Tepid 'Cat' never hits boiling point
Circle Theatre's revival of Tennessee Williams' "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" opened last week just as a mini heat wave gripped the suburbs.
The weather provided a fitting backdrop for director Jim Schneider's reliable production, which heats up rather nicely during dramatic confrontations that punctuate the play and reveal the serious cracks in the foundation of this not-so-gracious Southern clan.
But Circle's production of Williams' Pulitzer Prize-winning melodrama doesn't quite sustain the rolling boil demanded of this drama rooted in lies, guilt, repressed homosexuality, greed, sexual frustration and longing.
The drama shocked audiences upon its 1955 debut, but seems tame by today's standards. It unfolds in a bedroom (Bob Knuth's boudoir whose claret color scheme serves as an ironic reminder of the couple's passionless marriage) belonging to the increasingly dissolute former athlete Brick (Michael Borgmann) and his comely but unsatisfied wife, Maggie (Kimberly Logan in a quietly manic performance), a woman who grew up poor, married well and will do everything in her power to keep it that way.
Depressed over the death of his college friend and teammate Skipper, Brick dulls his grief with alcohol, rebuffing any attempts to curb his drinking and temper his despair over losing what he calls his one true, pure relationship. Brick's sexual and emotional rejection frustrates Maggie, but not as much as his potential forfeiture of his share of the estate belonging to Brick's ailing father, Big Daddy (Downers Grove's Jim Farrell who injects some compassionate notes into the blustering symphony that is this character).
Challenging favorite son Brick for the family fortune is his older brother Gooper (Justin Cagney) and his ingratiating, perpetually pregnant wife Mae (fine work by K.D. O'Hair, who doesn't need reading glasses to convey how calculating this steel magnolia is).
The family has descended upon the plantation to celebrate Big Daddy's 65th birthday and to welcome the terminally ill patriarch home from the hospital. Additionally, the adults plan to reveal Big Daddy's diagnosis of terminal cancer to their mother - the magnificently grotesque Big Mama (Lombard's Deanna Norman, whose cringe-inducing holler is among several laudable components of her volcanic performance).
Although his initial detachment - conveyed by a perpetual thousand-yard stare - suggests a one-note performance, Borgmann redeems himself in his confrontation with Farrell's Big Daddy during the second act. Also deserving mention are Naperville's Abi McKenzie and Itasca's Sam Schumacher, along with Katelyn Smith and Sean Monier. The young actors play the relentlessly ill-mannered children of Gooper and Mae with a delicious brattiness that feels remarkably genuine.
"Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"
Rating: 2½ stars
@x BTO factbox text bold with rule:Location: Circle Theatre, 7300 W. Madison St., Forest Park
Showtimes: 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays through Oct. 4; 8 p.m. Thursdays beginning in September
Running time: About two hours, 45 minutes with intermission
Tickets: $20, $24
Parking: Some street parking, paid lots nearby
Box office: (708) 771-0700 or circle-theatre.org
Rating: For teens and older