Side Man

SIDE MAN

CHARACTER: Clifford

Steppenwolf Theater Company, Chicago

September 16 – November 7, 1999

WRITTEN BY: Warren Leight

DIRECTED BY: Anna D. Shapiro

CAST:

Rick Snyder, succeeded by Gary Cole – Gene
Rondi Reed – Terry
Garret Dillahunt – Clifford
Alan Wilder – Ziggy
Jason Wells – Jonesy
Carmen Roman – Patsy
Will Zahrn – Al

SYNOPSIS:

Tony Award winner for Best Play of 1999, Warren Leight’s hauntingly beautiful memory play tells the story of a fractured family and the music of their lives. Moving in and out of the past, Clifford, the only son of a gifted jazz trumpet player and his lost and isolated wife, takes us from his parents’ first meeting during the heyday of jazz, through the decline of the big bands and the dissolution of their troubled marriage. With humor and grace, Leight brings us back to the era of the zoot suit, a world of cobbled-together club dates and unemployment checks, and some of the most beautiful music ever made.

REVIEW:

The framework of the play hangs on Clifford’s reminiscing about life with Gene as he prepares to go see Gene perform, perhaps for the last time. Through a series of flashbacks we see how Gene and Terry met, high (and low) points of their relationship, and the general arc of Gene’s career as a free-lance big-band trumpet player. Consequently, we also get a view of how music and society changed, from the days of the travelling big bands to the advent of Elvis and rock ‘n’ roll. [Jazz In Chicago]

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