First dates can be the start of a beautiful relationship or a wasted evening. Casey and Aaron are hoping for the best in “First Date” at Oil Lamp Theater in Glenview, Sept. 5-Oct. 20.
The musical by Austin Winsberg (book) and Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner (music and lyrics) is at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays, 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays, and 3 p.m. Sundays.
“I felt like I had a visceral connection to this script from the beginning,” said director Christina Ramirez. “I moved to New York City right out of college. I immediately started online dating. People of my generation grew up romanticizing finding love in New York City. It turns out, it’s not as easy as the movies make it look. It’s something now I can look back on and laugh at and that is what we intend for the audience to do—laugh a lot.”
The musical focuses on the first date of a young couple, Casey and Aaron.
“So many of the women in the cast identify with the character of Casey,” Ramirez said. “She’s been hurt in the past so, like many of, she has her wall up. She is wary of giving her heart away too quickly and allowing herself to be vulnerable. She has learned to keep up this tough exterior in order to protect herself.”
Dani Pike, who plays the character, added, “Casey is fiercely independent and very intelligent and curious. But she also, like so many of us, struggles with self-doubt and insecurity.”
The actor observed that Casey has low expectations for her date with Aaron, but she is in for a surprise.
“The script really does read like a TV or film rom-com,” Pike said. “And then you’ve got these big musical numbers interspersed throughout. That’s so unique.”
Pike praised the Oil Lamp Theater’s space as a perfect venue for this musical, which takes place in an intimate bar. “The audience is going to be right there,” she explained.
Pike can relate to unusual first dates.
“I’ve been with my current partner for over a decade,” she related. “On our first date, we were just high school kids and we went to a Walmart and looked through the $5 movie bins. When you’re with the right person, it doesn’t matter what you do.”
In terms of Casey’s date, “Aaron is super neurotic,” the director said. “He believes in true love. He’s had hardships of his own but ultimately he feels more comfortable putting himself out there and going for it, even if he is making a complete fool of himself.”
“I’ve loved ‘First Date,’ the musical, since I was a teenager,” said Adrian Thornburg who plays Aaron.
“Aaron is a very nervous, very tightly-wound gentleman in his late 20s, with thinning hair and a very low opinion of himself,” Thornburg said.
The character thinks that blind dates are “an excellent opportunity to get exposed and get embarrassed,” Thornburg said. “He’s someone who just got out of a long relationship and hadn’t really dated a lot before that relationship. He’s not sure what to expect. He just knows to be scared.”
Thornburg indicated that this is an interesting character for him to play because, “We’re almost a little bit too alike,” he said. “We’re both nervous Jewish people in our late 20s, who are kind of starting to lose our hair a little bit and have a somewhat limited but still slightly traumatic romantic past.”
Ramirez indicated that they have had to do some minor updates of the musical. “Even though it premiered on Broadway in 2013, I think our collective conscience as a society has moved forward and so we have actively found ways to make the script relevant today,” Ramirez said. “There are jokes in the script that we are viewing through the lens of 2024 and I think we’ve been really successful.”
Actor Pike added, “I think this is going to be a landmark production of ‘First Date.’ We’re really modernizing and humanizing and letting this story live in us in the year 2024.”
(Fact Box)
‘First Date’
When: Sept. 5-Oct. 20
Where: Oil Lamp Theater, 1723 Glenview Rd., Glenview
Tickets: $20-$48
Information: 847-834-0738; oillamptheater.org.
MORE THINGS TO DO THIS WEEK
Here are some other events occurring the week of Sept. 5-11 in Doings and Pioneer Press suburbs.
Snap!
The Theatre of Western Springs presents “The Mousetrap,” Sept. 8-15 at 4384 Hampton Ave., Western Springs. Tickets: $28; $15 students and children. 708-246-3380; theatreofwesternsprings.com.
The hosts and guests are trapped in a hotel where a murderer is on the loose in this Agatha Christie classic.
Noteworthy performer
Studio5 presents “You Will Be My Music,” 8 p.m. Sept. 6 and 3 p.m. Sept. 8, at 1938 Dempster St., Evanston. Tickets: $30-$40. 847-328-6683; tickettailor.com/events/studio5performingartscenter.
Screening of a documentary film about Chicago jazz singer Paul Marinaro’s career and a performance by the Paul Marinaro Quintet.
Nun fun
Madison Street Theater presents “Late Night Catechism, 3 p.m. Sept. 8 at Black Box, 1010 Madison St., Oak Park. Tickets: $35. 708-634-5700; madisonstreettheater.org/events.
The audience members participate in this uproarious religious class in the long-running hit by Vicki Quade and Maripat Donovan.
Myrna Petlicki is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
