Chicago’s ketchup free heartbeat is revealed with Royko
Mitchell Bisschop as Mike Royko in the humorous and timely Royko: The Toughest Man in Chicago. Photo by Sarah Larson.
Chicago has a lore and lure to it that is different from the fairy tale of New York. Dreams don’t come true here. There is no false glitz and glamour of the hastily hemmed. Chicago is a city of working people who at times accept the flaws that surround them, and at others collectively rally against them to make a monumental change. Mike Royko was one of these people, rarely one to accept a flaw though, he was a part of the many, and a very loud one. The perfect character strong enough to carry the one-man show Royko: The Toughest Man in Chicago, written and performed by Mitchell Bisschop, half bio pic, half call to action.
Bisschop, born and raised in Chicago, yet now residing in Los Angeles, saw the pull towards this newspaper man of yore. And while Royko’s columns may be decades old, they hit on topics that reflect on today’s issues in and outside of our city. There are heaps of grit, tons of corruption, and in the face of it all, is a community heralded by a man who claims they all call him shithead. He was genuinely aggravating, and beloved, and hated, and sentimentally connected to all that happened on Chicago’s streets. He was a man that all men would love to play, Bisschop was the one to put on the suit, tap the typewriter, and get the hard A rocking to come back to Chicahgo to put Royko back in the lime light.
The no ketchup jokes and how deep dish is truly not our pizza, along with the woes of being a Cubs fan were just the easily recognizable details of a city filled with stories and traditions. Even if some of those traditions are bribes. Like Bisschop’s production, Royko had a yearning for a time that seemed to be fleeting. During his heyday, modernity was beginning to take over a city that had seemed set in its ways. Efficiency was ruining the landscape of gossip and connection. The community of hard working, maybe not so honest people, was becoming more and more like any other city: nameless and unconnected.
Bisschop wrote and performed a huge span of Royko’s career. Made up of many of Royko’s columns and major life moments, Bisschop gave audiences a complete look at a man who truly did want to be known. Royko’s career which began with a lie and a fluke, spanned the Chicago Daily News, to the Chicago Sun Times, and even onward to the dreaded Tribune. He wrote over 7,500 columns, won a Pulitzer Prize, and tackled every harrowing, obsurd or horrifying moment head on leaving a legacy of truth and no nonsense behind him.
Royko never apologized for his thoughts, his words, his ability to offend. His facade was hard ass, but through his columns readers, and now viewers of Bisschop’s production, got to see what went beyond the constant pulse to fight. He was a devoted husband and father, he was a champion for our city, he wanted to make sure that we did good, or at the very least did our fucking best. This isn’t a show just for Chicago. It’s a show for an entire world that is aching for someone to step in, say the right words that will wake us up and force us out of our doors to demand a better day. That’s what makes Chicago a special city. It’s filled with people that no matter the weather, the political outlook, the hoards of rats, will speak their minds, offer you a beer, and attempt to face each day with giant balls that are just there to hide an even larger heart.
Royko: The Toughest Man in Chicago is playing at The Chopin Theatre until Sept. 29. For more information and tickets, go to chopintheatre.com.
