Real substance eludes Winnetka-set 'A Taste of Things to Come'
“A Taste of Things to Come” - ★ ★
If you grew up in the suburbs in the 1950s and crave a bit of nostalgia, you'll likely find “A Taste of Things to Come” a reminder of when TV fathers knew best and moms looked a lot like June Cleaver.
The Winnetka-set musical about four friends prepping for a cooking contest is pleasant enough, with an energetic cast that enjoys a convincing chemistry. But “A Taste of Things to Come” feels about as genuine as the women's Cheez Whiz-topped crackers - and as light as the canned whipped cream they seem to love.
The musical by Debra Barsha and Hollye Levin, in its Chicago premiere at the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place, straddles two decades. The first half is set in 1957, as four longtime friends get together to create entries for a Betty Crocker cooking contest. The women come across as types rather than realistic, fleshed-out suburbanites, but they're likable all the same. There's perky, pretty host Joan (Cortney Wolfson), pregnant Connie (Libby Servais), “baby machine” Dottie (a comically spot-on Marissa Rosen) and sexy single Agnes (a lively Linedy Genao).
In director and choreographer Lorin Latarro's lively production, the women bustle about the kitchen, dancing with rolling pins and pulling canned crab out of the cabinets as they sing about gossip, happy hour and Dear Abby. They also toss in a bit of banter (and a song) about the Kinsey Report's “Sexual Behavior in the Human Female,” delivered to Joan's door just in time for the cocktails to kick in.
The songs are light and largely forgettable. And the laughs come in the beliefs '50s women embraced and probably never questioned - such as pushing cigarettes and cocktails as a way to calm pregnant Connie's nerves or lusting after “eligible bachelor” Rock Hudson, a fellow Winnetka native later revealed to be gay.
Act II takes a slightly more serious turn. It's set a decade later when Joan attempts a 1967 reunion between the now-estranged friends. In those pivotal 10 years, the fashions - and the women's ambitions - have shifted.
The production's all-female band, out of view during the first act, takes its place on stage for the second. But among the Winnetka women, progress has taken different forms.
Dottie initially bristles at her much-changed friends. The stay-at-home mother of six poignantly sings in “Just A Mom” about what it's like to be worn out by her family's 24/7 demands yet dismissed as not “working” by those who don't value what she does.
“I'm sorry I haven't had time to change the world,” she tells her career-minded friends. “I've been too busy changing diapers.”
It's one of the more honest - and realistic - moments in this musical trip down memory lane. For the most part, “A Taste of Things to Come” skims the surface of women at a crucial crossroads, tossing in a few second-act revelations to deliver underdeveloped relevance.
The show does serve as a reminder of how far women have come in some ways and how much progress we have yet to make in others.
Women, Dottie proclaims near the end of the musical, can be anything they want - author, astronaut, president. Fifty years later, however, that last one still eludes.
<b>Location:</b> Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place, 175 E. Chestnut, Chicago, (800) 775-2000 or broadwayinchicago.com
<b>Showtimes:</b> 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, with 7:30 p.m. Sunday shows April 1 and 8 and 2 p.m. Wednesday matinees starting April 11; runs through April 29
<b>Tickets:</b> $30-$75
<b>Running time:</b> Two hours with intermission
<b>Parking:</b> Paid lot at Water Tower Place
<b>Rating:</b> For teens and older; sexual references and language