"LIFE’S NOT FAIR…SO WHAT," John R. Powers at Lakeshore Theater
BY LUCIA MAURO
Technically, John R. Powers’ one-man show, "Life’s Not Fair…So What?" – premiering at the newly refurbished Lakeshore Theater in Lakeview – is a personal reflection on "life, love, family and the passage of time," as the press materials tout. But, technically, it’s not a play, or a solo theatrical work – and should not be billed as such.
The latest offering by the author of "Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up?" falls somewhere between Reader’s Digest’s "Quotable Quotes" and a motivational speech (Powers enjoys a lucrative career as a motivational speaker). Thinly held together by an empty-nester-moves-out-of-family-home-to-live-in-a-condo motif, Powers reminisces about growing up Irish-Catholic in Chicago; his emotionally damaged mother and mentally ill grandmother (stories he can plumb more honestly); raising two daughters; and all the tribulations – from dating woes to marriage – of parenting. The revelation that his younger brother died as a child in an accident is devastating, but Powers treads very lightly on the subject.
More musings tied up with neat little morals than a carefully sculpted performance piece, "Life’s Not Fair" should win the award for over-literal telling rather than the suggestive showing of details. It’s hard to deny Powers’ homespun appeal – especially clad as he is in a casual printed shirt, khaki pants and white sneakers as he mills about his "home" filled with photos, books, children’s toys and baseball bats and mitts. But he verges on an ersatz Everyman; a modern-day Pat Boone who solves the world’s problems with snappy catch phrases, like "Each of us is a rock that sends ripples throughout the generations."
Too clean-cut and conscious of a public-speaker’s (not an actor’s or storyteller’s) rhythm, Powers also has a habit of illustrating in gesture everything he says. His hands swirl about when he repeats his observation of inclement Chicago weather – "There’s a 40-mile-an-hour wind going by with small animals in it"; he jumps back and forth during a groaningly cliched parallel between playing Hide and Seek with his daughter as a child and her entrée into the adult world ("Ready or not, here I come").
His funniest work, which comes as no surprise, arises from his memories of Catholic school – especially his story of Sister Lee, "the Clint Eastwood of nuns," who was "a billion years old and one-and-a-half-feet tall." Yet, overall, Powers spreads his saccharine commentary all over the middle-class map. His show, a safe and somewhat inspirational melange, does not gel into a cohesive whole. And, as cautiously directed by William Pullinsi, Powers doesn’t come close to taking an ounce of dramatic/comedic risk.
A spiffy paean to family values, "Life’s Not Fair…" – smack dab in the middle of a largely gay strip of Broadway – has to be one of the most misguided marketing choices of the year. The Lakeshore Theater (formerly the Broadway Theater), which has certainly been brightened up and aims to become a venue for long-running commercial hits, has struck a dud with this mediocre debut effort. The show would work better touring senior centers and churches.
It’s tough to lambaste Powers for assembling a feel-good show – at least his well-intended idea of a feel-good show. But a theater piece built on truisms can only be, well, more than a tad bit trite.•
John R. Powers’ "Life’s Not Fair…So What" runs through December 1 at the Lakeshore Theater, 3175 N. Broadway. Tickets: $25-$35. Call 773-472-3492.
