“Redmoon’s ‘Winter’ warms your heart”
REVIEW | Season ticket: summer, fall, spring also take a bow

November 25, 2009
BY HEDY WEISS Theater Critic
hweiss@suntimes.com

Early on in Redmoon Theatre’s 2009 Winter Pageant, a girl arrives onstage carrying an old-fashioned suitcase. As she carefully lifts its locks and raises its lid the sound of birdsong fills the air. And inside the case we see strange grass-like balls — birds’ nests perhaps — that make you believe it just might be spring again.

Of course this being the latest Redmoon holiday season pageant — yet another of those traditionally wintry romps that first put the company on the map (long before its recent little Halloween adventures at the White House) — it is a sure bet that all the seasons will eventually be spotlighted. And yes, this year’s pageant lets spring, summer, fall and winter all take their bows with small, artfully poetic moments counterpointed by a storm of big, silly bombastic ones.

And who can resist it? Certainly not the wide eyed, one-year-old boy whose mother devotedly held him in her arms throughout the hour long show, angling him so that he could see each surprising scene. (He remained spellbound.)

Human clouds perambulated. A big blue car arrived, with four bakers tumbling out — bearing cakes and pies that a lost girl would happily have devoured had it not been for a big, fat baby with a ravenous appetite who pursued the sweets more feverishly.

Then came a surrey with a garden on its roof. It was tended by a fellow who ate a bunch of red phosphorescent berries that unexpectedly “hatched” in his belly and were expelled to much laughter.

White rice paper cranes, lit from within, flew into the space next, signaling a mood change. And another suitcase was opened revealing dried leaves and mushrooms.

In the wake of a great downpour a trio of cocky pirates sailed into view. They sang a winning chanty that proclaimed: “We ransom our mothers, and with the coins in our chest/We buy them right back and in stocks we invest.” (This earned a big laugh from the adults in the house.)

Deep-sea divers arrived with soap bubble-generating tanks on their backs. And then, before you knew it, winter was on its way in the form of a spectacular ice draped banquet table. Here, in a particularly dark and disturbing moment, cries for food from the offstage “hungry” were heard, and a great global food fight was set in motion.

The show comes full circle as giant trunks are opened, and a little village of illuminated houses is assembled, with a particularly beautiful one revealing a granny on a rocking chair, surrounded by birds. On a cold night it appears there might be peace on Earth.

Though the transitions from scene to scene sometimes lose a bit of momentum, director Vanessa Stalling — whose collaborators include Frank Maugeri, Jim Lasko, Chantal Calato, a slew of other visual and musical artists, and an ensemble of seven hugely likable performers — has made sure that the arrival of our first real snowfall this year will be a bit less painful.