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Kate Fry and Timothy Edward Kane in "Birthday Candles" by Northlight Theatre in Skokie.
Kate Fry, Chike Johnson, Samuel B. Jackson, Corrbette Pasko, Cyd Blakewell and Timothy Edward Kane in "Birthday Candles" by Northlight Theatre in Skokie.
In New York, where sentiment is eschewed and actual feelings are seen as signs of weakness, Noah Haidle’s “Birthday Candles” was dismissed by most critics when the play opened on Broadway last year.
I differed. About as strongly as I ever have.
For my money, “Birthday Candles” is precisely why people go to the theater, which is to think about their families, ponder their past romantic mistakes, stare down the demons of their futures and commune with those they have loved and lost. Centered on the life of one ordinary Michigan woman from Grand Rapids, who we see as she ages from 17 to 100, the one-set, 100-minute play is about the agonizing and exhilarating search for patterns in the universe, the endless human wish for things to make sense, even in the face of the compounding losses of life.
And since I’m somewhat familiar with Haidle’s circumstances, I’ll add that the play also is a beautiful tribute to a writer’s mother, as rich in its complexity and affection as any comparable work. I think my reaction to this script, which I’ve seen twice now, is so intense because I sense that the playwright has such skin in the game. They always do, you might say, and that’s true to some degree, but this one opened a vein with this particular piece, notwithstanding the ability of his craftsmanship to afford some literary disguises.
In New York, “Birthday Candles,” did not have the benefit of Kate Fry and Tim Kane, the Lunt and Fontanne of Chicago theater, a married couple in real life who surely pull from all of that on the stage of the Northlight Theatre under the thoughtful direction of Jessica Thebus.
Fry, as fine an actress as any with a bigger national name, plays the lead role of Ernestine, a rock of a woman surrounded by a needy and sometimes flighty family, most of whom fail to see that she’s right when she insists that her rushing loved ones pause every year on her birthday, “stake a claim” in the moment and truly see each other.
In the end, people leave. Halfway through the woods.
Some die, unhappy. A husband proves unfaithful. Some grow in understanding over time. Others do not. In the end, the play posits, we are left twisting in the wind with only our memories, the sum of our experiences and our questions.
One person stays long for Ernestine, a quiet admirer, a literal boy next door. That’s Kenneth, played by Kane. It’s a nice Groundhog Day-like gig for that actor in that he gets to propose to his wife over and over again and, at Wednesday’s performance, the two of them sure were drawing deep from their long marital well. Or so it seemed, which is all you really know.
Thebus has made some interesting and viable choices in a production far less comedic and ranging much deeper than the New York premiere. Although the play spans decades, Haidle wrote it in such a way that the actual time periods are only vague, so as not to distract from what he wanted to write about. Thebus honors that, and although the actors age somewhat as their characters do, nothing there distracts either. There are no tricks. Merely truths.
What a lovely little show this is, enhanced by the careful casting of Cyd Blakewell (who really moved me), Samuel B. Jackson, Chike Johnson and Corrbette Pasko, whose verve constantly counterpunches against any danger of the mawkish.
“Birthday Candles” is about mental health, mortality and survival, about risking your heart (it reminds me of “Once”), and finding your place — a lifelong struggle, experience teaches us. It’s a personal piece but you’d swear it was about you.
Chris Jones is a Tribune critic.
Review: “Birthday Candles” (4 stars)
Where: Northlight Theatre at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie Blvd., Skokie
Sparkler Outlet Tickets: $49-$89 at 847-673-6300 and www.northlight.org