'To Master the Art' worth savoring
"To Master the Art," William Brown and Doug Frew's affectionate, amusing bio-drama chronicling the decade Julia Child spent in Paris, has a not-so-secret ingredient: Karen Janes Woditsch.
In Chicago Commercial Collective's remount of TimeLine Theatre's 2010 hit, Woditsch reprises the role she created three years ago, playing to perfection the celebrated chef, author and TV personality.
Woditsch beautifully embodies Child's enthusiasm, wit and resolve, as well as her vulnerability, revealed in several telling, unforced moments. Add the "fluty voice," spot-on physicality and genuine good humor and you have a performance that would earn Woditsch a five-star rating from even the most discriminating theater connoisseur.
Frew and Brown (who also directs) suggest that Julia, or at least their idealized version, represents postwar America: outsized, exuberant, resolute, proud, opinionated, restless, aggressive and loyal. In Woditsch, they have an actress supremely capable of portraying every one of those qualities.
The action unfolds in Paris - mostly around tables, of course - where Julia lives with her husband Paul (a generous and sincere Craig Spidle, also reprising his role from 2010). A member of the U.S. Foreign Service, Paul works to promote American values and culture to the French.
Paul's work leaves Julia free to pursue her newfound passion for French cooking, which she does at the famed Cordon Bleu culinary academy under mentor Chef Max Bugnard (Terry Hamilton in a tastily timed comic turn), and alongside Sam Ashdown's Carolina, a genial former Army cook hoping to open a barbecue restaurant in North Carolina.
In time, Max introduces Julia to Jeannie Affelder's delightfully droll "Simca," French cookbook author and teacher Simone Beck, who collaborates with Julia on the seminal "Mastering the Art of French Cooking," also credited to a third, unseen co-author Louisette Bertholle.
Janet Ulrich Brooks, who is almost without equal when it comes to playing peppery broads, sizzles as Avis DeVoto, who champions Julia's book to publishers.
Meanwhile, McCarthyism sweeps the U.S., ensnaring the left-leaning Paul as well as the couple's longtime radical pal Jane (Heidi Kettenring in a powerful, gritty performance), who is nearly destroyed by the Communist witch hunts. That secondary, superfluous plot presents a problem in that it detracts from the main story: Julia's dual love affair with food and Paul. Frankly, that's the dish we crave.
Yet neither the too-obvious infusion of politics, nor the inclusion of some overripe characters, spoils this meal. Not by a long shot. "To Master the Art" may not be perfect theater, but there's plenty here to savor.
“To Master the Art”
★ ★ ★
Location: Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place, 175 E. Chestnut St., Chicago, (800) 775-2000 or
Showtimes: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday through Oct. 20. Also 2 p.m. Sept. 25, Oct. 2, 9 and 16 and 6:30 p.m. Sept. 22
Running time: About two hours, 15 minutes with intermission
Tickets: $25-$75
Parking: Discounted parking available with validation at the Water Tower Place garage adjacent to the theater
Rating: For teens and older, includes some strong language, mostly in French