"Ten Chimneys" Review

Sorry this is so late.

Review of ATC’s Production of Ten Chimneys

by Marc Hansen

The world premiere of Ten Chimneys, the newest production playing at the ATC, is a delightful, amusing little comedy about actors’ drama behind the stage.

The play follows the renowned husband and wife team of real Broadway stars Alfred Lunt (Steve Hendrickson) and Lynn Fontanne (Suzanne Bouchard) in 1938, as they decide to perform Anton Chekhov’s masterpiece, The Seagull, for their next production. They retreat to their legendary and gigantic Wisconsin mansion to rehearse, bringing their fellow actors and extended family. Quirky family hijinks ensue, as well as a blossoming love triangle between Lunt, Fontanne, and their young, new lead actress Uta Hagen. On top of all this, the behind-the-scenes drama in Ten Chimneys directly correlates with the drama in the play they’re rehearsing (which is also about actors). Gee, how coincidental.

A lot of praise should be heaped upon writer Jeffrey Hatcher for not only writing an intelligent and complicated script, but for making it play out so simply (as well as props to director David Ira Goldstein for providing that seamless flow). Ten Chimneys has a rather complex written premise (with all the play-within-a-play nonsense), which though an attraction to me, may drive a lot of people away. However, though playfully clever (sometimes even coming across as too impressed with its own cleverness), the play never seems overly complicated. It’s smart, but still incredibly entertaining and interesting. In fact, the play-within-the-play plot point isn’t even necessary, though it does reinforce that age old theatre theme that life is a stage.

The cast is all fantastic. Hendrickson stands out as nailing the flamboyant character of Alfred Lunt, but then I think about how perfectly Bouchard played Fontanne’s materialistic Broadway diva star or the unexpected emotion Michael Winters brought to the character of Sydney Greenstreet, and it becomes much harder to pick a favorite. Sure, the characters are stereotypes of traditional family and actor roles (Lunt’s extravagance, Fontanne’s prima donna, or Linda Stephens as the lovably bitchy mother), but it all works in the play’s favor. Instead of feeling cliché, it simply feels familiar. Immediately you know these characters and it starts to feel like your own family.

The production values are all excellent and greatly enhance the play. The rotating set is captivating and the lush, green “trees” really made me feel like I was in Wisconsin. In fact, the prop and scenery pieces were replicated from photos of actual items found at Ten Chimneys and the cast actually got to rehearse for a week in the legendary estate. It’s this attention to detail, though not obvious, that adds such an authentic feel to the production.

However, the play does have its flaws. For one, the play is a little too play-centric for its own good. Of course, it’s no surprise that a plot like this would elicit a favorable response among the thespians that put on this show, but sometimes it felt like there were a few too many “inside jokes.” I had no idea until I researched the production afterwards that Lunt and Fontanne were real Broadway stars, and though that only made the play cooler, there were times within the play that I felt a little lost when they were extensively dealing with The Seagull production. Some would argue that that’s fine and that a prerequisite knowledge of The Seagull is simply necessary, but I think there are more people who know nothing of The Seagull than people who do, even among the theatre buffs that frequently attend the ATC’s productions.

It’s also a little lightweight. It’s fun and entertaining, but after the show’s over it doesn’t feel all that memorable, unlike the productions Lunt and Fontanne put on themselves. It’s about what actors are like behind the scenes, but this doesn’t feel like a very meaningful theme. However that doesn’t seem to be what Ten Chimneys is concerned with. No, Ten Chimneys is just a play about people who love theatre and its main purpose is putting on a great show.

Grade: B+