Daily Southtown November 8, 2006
'Dandelion Wine' adapted for the stage
Oriano Pagnucci
It was a summer of skinned knees and the smell of freshly cut grass. Of squishy new sneakers and time machines. And a fortune-telling tarot witch.
It was a time and place remembered by author and Waukegan native Ray Bradbury in a tribute to his Midwestern roots, and it was called "Dandelion Wine."
Starting Friday at Chicago's Steppenwolf Upstairs Theatre, Chicago Children's Theatre begins its inaugural season with an adaptation of Bradbury's novel.
"We want our audience, both young and old, to come see 'Dandelion Wine' and access the child within themselves," says Jacqueline Russell, artistic director for Chicago Children's Theatre. "We hope that this play will encourage children and families to talk more and to discover the time machines in their own lives, in their own households."
Written and adapted by Bradbury, the author has said the play is about him as an older man, talking to his younger self and finding that the connection between generations never changes and still exists today.
"It's a coming of age story," says director Eric Rosen, also artistic director of About Face Theatre. "It's also about a man looking back on his life, looking back and looking forward. And this project spoke to a lot of the things I'm interested in.
"Its themes are of looking back on one's life, of loss and childhood. It's charming, funny, mysterious and spooky. There's a lot of joy and a lot of fear in the story, and a lot of remembering.
"Part of growing up is to be wounded by the loss of a friend or the loss of a town and the need to look back and sort out the woundedness to make sense of our adult lives."
Michael Viruet plays 12-year-old Douglas Spaulding, and Bubba Weiler plays his brother, Tom. Together, the two boys and Richard Henzel, who portrays the grandfather, spend a magical summer in Green Town, Ill., exploring the world around them.
"It's an impressive cast with first-rate actors," Rosen says.
As for the music, five guitarists in the ensemble create a score of spookiness and dreaminess, he says.
"We're using music to heighten the reality in this world. The costumes are of the 1928 period, with hues of deep gorgeous yellows and purples.
"And the set is all based on live animation projection, an ongoing shifting visual film, where you see (the characters') dreams projected on the screen," he says.
"Bradbury has given us the freedom to imagine the world we want to capture the imagination of adults and children."
Bradbury is the author of more than 500 published works, including "The Martian Chronicles," "Fahrenheit 451," "Something Wicked This Way Comes" and "The Illustrated Man."
If you go ...
What: "Dandelion Wine"
When: Nov. 10 to Dec. 31
Where: Steppenwolf's Upstairs Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted St., Chicago
Tickets: $12 to $30 Information: (312) 335-1650, chicagochildrenstheatre.org
© 2006 Daily Southtown