Whether Augie March turns out to be the hero of his own play, or whether that station is held by the ensemble of strong-willed eccentrics around him, David Auburn’s new stage adaptation of Saul Bellow’s classic The Adventures of Augie March hasn’t quite decided. But in Charles Newell’s production for Court Theatre, he’s on a hugely entertaining and sometimes moving journey. What it lacks in narrative arc, it more than makes up for in heart, wit, and poetry.
There’s Marilyn Dodds Frank’s blunt Grandma Lausch, who tells young Augie, “You’re too easy to tickle” (meaning that he chooses momentary pleasures over hard work). There’s Aurora Real de Asua’s cynical-but-wounded radical Mimi, who goes to Augie for help in obtaining an illegal abortion (oh hello, unexpectedly relevant content!). And there’s Chaon Cross’s Thea, the heiress who takes Augie to Mexico in order to train an eagle to catch iguanas—as if Susan Vance from Bringing Up Baby took peyote and dragged Cary Grant south of the border. Together, they’re the real agents of change. The men (including Luigi Sottile as Simon, Augie’s social-climbing brother) roar and kick, but it’s the women who lead.
Through 6/9: Wed 10:30 AM and 7:30 PM, Thu-Fri 7:30 PM, Sat-Sun 2 and 7:30 PM, Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis, 773-753-4472, courttheatre.org, $50-$74, $37.50-$55.50 students.
