Daily Herald's "Ugly" Review

Musical fairy tale charming but didn't need magic ending
BY BARBARA VITELLO Daily Herald Staff WriterPosted Thursday, May 18, 2006


“Sleeping Ugly” would have made a great feminist fairy tale, if only it hadn’t stacked the deck.
Inspired by Jane Yolen’s chil-dren’s book, which puts a new spin on the “Sleeping Beauty” story, this revisionist tale in its world premiere at Chicago’s Griffin Theatre has all the makings of a modern classic. The good-hearted heroine triumphs, the ill-tempered harpy fails, every-one lives happily ever after and the audience leaves having been re-minded that personality matters more than appearance.

Except the characters in this kid-friendly musical don’t come to that realiza-tion on their own. They require a shot of magic to help them recog-nize it.

Ultimately, they make the right choices, but they never really choose freely. Yolen sets it up so they can’t help but do the right thing. If left to their own devices, they might not act so nobly.

Then again, happy endings are mandatory in a fairy tale, even revisionist ver-sions.

Charming as it is, “Sleep-ing Ugly” would have been more compelling had they come to this realization not under the influence of an enchantment, but because of their good sense.

That said, Griffin’s polished, playful produc-tion is a pleasing confection that celebrates fairy tale conventions even as it satirizes them.

The lively, amusing adaptation by Griffin artistic director William Massolia benefits from composer/lyricist George Howe’s sunny, tuneful score and clever lyrics.

There’s the rollicking “Fairy Light Brigade,” featuring an engaging trio of sprites (Steve Best, Jill Hames and Michael Klug) crooning “we’ve got your back when leprechauns attack;” the sweet, simple ballad “Dreaming in His Arms,” in which plain-Jane (the winsome Leah Morrow) sings “I’m beautiful when I’m dreaming/people don’t run screaming” and the sar-donic, samba-inspired “Misery Loves Company” in which an ill-tempered princess (the gleefully obnoxious Colleen McSherry) tor-ments her maraca-shaking, castanet-clicking backup singers (deft work by Best and Klug).

Crisply di-rected by co-artistic director Richard Barletta (the play runs just over an hour, perfect for young audiences with short attention spans), it boasts storybook-inspired set by J. Branson and a spunky cast which includes lanky Matthew Lon Walker, engag-ing as Toad the avuncular narrator of this tale about nasty but beautiful Princess Miserella (McSherry as the quintessential “mean girl”) who finds herself lost in the woods.

She demands help from an ag-ing fairy played by Hames (who also does a nice job as Miserella’s loopy but endearing mother) and Plain Jane (Morrow), the kind-hearted animal loving vegan, who is beauti-ful “deep inside her heart, where it counts the most.”

Miserella re-sponds to their efforts with insults, mocking nice girl Jane in “Good Girls” (sharply performed by McSherry) in which the princess reminds the pauper that “bad girls get the prince, good girls get left behind.” Before they can rid them-selves of their unwelcome guest, the women fall victim to an ill-conceived sleeping spell. It’s up to poor but earnest prince, Jojo (an-other nice comic turn by Best who looks like a young Jeremy Piven) to rouse them.

Who will he choose? That’s never really in doubt, but in a true modern tale, it would be. A heroine wouldn’t have to resort to wishing to get a man and a prince wouldn’t be coerced by magic into choosing the right woman.

Now that’s a fairy tale.

“Sleeping Ugly”
. . .½
out of four
Location: Theatre Building, 1225 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago
Times: 7:30 p.m. Fri-day; 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday; 2:30 p.m. Sunday through June 25
Running time: About 70 minutes, no intermis-sion
Parking: $7 valet or on the street
Tickets: $15-$24
Box office: (773) 327-5252 or www.griffintheatre.com
Rating: Suitable for all ages