Program notes reveal that several years of effort have been poured into actor Jonathan Gillard Daly’s valentine to a famous American, The Eagle in Me: An Evening of Carl Sandburg. This aptly-named show allows us to have a bird’s eye view of the world around us, as filtered through the eyes of this famous Renaissance man.
This one-man show is a family affair. Gillard Daly conceived and adapted the material, which was directed by his wife, Gale Childs Daly. The theater company’s owners, Chris and Jane Flieller, also contributed by giving the play a staged reading and were so enchanted by the material that they added it to In Tandem’s 2018-19 season.
Carl Sandburg was among the most influential men in the last century. Raised in a small town in Illinois, he moved to Chicago and marveled at the large, bustling city. Sandburg’s most famous description of the city is intoned by Gillard Daly: “hog butcher for the world/tool maker, stacker of wheat/player with railroads and the nation’s freight handler/stormy, husky, brawling, city of the big shoulders.” Gillard Daly quotes Sandburg with an almost athletic fervor, as if the words are so powerful that he cannot contain them very long in his mouth. The simple but adequate set is comprised of a bookshelf, a manual typewriter and a rocking chair. Oh, and there’s a guitar, too, which Gillard Daly picks up and strums to punctuate some of Sandburg’s writings. Gillard Daly takes the audience on a wonderous journey through Sandburg’s life, from his school days (he never graduated college), to his courtship of the woman he called “Paula,” to the volumes that won the Pulitzer Prize.
Gillard Daly also recounts the very brief poem for which Sandburg is best known. Written in 1916, the poem is a Japanese-inspired haiku. “Fog” begins with the words: “The fog comes on little cat feet.” Gillard Daly reveals it took Sandburg all of 15 minutes to compose it, while he was waiting on a bench. “If I had known that poem would have become my most famous, I would have taken more time writing it,” grumbles the poet.
At the play’s outset, Gillard Daly announces to the audience that he is not trying to impersonate Carl Sandburg. “This is an evening of Carl Sandburg, not by Carl Sandburg,” he explains. Still, an actor with Gillard Daly’s abundant talent cannot help but remind an audience of the man in question. Carl Sandburg was many things to many people: a manual laborer, a hobo, a man of letters, a poet, a newspaper writer, an editor, a biographer, a collector of American folk songs, a Socialist, and even a children’s book writer. That’s a lot of material to pack into a two-hour show, but Gillard Daly handles it with a touch of finesse. Audiences will leave with a new appreciation for this fascinating, entirely American, character.
