Review: DEAR JACK, DEAR LOUISE at Kechi Playhouse

Tony award-winning playwright Ken Ludwig has been extremely successful with a chain of popular works, including comedies like Leading Ladies, Lend Me a Tenor and Moon Over Buffalo. He’s known chiefly for making audiences laugh.  Dear Jack, Dear Louise, now onstage at Kechi Playhouse, is no exception.

U.S. Army Captain Jack Ludwig (played Andrew Johnson), a military doctor stationed in Oregon, begins writing to Louise Rabiner (played by Anna Kraus), an aspiring actress and dancer in New York City, hoping to meet her someday if the war will allow it. But as the war continues, it threatens to end their relationship before it even gets started. Playwright Ludwig tells the heartwarming story of his own parents’ courtship during World War II. Bubbling with humor, emotion, and tenderness, Dear Jack, Dear Louise is an inspiring reminder of the best we can be, even in the worst of times. 

Although the exchange of love letters is literally the heart of the play, Ludwig did not intend to tell the story that way. It was not until 2017 and the death of playwright A.R. Gurney, whose Love Letters had long inspired him, that Ludwig thought of using the same device. The letters are fictitious. Although his mother spoke of them often, she destroyed the originals, saying they were “too personal” for Ken and his brother to read.

The young couple are “introduced” to each other through their fathers, who were friends, and embark on writing in a cordial way in 1942.  Jack comes across as serious, maybe even rather starchy at first, as opposed to Louise’s more dramatic, bright persona.  If you didn’t already know the successful outcome of their relationship you might wonder if this could possibly work. As we get to know them better and they each other, we start rooting for them to finally get to meet in person, Louise to get the roles she so desperately wants, and for them to patch things up after a serious disruption to their blossoming love. You also get a strong sense of the era, thanks to projections of the time, music of the age and an effective demonstration  in Act Two of gunfire and bomb sound.

Kechi’s production, under the fine direction of Playhouse owner Misty Maynard,  has a cast that sparks with chemistry. Johnson has the quiet everyman dignity of nice-guy Jimmy Stewart in his portrayal of Jack.  Johnson is a Kechi favorite actor, and his timing and pace are top-notch in this production. Kraus is the exuberant, emotional actor who brings her whole body into every letter she reads and writes, in contrast to the more strait-laced Jack who must be cajoled into signing his letters without his full name and military title. Her poise and determination are strong in her portrayal. Their banter has an engaging rhythm, no small task given that the characters are reading letters rather than interacting in person.

Sound designer Kirk Longhofer does a phenomenal job of taking the audience into the WWII period and Maynard’s use of projections to tell the young lover’s story is quite effectively done.

Kechi Playhouse’s production is a nostalgic trip. But sometimes, as in Dear Jack, Dear Louise, nostalgia can be delightful, even soothing, like Frank Sinatra crooning a song so pretty it makes you yearn for a time that is long past.

Dear Jack, Dear Louise performs Friday and Saturday at 8:00pm and Sunday at 2:30pm through October 27. Tickets are available at the door. Kechi Playhouse is located at 100 East Kechi Road. 316-744-2152

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