(L-R) Molly Griggs, Wesley Taylor, Bryce Gangel, Luigi Sottile, Jordan Lage.(Photo by Todd Rosenberg)
Highly Recommended
For Love and Money
“Holiday” at The Goodman is a fresh world-premiere adaptation of the classic boy meets girl – – boy meets girl’s sister. A romcom by Richard Greenberg, it is based on the original 1928 version by playwright Philip Barry and features an outstanding cast.
A drawing room drama in two acts, it takes place in the opulent uptown home of Edward Seton III (Jordan Lange) an extremely wealthy New York banker. His wife has died and he is the patriarch of an old money family with three adult children.
This is a story about familial love, romantic love and sexual attraction as well as the influence of money, and in both cases those who have too much, those who do not have enough, and those who want more.
Idealistic up-and-coming young attorney Johnny Case (Luigi Sottile) recently met Julia Seton (Molly Griggs) at a New-Age retreat where they spent some extended time together, fell in love and impulsively became engaged.
Julia is a driven entrepreneur owner of a boutique fashion line who neglected to tell Johnny about the fact that she is associated with this extremely wealthy family. This is a fact Johnny has to come-to-terms with just as father Edward has to consider whether this new fiancé is actually a gold-digger.
Julia’s siblings include her substance abusing brother Ned a/k/a Edward Seton IV (Wesley Taylor) who is the primary reason alcohol is not allowed in the house except during holidays. This is apparently from where the play’s name is derived. Their sister Linda Seton (Bryce Gangel) is an artist who lives in Brooklyn where she also works with children.
Linda is torn between two worlds which keeps her at odds with her father who feels rejected by her lifestyle choices. She loves Julia, though she feels the aging debutante is shallow and too dependent on her wealth.
Both sisters are protective of brother Ned though Julia wants to fix him while Linda wants to nurture him back to health. Of course, Edward feels Ned simply needs to stop his nonsense and apply himself to his work.
Drunk roles can be difficult and cringy but Taylor performs Ned with sympathetic perfection achieving a delicate balance of a person teetering on the edge of destruction with just enough control to keep him from being obnoxious or comical.
Disconnected from reality and inhibition Ned is the one most able to see and speak the truth around them. This makes him something of a fool or a shaman. In a desperate need for insight and understanding of her own feelings, Linda asks him to describe in detail what he experiences in his drunken stupor as she considers whether she wants to go there – – either to escape or find answers.
Ultimately this is a love triangle that forces each member of the triumvirate to consider what kind of life they really want. It’s like a road trip where you know the destination but how you get there is the fun part. At one point the sexual tension was so great that when it was released the audience audibly responded.
The dialogue is real and the adaptation by Greenberg deftly introduces modern elements such as cellphones, the Internet, Uber versus Lyft, Instagram, and Door Dash as well as other linguistic transformations and social evolutions that did not exist in 1928. On the contrary what is amazing is how little has actually changed in the way of social interaction and societal relationship to love and money.
Directed by Robert Falls, the pacing was impeccable. The first act seemed to fly by. I was so engaged in the action that I was actually astounded when it had concluded, after a very typical one hour.
The set design of Walt Spangler was spectacular. As the curtain opened revealing the understated grandiose interior of the Seton Family residence with the particularly well rendered portrait of founding progenitor Edward Seton the first, it was obvious we were in for an interesting story.
Costumes by Kaye Voyce included an ensemble of boho chic for Linda and more sophisticated dresses for Julia while Ned lounged around in essentially the same mismatched jog pants and rumpled shirt, indicating he probably never changed his clothes.
Voyce probably had the most fun with the nearly outlandish attire of Laura and Seton Cram (Alejandra Escalante, Erik Hellman) two over-the-top cousins who arrive for lunch from Palm Beach and later help to fill out the all-important Holiday party.
Walter (Rammel Chan) is the long suffering household cook responsible for catering the luncheon and Holiday dinner.
Other guests include the caftan clad Nikka Washburn (Christiana Clark) and Susan Feld (Jesse Fisher) presented in this adaptation as an interracial lesbian couple where Feld incidentally is Jewish as well, so Greenberg covers a lot of territory with these two.
It turns out that both Johnny and Linda are acquainted with Washburn and Feld which becomes a literal point of connection between them. The couple represent everything that the Setons are not.
Before attending I asked myself why is Goodman reviving this 100-year-old play and why now? Well, it is the 100th Anniversary of The Goodman and in short except for the wrapper it seems interpersonal relationships have not changed much.
I may be a bit old fashioned but this production is the gold standard of everything I feel traditional theater should be. In this era of obligatory standing ovations this very appreciative audience leapt to their feet in unison at the conclusion of the performance.
Details: Holiday is at The Goodman – Albert Theatre 170 N Dearborn, Chicago through March 1, 2026. For tickets and information call (312)443-3800 or visit goodmantheatre.org.
Reviewer: Reno Lovison
