Perfectly Chicago, and perfect in its way, is the in-your-face and warm-your-heart theater of “Hellcab Does Christmas.”
Originally a late-night presentation at the Famous Door Theatre, this 70-minute collection of scenes from a day in the life of a Chicago cabbie has now been moved onto the group’s mainstage for the holidays, and, despite rough language and some truly nasty bits, it is a joyous and spirited choice for the Christmas season.
Will Kern, a former cabdriver, has constructed his play as a series of vignettes, some no longer than a minute or two, stretching from the early hours of a cold Thursday morning in December to the final fare of the night.
Loren Lazerine, layered in grungy clothes and with a Chicago Bulls cap on his head, is the chain-smoking cabdriver, and Tara Chocol, Marc Grapey, Andrew Hawkes, Laura Kellogg and James Vaughan portray the dozens of passengers who go for a ride in the full-sized (but topless) Yellow Cab that set designer Robert G. Smith has placed on the square, open stage.
Beginning with a 6:30 a.m. trip by a born-again couple to the Pillar of Fire church on the North Side, the cabbie’s long day’s journey proceeds with fares from, among many others, a dangerous trio of druggies, a piggish mini-capitalist, a benumbed rape victim, an argumentative pair of fellow cabbies, a drunken woman on welfare, a smug lawyer, a randy couple on the way to a motel, and two boisterous New Yorkers out on the town.
Alternately frightening, hilarious and poignant, these sharply etched blackouts and cameos, directed by Jennifer Markowitz, are capped by a stunning and very touching final scene that finds the driver and his customer united in a sweet, sentimental bond of good will.
Everything about the production, aside from an occasional tendency to whisper the lines, is absolutely right. The actors are phenomenal in capturing every naturalistic tic of their characters; even the street destinations seem flawlessly chosen to match the personality of the cab’s customers.
“Hellcab Does Christmas” is a real joy ride.
“Hellcab Does Christmas” runs through Dec. 26 at Famous Door Theatre, 3212 N. Broadway. Phone 312-404-8283.
