Having read so much advance information about Bob, the picaresque comedy/drama about the title character's birth and abandonment in a White Castle restroom in Louisville, just down the street from Actors Theater, I eagerly anticipated seeing it. But, despite its dogged eagerness to please, the play falls short of expectations of a new take on the so-called American Dream.
Bob, amusingly directed by ATL associate artistic director Sean Daniels, has wonderfully quirky and comic touches and a quintet of remarkably versatile actors to recount Bob's mythical adventures with their highs and lows a la "Candide" and "Tristram Shandy." Jeffrey Binder superlatively conjures Bob at all ages. The other four, billed as Chorus 1 through 4, shape shift in and out of multiple characters that Bob meets in his various phases.
Lonely orphan Bob is spirited away from his birthplace by a kindly waitress who drives him all over the U.S. to educate him about people and places and then dies, leaving him with a car and some money in a pillowcase. His favorite monument is Mt. Rushmore where he wants his sculptured face to be added someday after he becomes "a great man."
Opened:
March 24, 2011
Ended:
April 17, 2011
Country:
USA
State:
Kentucky
City:
Louisville
Company/Producers:
Actors Theater of Louisville
Theater Type:
Regional
Theater:
Actors Theater of Louisville
Theater Address:
316 West Main Street
Website:
actorstheatre.org
Running Time:
2 hrs
Genre:
Drama
Director:
Sean Daniels
Review:
Cast:
Jeffrey Binder (Bob); Aysan Celik, Polly Lee, Danny Scheie, Lou Sumrall (Chorus).
Miscellaneous:
Peter Sinn Nachtrieb got the idea for Bob while trudging past the White Castle during his time in Louisville for the 2009 Humana Festival. For that festival he co-authored Brink! for the Apprentice Company.)
Critic:
Charles Whaley
Date Reviewed:
April 2011
