By Peter Thomas Ricci<\/p>\n
I often tell people that I was not lucky enough to see Steppenwolf\u2019s original product of \u201cAugust Osage County,\u201d though I should have been smart enough \u2013 despite learning of the show early in its run (when WBEZ\u2019s \u201cDueling Critics\u201d labeled it a modern classic that was Pulitzer bound), I failed to make the time to commute from my DuPage County suburb to the theater\u2019s Lincoln Park location, and thus missed out on a once-in-a-lifetime theater experience. As many an attendee has told me, seeing the production was akin to feeling greatness created right there on the stage.<\/p>\n
Over the years, I\u2019ve wondered what that experience would have been like, but now, thanks to the efforts of playwright Lee Edward Colton II, director Steve H. Broadnax III, and an exceptionally talented cast, I now know \u2013 the world-premiere play they have created at Victory Gardens Theater, \u201cThe First Deep Breath,\u201d is undoubtedly an instant classic, a 210-minute epic that inspired more enthusiasm and energy than at least<\/i> 95 percent of the plays I have seen on Chicago stages (and I have seen hundreds, over the years). Hilarious, heartbreaking, and inspiring in equal parts, this is a play destined for bigger stages, and Chicago audiences should see it now while they have the chance.<\/p>\n
Set in present-day Germantown, Philadelphia, \u201cThe First Deep Breath\u201d concerns the unique dysfunctions of the Joneses, an upper-middle-class black family headed by the charismatic preacher Albert Melvin Jones III, the lead pastor for a Philadelphia megachurch. Already teetering on the brink of disaster \u2013 Albert\u2019s wife, Ruth, is suffering from an accelerated case of dementia; AJ, their youngest son, feels suffocated under his father\u2019s immense expectations; Dee-Dee, their daughter, is constantly compared to her recently deceased twin sister, who has taken the status of martyr over the years; and Pearl, Ruth\u2019s sister, is ostensibly staying with them to watch Ruth, while in reality, she yearns for Albert\u2019s affections \u2013 amidst all that, the family\u2019s eldest son, Little Albert, returns home after serving a six-year prison sentence for rape. Albert\u2019s return is effectively a wrecking ball on the Jones\u2019 glass house, and it sets in motions a series of events that shatter whatever stability the family still had \u2013 while forcing them to admit the uncomfortable truths that will help some of them finally move forward.<\/p>\n
I will not reveal any more of the plot in this review \u2013 Colton\u2019s twists and revelations are so carefully placed throughout the play\u2019s long running time that it would be a grand injustice to reveal them here \u2013 but I do need to stress the atmosphere of this play, and why it is essential to its classic status. The play opens with a sermon from Albert. Standing before the audience in his robes, Albert (played brilliantly by David Alan Anderson) preaches with pronounced enthusiasm, whipping his imaginary congregation into a frenzy \u2013 except at the production I saw, there was nothing imaginary about it. The play\u2019s audience, which was mostly black and brown, was enthralled<\/i> with Anderson\u2019s spirit and energy, and before long was answering his calls and beckoning him for more. That energy \u2013 musical, contagious, undeniable \u2013 hardly let up through the play\u2019s entire run time, and created a feeling of community and empathy that is wholly unique to the stage.<\/p>\n
This is truly as good as it gets when it comes to American theater, and you should make an absolute effort to see \u201cThe First Deep Breath\u201d \u2013 if tickets are even still available.<\/p>\n
Highly Recommended<\/b><\/p>\n
Playing through Dec. 22 at Victory Gardens Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue, Chicago IL<\/p>\n
Tickets are available at www.victorygardens.org, or by calling 773-871-3000.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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