Gidget
Frederick Kohner

Hanging 10 – For more than 27 seasons, City Lit Theater has routinely mounted Chicago’s smartest stage adaptations. But even with the great respect I have for City Lit’s work – including Holmes and Watson, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and an earlier work based on Raymond Carver’s writing – it was difficult for me to ever imagine enjoying Terry McCabe and Marissa McKown’s production of Gidget. Turns out I loved the show. Through the combination of McCabe and McKown’s skillful adaptation of Frederick Kohner’s book and the zest Sabrina Kramnich, Phillip Marino, Carrie Hardin, Brian Pastor and other actors bring to their performances, the show is a buoyant hint of summer. Played with just the right integrity, the whole show skims gently over the waters of innocence without seeming trifle or foolish. Plus, the audience enjoyed a special treat the evening Robert Charles and I attended: Kathy Kohner Zuckerman, Frederick’s daughter and the real-life Gidget, joined us in the audience and autographed copies of her father’s book at intermission.