Ross Zentner
Behind-the-scenes scheming: Marcus Jahn with Darby Fitzsimons.
While audiences come to the theater to experience the “magic” that happens onstage, they are often equally fascinated by what goes on behind the scenes. Popular plays that look behind the curtain to glimpse the actors creating havoc while they create their characters include Noises Off and Moon Over Buffalo and the musicals Kiss Me Kate and The Producers, among many others.
James Sherman’s Magic Time, presented by University Theatre through May 1, falls squarely into this genre. Directed by guest artist Joel Sass, it focuses on the dramas that threaten to tear a company of up-and-coming actors apart, minutes before taking the stage to perform Hamlet.
Songs on the radio and a picture of former president Richard Nixon tacked up on a dart board tell us it’s 1974, Chicago. It’s the last show of the summer season, and egos and insecurities are running high. Performers wonder what will happen to their careers, where they’ll go next and who will go with them. For most of the 95-minute, intermission-free show, we watch the actors get dressed, meditate, put on make-up, rehearse fight choreography and antagonize each other during pre-show rituals in a basement dressing room.
Thanks to the meticulous and entertaining scene design by Seth Campbell, the set is virtually identical to a theater’s actual green room, littered mismatched furniture, cast-off props, coffee cups, and old movie and theater posters. Actors dodge a water leak that streams down from the ceiling each time a toilet flushes in the adjacent bathrooms.
And anyone who has participated in college or community theater productions will recognize the archetypes in the cast of characters. (Playwright Sherman evidently drew heavily on his own experience as an actor in the early days of Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company in creating the piece.) There’s the charming but cocky star who shows up late, the neurotic stage manager who stomps through the dressing room barking orders, the bitter prima donna who believes he should have been the lead and complains about the lack of professionalism among his fellow cast members, the cut-ups who are always “on” and will do anything for applause or a laugh, the couple brought together by the show and the couple that is doomed because one of them is infinitely more talented than the other.
As the actor portraying Hamlet, Marcus Jahn embodies a John Travolta look and swagger. Hooked on movies and constantly quoting famous scenes instead of having “straight” conversations, he mimics his titular role: unable to commit, vacillating between manic and maniacal with his fellow actors. Jahn’s movie impressions are sometimes vague, but he lights up the room with his character’s charisma and “star power.”
As the snobby actor playing Laertes, whose superior attitude alienates his cast mates, Jacob Guzier is a wonder to watch. His precision with small tasks, such as meticulously combing out his wig before putting it on, speaks volumes about his character. And his moments of honest vulnerability, where he learns to be a better actor and a better person, are some of show’s most fulfilling.
Likewise, as the actor playing Gertrude, Ann Guadagnino, is beautifully compelling. Looking every inch like a ’70s cover girl, she struggles with the dilemma of accepting a dream job with a major theater on the East Coast, or turning down the opportunity because agreed to work only where her husband finds employment.
The cast bring plenty of frenzy and angst to the story and the pace is brisk, but unfortunately there’s not enough humor in the script to balance out the backstage crises, big and small. When the curtain comes down on their last performance of Hamlet, it feels more like a relief than a triumph, which shortchanges the actors in the production as well as the audience. As Hamlet says, “the play’s the thing,” but this play doesn’t add up to much more than a collection of memories of quirky theater people.
