I missed the opening of Circus Quixote at Lookingglass Feb. 8, opting for the opening of Sam Shepard’s Fool for Love at Steppenwolf instead. It felt like a tough decision at the time. Should I experience the latest dynamite pairing of Shepard and Steppenwolf or should I join the throngs rooting for Lookingglass as it returned from its recent near-death experience. It turns out I made the right choice.
I caught up with Circus Quixote on Feb. 13, the 37th birthday of Lookingglass. I’m glad the theater is around to celebrate another year, and hope it stays around for decades more. It’s an important thread in Chicago’s cultural fabric and most theater lovers in the city have fond memories of the whimsical spectacles and literary adaptations it’s known for.
Circus Quixote, produced in association with The Actors Gymnasium, fits right in with that tradition, being an adaptation of the Cervantes novel Don Quixote that leans into whimsical spectacle, which is a good match for the source material. I love Lookingglass. I love Don Quixote. As a novelist, I’m always happy to recall that the first published novel was such a delightful tale. I wanted to love Circus Quixote as well. But, alas.
Look, it’s a fun, fairly faithful retelling of the major stories in the novel on a clever set that employs a wall made of books to depict castles, caves and all manner of other locations. Including, of course, windmills. The circus portion of the proceedings includes an actor taking a few spins around the metal frame of a windmill. It’s worth a chuckle. But if you’re going to call something a circus, you’ll typically want to present more accomplished circus-type performances, especially with Teatro ZinZanni showing how it’s done about 10 blocks to the southwest.
The first act is amiable enough, and there’s good energy onstage from a fine company of actors. But this play, which essentially gives us variations on the same tilting-at-windmills setup over and over, did not need a second act.
It’s a family friendly show with a lot of heart, and you might well like it more than I did. By all means, check it out. But we can all be glad that Lookingglass is back to producing live theater, and that there will be other shows to enjoy in the months, and hopefully years, ahead.
Circus Quixote runs through March 30 at Lookingglass Theatre.
For a full roundup of reviews of this show, visit Theatre in Chicago.
Photo by Joe Mazza/brave lux
