Linda Vista (Steppenwolf, Chicago) by Tracy Letts

 A new play by the incomparable Tracy Letts was part of the reason for our recent journey to Chicago.  The show alone was worth the trip. 

Linda Vista is the somewhat seedy neighborhood of San Diego where Wheeler (the terrific Ian Barford), a train-wreck of a middle-aged man, moves after his marriage implodes.  When the play opens, Wheeler is moving into a bland, anonymous apartment with the help of an old college friend, Paul (Tim Hopper) and the immobility of his likes and personality start to appear.  Wheeler, we will see, is bright and charming and has a wonderful way with words, but he is rigid and uncompromising.

Wheeler is underemployed as a camera repair man; his dream of being a great newspaper photographer, he once worked at the Chicago Sun Times, dead at his own hands.   He works in a shop owned by the ragingly un-PC Michael (played with slimy glee by Troy West) alongside Anita (Caroline Neff) another drifting soul, but the one woman in the play with enough sense not to date him. 

Paul and his wife, Margaret (Sally Murphy) seem content in their disgruntled way and in an attempt to help Wheeler find some happiness, set him up with their age-appropriate friend, Jules (Cora Vander Broek).  Jules is a chirpy life coach with a Master’s degree in Happiness, trust issues and a big, open heart.  Given that she is better than he deserves, Wheeler, of course, must ruin things by throwing her over for his 20 year-old rockabilly neighbor, Minnie (Kahyun Kim).  Minnie is running from her Vietnamese heritage and abusive boyfriend and Wheeler feels empowered in saving her by offering, first, a refuge in his apartment and then himself. 

This, of course, does not end well and Wheeler is left standing in the smoking rubble of the life to which he has set the match.

Wheeler’s inability to see himself as he really is (a trait shared by most of us, but highlighted here as a blind spot of middle-aged males) leads to his inability to stop repeatedly making the same mistakes.  It is why he seems surprised, as well as rueful when, as he tells Anita, it seems that most stories he tells about himself end with the phrase………..”and he was humiliated”.

This is a funny, moving show, rife with the rich, gorgeous language which has made me such a huge fan of Letts’ work.  The cast is perfection and the entire production spot-on.  On the off-chance that it doesn’t transfer to Broadway get to Chicago and see it for yourself.