TWS Presents Greed (and Laughs) in ‘M*A*S*H’ Playwright’s ‘Sly Fox’

In director Jim Schneider’s Sly Fox, written by late M*A*S*H co-creator and Tootsie scribe Larry Gilbert and now playing at the , a series of absurdly obnoxious characters bring forth those seven deadly sins: wrath, sloth, pride, lust, envy, gluttony and greed.

But really, mostly greed. A lot of greed.

Insatiable greed for money is what has led Foxwell J. Sly (Theatre managing director Bill Hammack, of Lisle) to keep his fetishized fortune in a chest at the foot of his bed (the opening of said chest cues a famous snippet of Handel.) And insatiable greed for that same fortune is what leads a pack of avaricious sycophants to shower gifts and favors upon Sly—hoping his impending death will provide grand returns to them from his estate.

Joke’s on them, of course. Con-man Sly is fit as a fiddle, and having a tremendous laugh as he pulls the puppet strings from his “deathbed,” with his indentured servant Simon Able (Jonathan Kraft, of Indian Head Park) as his partner-in-crime. But Able may have his own agenda as well, and exactly who has outfoxed who is never clear until the final curtain falls.

"The whole thing, really, is a study of how far people will go to get extreme wealth,” said director Schneider (of Chicago, his second directorial gig at TWS) of Gilbert’s semi-modernization of Ben Jonson’s classic Italian satire Volpone. “Truly, this is a play that does not have any character that is redeeming.”

Oh, but is it ever funny—and a little risqué, too.

“Reading the script, I’m going: ‘they’re doing this? On that mainstage?’” Schneider laughed. “We’re really pushing boundaries and we’re not pulling any punches with the show. It’s being played the way it should be played. It shows the underbelly of human nature. It shows people at their worst.”

The show is a large production for the Theatre, involving multiple set changes and an ensemble cast of 18. (Schneider emphasized the indispensability of the show’s many off-stage volunteers.)

Joining Sly and Able in the onstage capers is a vampiric lawyer (Rob Cramer), a hobbled miser (Jack Calvert), a randy prostitute (Lori D'Asta), an overly-pious wife (Kathleen Kusper) and her jealous husband convinced he is destined for cuckoldom (Joe Mills). Toss in a cowboy judge (cum-funeral home director, Hammack again), a hot-tempered Navy man (John Mueller) and a police chief with an… unorthodox approach to the law (Tom Schutt), and the bizarre circus reaches its zenith.

“When you do farce like this, you have to commit totally to it,” said Hammack, who would know, having practically lived at the theatre for the past six weeks with it encompassing both job and hobby. “You can’t just do it halfway.”

“People are afraid to allow themselves to be ridiculous and to play the size that needs to be played,” agreed Schneider. “You have to leave any inhibitions and fear of looking foolish at the door if you’re going to do the play. I told them, ‘I want you to go as far as you can, as far over the top as you can.’”

In other words: there’s no such thing as overacting in this vaudevillian realm of outsized characters. Even Able, perhaps the most sympathetic voice in the room, is in plenty of ways over-the-top himself.

“I try to play the character as, you hate him but you love him,” Kraft said. “Everyone is after something… Because it’s a farce, it’s at the very edge of reality, it’s heightened reality.

“It’s hysterical. It’s probably one of the funniest shows I’ve ever been involved with… You’re not going to fall asleep, I guarantee you. Just get ready to follow along and laugh, laugh, laugh.”

Sly Fox is playing at the Theatre of Western Springs January 19, 20, 21, 26, 27 and 28 at 8:00 p.m., January 22, 28 and 29 at 2:30 p.m. and January 22 at 7:30 p.m.; tickets can be obtained by calling the , or online through their website.