A STAR VEHICLE ON THE ROAD TO FRANCIS GUINAN

I confess to some amount of trepidation as I settled into my seat at the Goodman Theatre, launching its centennial season with the world premiere of Lee Kirk’s Ashland Avenue, directed by Susan V. Booth. For weeks I’d been inundated with promotional images of television star Jenna Fischer—which is fine as I am a fan of her work on The Office—and the fact that the playwright is her spouse did not help matters. Why? Star vehicles for TV and movie stars rarely work out well. Thankfully, while Ashland Avenue is definitely a star vehicle, it’s not for the one you expect.

Jenna Fischer, Francis Guinan

The play opens on one of the most stunning sets I’ve ever seen. Set designer Kevin Depinet has reproduced a classic Chicago local neighborhood store with mind-boggling attention to detail. It took my breath away when I walked into the theatre and after casting an eye around to see the reactions of the other patrons, I can safely say my opinion was part of the consensus.

Jenna Fischer, Chiké Johnson

The store in question sells television sets and other electronics. It was once the flagship of a local empire of sixteen stores run by Pete. Now all the other stores are gone. Pete’s daughter Sam wants to take off for Los Angeles to further her husband’s career. and a young woman he’s taken into his home to help her out (Cordelia Dewdney as Jess) is moving out to take up again with an ex. And Pete is being given an award by the mayor for his past contributions to the city. An award that is as much an honor as it is a cutting reminder that his time has passed.

Cordelia Dewdney, Francis Guinan

There is nothing surprising here in terms of plot. In point of fact, it reminded me of a great exchange from an old Simpsons episode where Marge and Homer comfort Lisa after her dashed showbiz dreams of being a ballet dancer with, “You can always write a depressing Broadway play of some kind… It could be a story about people coming to terms with things.” Ashland Avenue isn’t particularly depressing but it most definitely is about people coming to terms with things.

 Jenna Fischer, Francis Guinan and Chiké Johnson

Kirk’s script dutifully hits the expected notes and he hits some of those notes a few too many times: the arguments start to get repetitive and the pace occasionally slackens, especially in the second act when Francis Guinan’s Pete is off stage more often, but with a couple of exceptions there’s nothing especially bad about the dialog. There’s nothing especially brilliant either. It’s modest. Those exceptions, interestingly enough, are Jenna Fischer’s two big monologues at the onset of act two. Fischer, bless her, gives her all to make them work and almost pulls off the first—a rant about her childhood and life in the shop—but there is no saving the second where she has to describe the plot of the book she wants to write.

Francis Guinan, Jenna Fischer and Chiké Johnson

Fischer comes to the play with remarkable generosity, performing with the energy of a true ensemble member, and with a decent Midwestern accent to boot (hat-tip to voice and dialect coach Stan Brown). The part however does her no favors, especially in the first act where the character is a tiresome one-note scold, but fortunately, and much to my relief, her considerable charm (so potent in The Office) cannot be contained and peeks through consistently, softening the character to the betterment of the play. Chiké Johnson, as her husband, Mike, provides hilarious support, playing the good-natured man caught in between a father and daughter who are more similar to each other than they would like to admit.

Francis Guinan and Will Allan

The star here, and the reason to go see Ashland Avenue, is Chicago theatre stalwart Francis Guinan, whose unsettling Goldberg in an otherwise meh production of The Birthday Party at Steppenwolf remains one of my favorite Pinter performances, even over a decade later. The beauty of Guinan’s masterful performance is in how restrained and non-theatrical it is. Even when the script calls for him to lose his temper, his blowouts are controlled, and much more effective for that. Behind his doddering affability, Pete is a sly, manipulative, gaslighting man and father—there were multiple occasions where I muttered, “what an a-hole’—and Guinan plays him with such skill that the question is not why everyone in his life wants to abandon him, but why they’ve waited so long to do it. The answer: He’s that good at manipulating them.

Ashland Avenue wants to be a play about aging, being left behind as the world moves on, and the fear of death. I’m not sure the script succeeds at that on its own merits but thanks to his brilliant and complex performance, Francis Guinan’s Pete gets it over the finish line.

And goddamn but that is one gorgeous set.

Jenna Fischer

photos by Todd Rosenberg

Ashland Avenue
Goodman Theatre’s Albert Theatre, 170 North Dearborn
ends on to October 19, 2025
for tickets ($33-$148; subject to change), call 312.443.3800 or visit Goodman Theatre

for more shows, visit Theatre in Chicago