In light of the nation’s current mood, Northlight Theater’s “Over the Tavern,” which opened Friday at the Mercury Theater, 3741 N. Southport Ave., may be just the right remedy for those suffering from the holiday blues. That it’s housed right next to a notable North Side tavern seems only appropriate.
This all-ages light comedy will bring folks back to an earlier era [the late 1950s] when, on the surface, people’s lives did not appear so challenged. Yet when seen through the eyes of 12-year-old Rudy Pazinski, played charmingly by 13-year-old Bobby Anderson, life indeed held many deep questions.
Tom Dudzick’s two-act play is set in a small blue-collar apartment above a Polish tavern in Buffalo, New York, but could easily be set in Chicago (or anywhere in the rust belt). Its comedy is based on the rock-solid family values that make so many Midwesterners seem unsophisticated by East and West Coast standards, but will make young and old laugh—especially those raised in a Catholic home.
“Essentially the play is a tribute to anyone who was ever a child, and who ever asked ‘why,’” says Dudzick of the play, which is also somewhat a tribute to his childhood in an apartment over Big Joe Dudzick’s tavern in a predominantly Polish neighborhood.
The play feeds off of the standard nuclear family fare with the backdrop of Rudy’s Catechism classes, a father often numb to family machinations, and three siblings who are suffering standard childhood maladies related to maturity and hormones. Rudy’s father Chet (Craig Spidle) runs the tavern downstairs. The family fears his mood swings and lack of tenderness, though a late-night living room dance scene with his wife Ellen (Suellen Burton) is truly touching.
Rudy longs for a “Father Knows Best” TV lifestyle, but is sensible enough to recognize that it will not happen in his family. Rudy’s precocious quick wit is what makes the show so charming, and his interaction with the church and a ruler-wielding Sister Clarissa (Mary Seibel) will bring back many memories to those who also wrestled with church doctrine in their youth.
Anderson’s acting and comedic timing is superior in light of his young age—his Ed Sullivan imitations alone are worth the ticket price. But the play is not just about getting laughs. There are several poignant moments when family members and Sister Clarissa are confronted with past physical and psychological wounds long since buried in their souls.
Rudy’s attempts to make everything right with his family, faith and home only serve to highlight the truth that life is seldom always “right” in any household. It is left to Rudy and his siblings to realize that their family’s quirks are not that unusual and that they should not bear the burden of the wrongs they did not create nor have any control over.
“Over the Tavern” was a sellout at Northlight Theater in Skokie and has only moved to the Mercury Theater because the Northlight is a subscription house and must consistently open new shows. It runs at the Mercury through Sunday, Jan. 13. Tickets can be purchased by calling (773) 325-1700. Parking is available and a stop at the tavern next door after the show is certainly fitting.
Printable Version