“Sundown, Yellow Moon”

[rating=2] As a reader of my reviews, you know that I always “look for the bright side of the show/production” and I have searched high and low for this in  the Chicago Premiere of “Sundown, Yellow Moon” now on the stage at The Raven Theatre. The Raven is one of Chicago’s great neighborhood venues. Once a grocery store ( where I shopped as a kid), now two stages where over the years, we have seen some brilliant work. I guess, once in a while you pick a loser, and in my opinion, this is the one that could have been missed.

Written by Rachel Bonds, this drama with music and lyrics by The Bengsons and directed by Cody Estle is a 90 minute drama with music that takes a hard look at the task of holding and  keeping a family together and reaching back in their pasts to mend the fences that have been created in the past.

The play takes place in a small southern town that one might find in Tennessee. The set  by Jeffrey D. Kmiec is that of a house that seems to have a bedroom right next door to the kitchen. I spent some time considering that this was a sofa bed and that it remained open all the time, but, with two daughters visiting, only one sleeps on the bed and their dear old dad, on the floor. Quickly confused in Tennessee. The girls, twins, Josephine  (Diana Coates) and Rayleen ( Liz Chidster), who will be referred to as Ray and Joey from this point. have become adults and their divorced father, Tom ( Will Casey) has been suspended from his teaching job due to an accident.

The girls are home to help him deal with this situation as well as the fact that their mother divorced him. Ray is a musician/songwriter and Joey, a brilliant student and athlete. They are as different as twins can be…like night and day! The story is said to be about this family not being able to communicate their feelings except thru songs. The problem is that the songs really have little to do with the problem and while the neighbors, Bobby (Rob Frankel) and  Jean ( Jeanne T. Arrigo) add a little flavor to their musical pieces, I found nothing to hold me into the story.

Two other little stories that evolved with other characters also were confusing. Young Carver  ( Jordan Dell Harris) is always coming by to see Tom. It is hard to figure out if he just respects the man or if he is in fact looking to know him a lot better. On the other hand, on one of her late night swims, Joey meets a teacher on the local campus, Ted ( probably the best character in the story, deftly handled by Josh Odor) who seems to be looking for love in all the wrong places. This story wrestles with many situations. Hopes! Dreams! Returning Home! But, sad to say, not in a way that held my interest of that I felt was worth the evening out. When all else fails, get the guitars out, head to the back porch and sing a song! Is that all it takes?

“Sundown, Yellow Moon” will continue at The Raven Theatre, located at 6157 N. Clark Street ( at Granville) in Chicago thru November 17th with performances as follows:

Thursdays  7:30 p.m.

Fridays  7:30 p.m.

Saturdays  7:30 p.m.

Sundays  3 p.m.

Tickets run $46 ( $43 if you buy online), Seniors ( $5 off) , students and active military $15

Thursday is under 30 days, so all patrons under 30 pay $15

call 773-338-2177 or visit www.raventheatre.com

Special performance:

Touch Tour/Open Captioning 11/3 touch tour at 1:45 for 3 p.m. performance.

Raven has free parking and the street parking in the area is very easy to find.

To see what others are saying, visit www.theatreinchicago.com, go to Review Round-Up and click at “”Sundown, Yellow Moon”.