'Heroes and Villians' not quite a super tale
At first glance, Daniel Janoff's play "Heroes and Villains" recalls TV's "Northern Exposure," that whimsical ode to tolerance centered on the culture clash that results when an arrogant but endearing outsider confronts a group of eccentric but erudite locals.
Unfortunately, the play doesn't fare nearly as well as the TV show.
"Heroes and Villains," in its world premiere at Collaboraction, unfolds in an offbeat setting: a combination beauty salon and corner saloon located in a bucolic burg called White Cove, a lakeside town in an unnamed Upper Midwest state (Michigan or Minnesota, perhaps). The residents of the town include a skeptic, a sage and a superhero. The plot centers on the fantastical tale of a local man who, 20 years earlier, reportedly used his bare hands to stop a runaway truck from crashing into a stranded Cadillac driven by the town's former Apple Dumpling Queen. But while it has the makings of a quirky little dramedy, plodding storytelling and ill-defined characters prevent the play from achieving the oddball charm to which it seemingly aspires. Moreover, director Anthony Moseley's vague, sluggish production does nothing to improve it.
The main problem with Janoff's play, the first from the Chicago native and former magazine writer whose credits included TV's "America's Most Wanted," is the lack of identity. "Heroes" doesn't seem to know what it wants to be. It falls somewhere between a romantic comedy and a fairy tale, but fails to satisfy on either level because it never fully embraces either genre. It's neither genuine or funny enough for the former and it's not imaginative enough for the latter.
The story concerns White Cove's favorite son, strongman Chuck Benton (Danny Goldring, wasted in an underwritten role), who having rescued the endangered damsel proceeded to take his superhero role seriously with somewhat mixed results. Chuck's fame boosted tourism in the fading town and prompted a bank to adopt him as its spokesman. But after playing hero for a few years, Chuck hung up his cape and turned saloon keeper. A couple of decades later, he's approached by cynical Sunshine (a sharp-edged, nicely defensive Wendy Weber), the bank's no-nonsense benefits adjuster who threatens to strip Chuck of his pension unless he proves to her he possesses super powers.
Complicating matters is Chuck's son Rhett (played with quiet decency and heartfelt humanity by the appealing Peter Defaria, so compelling as a conflicted cop in last year's hit, "A Steady Rain"). A popular beautician, Rhett runs the salon where his super power enables him to transform ordinary women into beauties. His unshakable belief in his father's abilities coupled with his budding relationship with Sunshine reawakens her faith, leaving her conflicted, torn between her desire to embrace the myth and her need to debunk it.
That conundrum is an intriguing one, but Janoff slights it, the same way he slights Chuck. A more focused examination of our need to believe in the extraordinary and our determination to explain it away would have made the forgettable "Heroes and Villains" much more memorable.
"Heroes and Villains"
1½ stars (out of four)
Location: Theatre Building Chicago, 1225 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago
Times: 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays to Saturdays; 3 p.m. Sundays through Sept. 21, also 3 p.m. Sept. 13 and 20
Running time: About 1 hour, 45 minutes with intermission
Tickets: $18-$25
Parking: $8 valet, some metered parking
Box office: (773) 327-5252 or collaboraction.org
Rating: For teens and older
<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Video</h2> <ul class="video"> <li><a href="/multimedia/?category=1&type=video&item=198">Clip of 'Heroes and Villians'</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>