"A masterpiece...one of the literary milestones" - Variety

RECOMMENDED: 'John Doe' provides Capra-esque cure for post-9/11 world
Chicago Sun-Times, March 24, 2004
By Hedy Weiss

It's easy to see why Shattered Globe Theatre found the idea of adapting Frank Capra's 1941 film "Meet John Doe" so hugely appealing. Just consider the slew of timely subjects it deals with: election-year politics and the bombastic marching band show of patriotism that often accompanies them; a floundering economy and widespread, demoralizing joblessness; the corruption of the press from the top (via politically ambitious tycoons) and from the bottom (hard-driven reporters pressured into making a big splash to help spike circulation, ethics be damned); dangerous rumblings from Europe (including an eerie reference to calamitous events in Spain); a tense standoff between Marxist politics on the left, garden variety demagoguery on the right and Christian deliverance somewhere in the middle; a spirited critique of consumerism gone amok, and plenty of talk about the true meaning of freedom and democracy.

True, we are now in a post-millennial, post-Sept. 11 world, and Capra was a product of the Great Depression, of all the jangling ideological debates of the 1930s and of his own particular loyalties and world view. But that troubled period, with all the conflicting forces at work in it, often serves as a theatrical guidepost for our own times. The tone and rhetorical style might be retro. And the specific nature of the threats, of course, has shifted. Yet the more things change, the more they remain surprisingly the same as the masses are easily manipulated, the powerful are hellbent on consolidating and expanding their power and no one remains entirely innocent.

Director Louis Contey (who most recently staged Shattered Globe's fiery production of "Judgment at Nuremburg") has co-adapted Robert Riskin's original story and screenplay for "Meet John Doe" in collaboration with Dori Robinson. And they have kept the work's cinematic sweep, with Contey using the cavernous space of the Viaduct almost as if it were a movie soundstage.

Set designer Kevin Hagan's giant clapboard flag backdrop and multiple playing platforms suggest the breadth of the American continent -- from bustling big city to desert solitude, from diners and boxcars to newsrooms, convention halls and kitchen tables. Shelley Strasser-Holland's lighting suggests a black-and-white film, with a touch of colorization courtesy of Nicole Rene Burchfield's fine period costumes. Scenes are stitched together with the use of a Brechtian-style chorus of folk-singing hobos (Ann James, Doug McDade and John Harrell, with musical direction by Andrew Hansen), though the diffuse, echoey sound in the Viaduct proves to be the worst enemy of all the performers. They fade in and out of audibility depending on where you are seated and where a scene is being played.

The story is set in motion when media tycoon D.B. Norton (the slickly evil Ben Werling) buys a major daily and immediately announces a sweeping staff cut. Among those ordered to clean out their desks is a serious and talented city reporter, Ann Mitchell (the very smart and appealing Julie Granata, who is nothing like the film's star, Barbara Stanwyck, but exceptionally effective). Mitchell's final column, written in a rage, gets the boss' attention, however: It is the tale of an average guy who has threatened to commit suicide on Christmas Eve by jumping from the roof of City Hall, his way of protesting the cruelty and inhumanity of contemporary society. It also happens to be pure invention.

Mitchell ultimately makes a deal with the devil and agrees to embroider the fantasy. She finds a suitable stand-in for John Doe in an injured wannabe baseball player in need of cash (Joe Forbrich plays the Gary Cooper role, and easily suggests a man lost and then destroyed in the maelstrom). But the hoax gradually gets out of hand as Doe's story and homespun humanity -- lifted from the wisdom of Mitchell's wise mother (a strongly anchored Linda Reiter) and from the journals of Mitchell's late, idealistic father -- catch on like wildfire. Fan clubs sweep the nation. And as the followers of Doe become a political force to reckon with, they also become a malleable mob that Norton and his fellow magnates plan to use for their own ends. And neither Ann nor Joe can escape.

Joe hangs out with a philosophical older hobo, the Colonel (the wonderfully droll and amusing Maury Cooper), who rails against capitalism and warns of the downfall of those who fall prey to its lures, even if he isn't entirely opposed to free doughnuts and pie. Also along for the roller coaster ride are Don Blair and Scott Aiello, as Norton's hapless intermediaries, with neat character turns by Eileen Niccolai, Brian McCartney, Kevin Kenneally and Leonard J. Kraft.

All this is pure Capra, of course. And it can get a little long-winded and corny. (A good trim and some tightening would only benefit the script.) Yet there is ambition and passion at work here, and the whole thing can be viewed as part of an American mosaic that includes such classics as "All the King's Men," "Elmer Gantry," "The Front Page," "The Cradle Will Rock" and even "The Grapes of Wrath."