jonathan Groff, who originated the role in the musical, right down to his unruly mop of dark hair.
Written by Chris Mathews, Jake Minton, and director Nathan Allen, the book for Girls vs. Boys doesn’t give reasons for its kids’ troubled state. Maybe it’s because they live in a world without adults. In Wedekind’s play the grown-ups range from well-meaning mothers to grotesquely vengeful teachers, and their influence is pernicious. The kids in the House show operate without supervision. Or reality, for that matter. The antihero, Casey (Tyler Ravelson), is kept in check by pills cunningly represented as bits of glitter. Considering that he nearly killed his kid sister, Sam, in a fit of rage, mood meds might be a good idea—but not in this show, which takes a page from the Scientology songbook in its sweeping condemnation of pharmaceuticals.
Girls vs. Boys
Through 5/29: Thu-Sat 8 PM, Sun 7 PM, Chopin Theatre, 1543 W. Division, 773-251-2195, thehousetheatre.com, $10-$29.
