Beware: You might just fall in love with that elegant, somewhat self-satisfied white porcelain rabbit by the name of Edward Tulane – the one with the tall tapering ears, enigmatic face and fashion-forward style who is catapulted time and again into the most heartbreaking trajectory of life. I certainly did.
In fact, the Chicago Children’s Theatre production of “The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane” is so captivating – such an enchanting show for every age (whether you happen to be accompanied by children or not) – that it sent me searching for a copy of the Newbery Medal-winning book by Kate DiCamillo I had never read. Dwayne Hartford’s adaptation of the story, along with director Stuart Carden’s beguiling direction of a cast of four superlative, richly musical performers, renders every element of DiCamillo’s book with faithfulness and flair. More than that, it uncannily taps into the rapidly beating heart and often fatalistic intelligence of the French-crafted toy (who is not at all happy when he is called a “doll” or put in a dress), and brings him, and all those who move through his story, to vivid life.
‘THE MIRACULOUS JOURNEY OF EDWARD TULANE’
Highly recommended
When: Through Nov. 15
Where: Chicago Children’s Theatre
at Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn
Tickets: $10 – $39
Info: (872) 222-9555; www.chicagochildrenstheatre.org
Run time: 90 minutes, with no intermission
It all begins with a “once upon a time,” and Jessie Fisher, the Chicago actress who recently returned from a stint on Broadway in “Once,” makes a remarkable Traveler/narrator, with a smooth-as-silk way of finding just the right accent and attitude for her many characters.
Fisher begins in Old Country grandmother mode, “in a house on Egypt Street,” where the somewhat elitist rabbit (whose human alter ego is played by Patrick Budde, a recent Northwestern grad who brings a perfect mix of understatement and resignation to Edward’s inner life) becomes the dearly beloved possession of a well-to-do 10-year-old girl, Abilene Tulane (Melanie Brezill, a veteran of Broadway musical tours, whose girlish sense of wonder is enriched by just the right amount of emotional depth).
Disaster strikes first when Abilene takes Edward on a grand ocean voyage and a couple of thugs grab him and toss him into the sea. He will spend 297 days in the muck before being caught in a net by a fisherman who brings him home to live with him and his wife and treat him like their child. But when the couple’s snooty adult daughter, who visits from the city, grows jealous of Edward, she hauls him off to a garbage dump. Again he survives, and is rescued by a dog and a hobo (Kelvin Roston Jr., who brings warmth and a touching folk quality to the role), with whom, for some time, he shares the rough life, riding the rails and “dancing” as a marionette on the streets of Memphis until disaster strikes yet again.
Edward will go on to be perched on a pole as a scarecrow, become the beloved companion of a poor young girl in a troubled family who knows she is dying. And then, just as his heart is beginning to grow increasingly human, he is almost fatally smashed.
But of course Edward Tulane is on a long, miraculous journey, so he ultimately is repaired by a master craftsman who even restores his stylish blue silk suit and puts him on a shelf beside a princess doll with the hope that he will be resold. And as in all good stories, Edward finds himself not only radically changed, but happily heading home.
The inventively folky musical direction by Fisher and Erik Hellman (with the actors playing guitar, banjo, kazoo, piano) is an ideal complement to the show’s clear but sophisticated language. And there is seamless design courtesy of John Musial’s ingenious set (lit by Lee Fiskness), the wonderfully whimsical costumes of Rachel Anne Healy and props of Emily Breyer, and Mikhail Fiksel’s evocative sound are of one piece in this tale of the many forms of love, rebirth and resilience.
