Here be madness, or at least the appearance of madness, in the form of Frank Galati’s new stage adaptation of E.L. Doctorow’s 2005 novel The March, which was about the march, Sherman’s March, and if you’ve never really looked into what happened on Sherman’s March, here’s a little taste: Blood blood blood, flames, pillage, wanton and rampant destruction, railroad ties wrapped around trees, ashers, embers, scorched Earth, more blood, chaos, mayhem and – why not? – some more blood. Putting aside any lingering quasi-political dissent about the march itself (and nerves are still raw out there, oh yes), how are you supposed to stage something like this, thousands of guys laying waste to the countryside? If you’re Frank Galati, you go large, apparently; the adaptation, which opened at Steppenwolf yesterday and runs through June 10, features nearly thirty actors on stage at any given time, and word is the gunpowder hangs heavy in the air. (FULL ARTICLE: Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune)