“All That He Was” reviewed by Frank Meccia

PRIDE FILMS AND PLAYS PRESENTS:

A WORLD PREMIER ADAPTATION OF A 1993 MUSICAL

ALL THAT HE WAS

BOOK AND LYRICS BY LARRY TODD COUSINEAU

Reviewed by: Frank Meccia

Highly Recommended *****I love when I go to a world premier play, knowing nothing about it, and come out impressed, with my new best musical. And one thing about The Buena, Pride Arts Center on Broadway, is that happens a lot. As you can tell by past reviews anything that David Zac touches, turns to gold. How do you take a play about a topic like AIDS, in the year 1992, and come out feeling good?  I remember that year, I lost friends to it, I just finished my medical training a year earlier, and the topic was fresh on my mind, with absolutely no cure around.

Matthew Huston plays the deceased, and is the host and narrator, invisible among the friends and family assembled to pay him final respects. Hoping that the shattered pieces of his life can come together, with shared reminiscences from his broken family and friends. Sarah Hayes plays the heart broken mother, who doesn’t want to tell her younger son how his older brother died. Rick Rapp plays the father who cannot come to terms that his first-born son is gay. The surprise performance was his sister played by Sarah Mikulski , who has the singing voice of an angel, even thou she plays the younger born-again sister, who believes every bad situation, answers can be found in the bible. I should mention this is a musical, every character sings, and I was impressed with the range and talent of each character.

The play is a semi-autobiographical account of that slice of life that era had on the director. How the disease was handled or perceived by the public, by families, friends, the news. Before we had the internet as we know it, or social media. Imagine how a totally screwed up ear like that would have played out today???

Regular performances are:

Thursday- Sunday at 8:00pm

Sundays at 5:00 pm, with a Special “industry night” performance on Monday August 19 at 8:00pm.

The Buena, Pride Arts Center, 4147 N. Broadway

Tickets are $40 premium, $30 general seats, $25 students and seniors (not valid Saturdays)

www.pridefilmsandplays.com

To see what others are saying, visit www.theatreinchicago.com, go to Review Round-Up and click at “All That He Was”.