Delightful 'Dream': Teatro Vista's world premiere 'silent musical' is a poignant tale of love
“The Dream King” - ★ ★ ★ ★
Exiting the Chopin Theatre Saturday following Teatro Vista's thoroughly entertaining “The Dream King,” it occurred to me writing a review of this world premiere would pose a challenge. The challenge would be to come up with synonyms for “charming,” which only begins to describe this 21st-century urban fairy tale and love story conceived by Highland Park's Marvin Quijada.
A fanciful show about a man who falls in love with a woman he meets in his dreams, “The Dream King” is billed as “silent musical,” but a more accurate description would be a stage version of a silent movie.
In place of spoken dialogue, the play - which is co-directed by Sandra Marquez and Alice da Cunha - uses intertitles or title cards (in English, Spanish and Polish). And, as in silent films, the action unfolds to music. In this case, it's an eclectic score that pairs original compositions with snippets of jazz, pop standards (Harold Arlen's “Let's Fall in Love”) and classical music (Leo Delibes' “Flower Duet,” Claude Debussy's “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun”), including the ideally placed light classical piece “The Typewriter” by American composer Leroy Anderson.
The affable, agile Quijada plays Sam, an ordinary, solitary guy who spends his unremarkable waking life in an office shuffling papers. After work, he returns to his apartment, where he watches television (alone) and goes to bed (alone).
His dream life is another story. In his dreams, Sam transforms from anonymous cog in a corporate machine into a hero who conjures adventures - many of them fueled by alcohol - which he shares with an array of fantastical creatures. Among them is a moon man (Tommy Rivera-Vega), Sam's best dreamland pal and solicitous drinking buddy.
Things change when Sam encounters a fellow dreamer played by the winsome Ashlyn Lozano. He is smitten. As their relationship progresses, Sam's waking life improves. All is right with both worlds, until Sam's neglected entourage, jealous of his new girlfriend, demands his attention.
Marquez and da Cunha's breezy, imaginative production features a nimble ensemble of clowns, circus artists, actors and puppeteers, including Chih-Jou Cheng, Jean Claudio, Liz Krane, Ayssette Munoz, Claudia Quesada and Jordan Reinwald.
Joe Schermoly's otherworldly moonscape-style set, Caitlin McLeod's avian-inspired costumes, Mike Oleon's puppets and Saskia Bakker's quirky props - which include a garden whose flowers are made of feet - reflect the whimsy that underscores Quijada's tale.
But “The Dream King” is more than a quaint diversion. Quijada, Marquez and da Cunha have crafted a thoughtful meditation on loneliness, the importance of connecting with other humans and the fundamental resilience of the human spirit. Quijada, an agile clown and a veteran of Chicago's Silent Theatre Company, is ideally suited to the role of Sam.
His deeply expressive performance is more powerful for its silence. Quijada needs no words to express Sam's yearning - we see it in his slumped shoulders, furrowed brow and the faraway look in his eyes. His rigid spine and blank expression tells us everything we need to know about the effect his mind-numbing job has on his spirit. And his goofy smile - a combination of joy and disbelief - conveys better than any flowery monologue the delight of falling in love.
It's a beguiling performance at the heart of a most charming dream.
Location: Teatro Vista, at Chopin Theatre, 1543 W. Division St., Chicago, teatrovista.org
Showtimes: 8 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday through June 18
Running time: About 75 minutes, no intermission
Tickets: $45
Parking: Nearby garage and street parking
Rating: For teens and older
COVID-19 precautions: Masks optional