(Hedy Weiss’s article appeared in the Chicago Sun-Time, 10/18.)
With its gloriously full-sail world premiere production of “Treasure Island,” Lookingglass Theatre has headed out to sea again, riding with abandon on the formidable current generated by its extraordinary staging of “Moby Dick.” Clearly there is something about a shipboard yarn — especially one propelled by a sense of adventure, obsession and moral complexity — that brings out the very best in this company.
Although Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1883 novel is categorized as a children’s book (and, as the author himself proclaimed, was geared to boys), that ever ingenious adapter-director Mary Zimmerman understands that a strong story full of larger-than-life characters and the quest for filthy lucre has no age barrier. And if it’s narrated by a young boy recounting the life-altering experiences that made him a man — and animated by a ship full of rowdy pirates, plenty of rum and even an engaging parrot — you can hardly lose.
http://entertainment.suntimes.com/stage/lookingglass-theatre-full-tilt-sails-treasure-island/
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