Chicago's selection of seasonal shows this winter will include the exciting addition of Theo Ubique's updating of the Madrigal Dinner tradition for all audiences. Song, food, poetry and variety acts will combine into a most festive feast for A Very Merry Madrigal. Weekend matinee performances plus reduced ticket prices for children under12 will make the event accessible and affordable for families as well as adults.
Conceived by David Heimann and Fred Anzevino, A Very Merry Madrigal will offer yuletide folk music from the 15th Century to the 21st, with a cast of six singers and instrumentalists performing new arrangements by Aaron Benham. A wassail (non-alcoholic hot mulled cider) and a Figgy Pudding dessert will be served to all and an optional dinner entrée will be available for an additional charge. Mixed in between the songs, food, and drink will be readings of poems by Shakespeare, Dante and Robert Frost as well as variety acts and selection of a King and Queen from the audience.
Heimann's cast will sing and play instruments including piano, guitar, mandolin, flute and oboe for their renditions of madrigals from the Middle Ages; along with contemporary songs like
Anne Murray's "Snowbird,"
Burt Bacharach and
Hal David's "Turkey Lurkey Time, "The River" by
Joni Mitchell and "Winter" by
Tori Amos. The cast includes Missy Aguilar,
Tom Chiola, Robert Dietz,
Greg Foster,
Sarah Grant, Molly Kral and
Andrew Sickel.
David Heimann directed Theo Ubique's Man of La Mancha and Time after Time and choreographed this past summer's A
Cole Porter Songbook as well as earlier Theo hits Sweet and Hot,
Jacques Brel's Lonesome Losers of the Night, and Flora the Red Menace. Joining Heimann on the creative team are Co-Music Directors Aaron Benham and
Jeremy Ramey, Scenic Designer Adam Veness, Lighting Designer Brian Hoehne, and Production Stage Manager/ Props Designer Paige Keedy.
Heimann says "A Very Merry Madrigal will have our audiences feeling like they walked into the midst of a medieval town as the traveling performers bedazzle them with sound and spectacle. It's old and new and winter and yuletide, and hope and laughter all at once. It's going to be entirely Theo Ubique, but at the same time different from anything we've done before!"
Tickets are available online at
www.theo-u.com or by phone at
800-595-4849.
