Forget New York, Our Town Is Right Here

By Suzy Evans in Arts & Entertainment on Feb 27, 2009 11:05PM

If one of your biggest regrets is you never got to Los Angeles to see a live taping of “Friends,” Lookingglass Theatre has the next best thing. David Schwimmer - or Ross for those of us that spent too much time lip-synching “I’ll Be There for You” during the credits - is on stage as George in Thornton Wilder’s Our Town.

We know Schwimmer has been around Chicago for a while (He graduated from Northwestern 1988 and started Lookingglass with some of his classmates shortly thereafter) but to see him pull a Brad Pill a la Benjamin Button and portray a schoolchild, well this we gotta see. The play takes you back to the 1930’s in the fictional small town of Grover’s Corners, a stark contrast to the hustle and bustle of Michigan Avenue where the theater is located inside the historic Water Tower Works building.

The show is co-directed by Tony-Awarding winning director Anna D. Shapiro and Jessica Thebus, both from the Steppenwolf. Critic Charles Isherwood raved about the New York production of the same play today’s paper, but you should know THAT is a re-mount of last year's local Hypocrites production with half of the Chicago cast and the same director.

The show runs through April 5 and tickets are still available.

Photo of Laura Eason as Emily Webb and David Schwimmer as George Gibbs by Sean Williams