People of Chicago: this is theater. Two guys, two chairs, two takeout cups of coffee, one desk, and one fucking great story.
There’s nothing fancy about “A Steady Rain.” It’s a raw, gristly cut of Chicago theater, one of a long line of slices of life hacked out for Chicagoans by Chicagoans stretching back as far as “Bleacher Bums,” and farther. And, like a great steak off a summer grill, it’s a meal; not easy to chew or swallow sometimes, but satisfying in a deep, down-in-your-gut way.
If you live here in Chicago it’s almost an imperative that you see this show. This is what theater should be! Stories told by us, for us; the street names are right and everything. Randy Steinmeyer and Peter DeFaria are absolutely excellent, telling this story of two Chicago cops and friends since kindergarten with every ounce of their talent and craft.
This production is a remount, using the original actors, original designers, and original director. It’s outstanding that good work like this is getting supported and remounted here, with the original artists. I’m told by the press release that this show went to Broadway and was performed there by Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig. While both of these men are fine actors in their own right, I cannot imagine anything more ridiculous than those two guys (an Australian and a Brit, both built like brick shithouses) playing the two policeman in this story. Please. Does anyone know a Chicago cop who looks, sounds, or moves ANYTHING LIKE either one of those two jokers? Go see this show before they make it a movie and cast Ryan Gosling and that boy from “Twilight” as the two cops. No amount of costumes or eye-liner is ever going to get either one of them to say “northbound traffic on the Dan Ryan” like Randy Steinmeyer says it, or enable Ryan Gosling to hit himself in the leg sometimes when he talks like Peter DeFaria. It’s so real and close to home you can walk out of the theater and into any bar in Chicago and see the same thing, and yet impossible to capture if you haven’t lived it.
See it here, for us, by us. It’s the Chicago way.
Reviewed by Centerstage!
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