Another Midsummer Night McGivern

The world may have its Tom Hanks, but only Milwaukee can lay claim to John McGivern. Although he looks nothing like the famous Hanks, McGivern evokes the same "everyman" character audiences can easily identify with.

Although John McGivern is best-known locally for his work in the comedy Shear Madness and, more recently, The Mystery of Irma Vep, he seems more at home with these 90-minutes monologues that tell familiar tales of his youth. McGivern grew up in a small house on Milwaukee's East Side, with five brothers and sisters, two parents and one bathroom.

"We're poor," his father keeps reminding the family when questions arise about why they don't have this or that.

McGivern's stories are deeply rooted in specific sites (he often mentions street addresses, or at least the cross streets where a building is located). He brings back the tastes, sights and smells of his old neighborhood, as well as a special getaway in "northern" Wisconsin (okay, it's not that far north).

In hilarious detail, he describes the ramshackle cabin near Waupaca where the family spent two weeks each summer. Their transportation, of course, is an old Rambler station wagon.

Raised in Catholic schools, McGivern saves some choice words for his instructors. For instance, he calls one of the nuns Sister Mary Ray Nitschke, a reference to the former Green Bay Packers football star.

Another Midsummer Night McGivern adapts many of its bits from previous versions. The current production is seamlessly knit by director Edward Morgan, who keeps the focus solely on John's summer adventures. This gives the production more of a natural dramatic arc -- from the day when school lets out to the final days of August. However, audiences familiar with past productions are sure to miss the Halloween tales. One first suspects these stories come from McGivern's fantasies. However, he proceeds to show slides of the evidence – kids dressed in costumes exactly as he has described them, right down to the Colonel Sanders mask. (What kid in the world would want to pose as Colonel Sanders? This didn't matter a whit to John's father, since the mask was part of a free giveaway promotion.)

In any case, Another Summer McGivern is a fun, nostalgic romp through Milwaukee's past, as seen through the cockeyed vision of one who lived to tell the tale. McGivern, a noted Hollywood film actor as well as local theater actor, has a natural storyteller's gift. He is completely at ease on stage, to the point where audience members occasionally talk back while the show is going on. Some even sing along with a well-known camp song that McGivern warbles while sitting on the bus to Girl Scout Camp (yes, this is true).

For those who are tired of today's bleak headlines, filled with shootings, car crashes, political name-calling and so forth, Another Midsummer Night McGivern may be the perfect alternative.