By Dwight Casimere
Villette is in its World Premiere at Lookingglass Theatre at Chicago’s Water Tower pump house on North Michigan Avenue through February 26. If you haven’t gotten a ticket yet, you are missing one of the great theatrical achievements of the current season.
Villette is adapted from the Charlotte Bronte novel of the same name. Directed by Tracy Walsh and adapted to the stage by playwright Sara Gmitter, the words of the famous author are given new wings by the stellar cast. I almost wanted to say ‘lyrics,’ because the words have such a poetic ring, that they just could as easily have been sung in an opera.
Mi Kang, as the main character, Lucy Snow, is a captivating presence as she walks into the theatre mid-audience from the back row and tells her story as she approaches main stage. She engages the audience members who are instantly swept up in her voyage.
Sets dominated by a pair of sliding panels emblazoned with handwritten passages, suggestive of the original writer’s genius, are the handiwork of set designer Yu Shibagaki. Interspersed with a few Spartan pieces of period furnishings, they suggest the 19th century origins of the story, while letting it morph into the 21st century.
Lucy’s story is rooted in the 19th century, but her conflicts over romance, making a livelihood and finding her own identity still ruing true today.
Mara Blumenfeld’s costume designs seem as naturally at ease as are the actors with Gmetter/Bronte’s fluid poesy.
Her encounters with a contrasting cast of characters, a young doctor John Bretton (a commanding Ronald Roman-Melendez), the highly respected teacher, Prof. Paul Emmanuel (an eloquent Debo Balogun) who becomes her ill-fated love interest, and the doctor’s mother, Mrs. Bretton (a bubbly Renee Lockett), and Mme. Beck (Helen Joo Lee), who gives her much needed employment as a nanny and teacher of English to her three children, which eventually turns into a full-time teaching job at a school which Madame operates.
In many ways, Lucy Snow’s journey mirrors Bronte’s own. Perhaps that is why the story has the ring of truth.
The production is a long sit-two and a half hour-but it is well worth it, and quite enjoyable. The story and the portrayal by the actors draw you in and hold you with rapt attention. I highly recommend this production. It is a most enjoyable evening and a shining example of what live theatre is all about. Now through Sunday matinee, Feb. 26. For more, visit Lookingglasstheatre.org. for more.
