Ain't Misbehavin' comes to Goodman Theatre

POWERHOUSE CHICAGO CAST INCLUDING E. Faye Butler, Parrish Collier, JOHN STEVEN CROWLEY, Lina Kernan AND ALEXIS ROGERS PERFORMS NEARLY 30 OF FATS WALLER'S TUNES

Thirty years after its Tony Award-winning world premiere, Ain't Misbehavin', the electrifying musical showcase of legendary composer and performer Thomas "Fats" Waller, based on an idea by Murray Horwitz and Richard Maltby, Jr., comes to Goodman Theatre in a brand new production. Resident Director Chuck Smith's revival emphasizes Waller's rich music by expanding its platform from cabaret to concert; with set designer Linda Buchanan, Smith transforms the 856-seat Albert Ivar Goodman Theatre into a grandiose period music venue, featuring an eight-piece band led by music director Malcolm Ruhl. Five of Chicago's foremost musical theater talents including E. Faye Butler (Purlie), John Steven Crowley (Crowns), Alexis Rogers (Black Nativity), Parrish Collier and Lina Kernan present an evening of 30 foot-stomping ragtime romps, passionate ballads and outrageous songs-Your Feet's Too Big, Honeysuckle Rose and The Joint is Jumpin' among many others-that Waller composed, recorded or collaborated on. Ain't Misbehavin' runs June 21 - July 27 (opening night is June 30). Tickets are $23 - $78. The Edith-Marie Appleton Foundation is the major production sponsor; ComEd is the major corporate sponsor; and Bank of America is the Corporate Sponsor Partner of Ain't Misbehavin'.

"Ain't Misbehavin' revives the musical genius of Fats Waller-joyous music not heard everyday or found on many i-Pods-for a glorious night in the theater," said Chuck Smith. "Though this is a period piece, our production trades the traditional nightclub setting for a concert venue, complete with eye-popping visuals-a perfect backdrop for these larger-than-life musical numbers. It's a toe-tappin', finger-snappin', hand-clappin' good time!"

Born in Harlem in 1904, Thomas "Fats" Waller remains one of the most influential stride piano players, having written more than 450 songs and recorded over 500 sides during his career. He wrote his first composition at age 14, and became a professional pianist the very next year-playing with legendary artists such as Fletcher Henderson and Jack Teagarden, Alberta Hunter and Bessie Smith. He became famous performing a combination of his own music and music written by others. After Waller's death in 1943, his influence waned and his legacy faded into the historical background for over three decades. In 1978, theater artists Murray Horwitz and Richard Maltby, Jr., generated renewed attention and interest in Waller with their creation Ain't Misbehavin', through which they paid tribute to Waller's contributions to American music and highlighted the best aspects of the Harlem nightclub revues of the 1920s and '30s. Ain't Misbehavin' opened first as a cabaret act, quickly followed by a Broadway run of over 1,600 performances and numerous awards.

"Thirty years after the original Broadway production, Ain't Misbehavin' remains vibrantly alive and well, and I am very excited to see Goodman Theatre's production of it," said co-creator Richard Maltby, Jr., who conceived and directed two Tony Award-winning Broadway musicals: Fosse (1999: Tony, Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk Awards) and Ain't Misbehavin' (1978: Tony, New York Drama Critics Circle, Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk Awards), for which he also won the Tony Award as Best Director. "The Goodman is justly famous as a home of dramatic literature, and I have always believed that Ain't Misbehavin' is a play masquerading as a revue. Since my own roots are in Chicago, this production is in many ways like coming home. Jazz, comedy, Chicago? I can't wait!" With longtime collaborator, composer David Shire, Maltby Jr. directed and wrote lyrics for Starting Here, Starting Now, 1977; Baby, 1983, with librettist Sybille Pearson; Closer Than Ever, 1989; and the musical Big, 1996, with librettist John Weidman. With the team of Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg he wrote lyrics for the international hit Miss Saigon.

"It's an honor for any author to have a work staged by the Goodman, a theater whose artistic resources are second to none. With Ain't Misbehavin', however, it's a special treat, because of the deep jazz heritage of Chicago and its people. I couldn't be more pleased," said co-creator Murray Horwitz, whose other theater writing credits include Broadway's Harlem Nocturne (with André De Shields) and song lyrics for The Great Gatsby (Metropolitan Opera). Horwitz's first collaboration with Richard Maltby, Jr., was the one-man show An Evening Of Sholom Aleichem, in which he still performs. A Washington-area resident for over 20 years, his work at NPR won three Peabody Awards and a Presidential Medal of the Arts. Horwitz is currently the Director and Chief Operating Officer of the American Film Institute (AFI) Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in Silver Spring, Maryland.

About the Music

Each of the songs performed in Ain't Misbehavin' is attributed to Waller; songs not written by Waller were recorded by him. Musicians in the eight-piece band for Ain't Misbehavin' at the Goodman include Pete Benson (piano), Larry Bowen (trumpet), Y.L. Douglas (drums) Anderson Edwards (bass), T.S. Galoway (trombone), Jarrard Harris (tenor sax/clarinet), Stephen Leinheiser (alto sax/clarinet) and Malcolm Ruhl (guitar and conductor). Act I musical numbers include Ain't Misbehavin'; Lookin' Good But Feelin' Bad; 'T Ain't Nobody's Biz-ness If I Do; Honeysuckle Rose; Squeeze Me; Handful Of Keys; I've Got A Feeling I'm Falling; How Ya Baby;The Jitterbug Waltz; The Ladies Who Sing With The Band; Yacht Club Swing; When The Nylons Bloom Again; Cash For Your Trash; Off-Time; and This Joint Is Jumpin'. Act II musical numbers include Spreadin' Rhythm Around; Lounging At The Waldorf; The Viper's Drag; Mean To Me; Your Feet's Too Big; That Ain't Right; Keepin' Out of Mischief Now; Find Out What They Like; Fat And Greasy; and Black And Blue. Musical numbers in the finale include I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter; Two Sleepy People; I've Got My Fingers Crossed; I Can't Give You Anything But Love; It's A Sin To Tell A Lie; Honeysuckle Rose (reprise); and Ain't Misbehavin'.

About the Artists

Director Chuck Smith is Goodman Theatre's resident director and an associate producer of Legacy Productions, a Chicago based touring company. Most recently at the Goodman he directed José Rivera's Massacre (Sing to Your Children) for Teatro Vista, curated the Goodman's August Wilson Celebration and directed Crumbs from the Table of Joy. Other Goodman Theatre credits include the Chicago premieres of Proof and The Story; the world premieres of By the Music of the Spheres and The Gift Horse; James Baldwin's The Amen Corner, which transferred to Boston's Huntington Theatre, where it won the IRNE (Independent Reviewers of New England) Award for best direction; Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun; Pearl Cleage's Blues for an Alabama Sky; August Wilson's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom; A Christmas Carol; Vivisections from a Blown Mind; and The Meeting. He served as dramaturg for August Wilson's Gem of the Ocean. He directed Knock Me a Kiss at Victory Gardens, where other directing credits include Master Harold and the Boys, Home, Dame Lorraine with Esther Rolle and Eden, for which he received a Jeff nomination for best direction. Smith is the editor of Seven Black Plays and Best Black Plays, published by Northwestern University Press. He is a 2006 recipient of the League of Chicago Theaters Lifetime Achievement Award, a 2005 History Maker, a 2003 inductee into the Chicago State University Gwendolyn Brooks Center's Literary Hall of Fame and a 2001 Chicago Tribune Chicagoan of the Year. He is the recipient of the 1982 Paul Robeson Award and the 1997 award of merit presented by the Black Theatre Alliance of Chicago; and is a board member of the African-American Arts Alliance of Chicago.

E. Faye Butler's Goodman Theatre credits include Purlie and seven seasons of A Christmas Carol. Chicago credits include Ella and Dinah Was at Northlight Theatre, Seussical...at Chicago Skakespeare Theater, Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Wiz and Little Shop at Marriott's Lincolnshire Theatre, La Bete and Little Foxes at Court Theatre, Crumbs from the Table of Joy at Steppenwolf Theatre, Blue Sonata at Victory Gardens, A...My Name is Alice Ivanhoe Theatre, Could it be Magic (the Barry Manilow Songbook) at Mercury Theatre, Comfortable Shoes Royal George Theatre, Hello Dolly, Hot Mikado, Sophisticated Ladies at Drury Lane Theatre. Off Broadway: Nunsense. National and regional tours include Ella, Mamma Mia and Dinah Was, Ain't Misbehavin', Nunsense, Nunsense 2 and Cope. Parrish Collier returns to the Goodman Theatre having last being seen in Zoot Suit. Other Chicago credits include: Ain't Misbehavin', A Chorus Line and 5 Guys Named Moe at Drury Lane Evergreen Park; Jesus Christ Superstar, Kiss Me Kate and The Producers at Drury Lane Oakbrook; The Full Monty at Drury Lane Water Tower Place; A Midsummer Nights Dream at Chicago Shakespeare Theater. Regionally Parrish has been seen in The All Night Strut and Smokey Joe's Café at The Milwaukee Skylight Theatre; The Full Monty at The Barn Theatre; Smokey Joe's Café at Beef and Boards; as well as international productions of Side Story, Starlight Express and the national tour of 5 Guys Named Moe. John Steven Crowley appeared at the Goodman in Crumbs From the Table of Joy and Amen Corner. Chicago credits include Gee's Bend directed by Smith at Northlight Theatre. Regional credits include work at San Diego Repertory Theatre, ALLIANCE THEATRE, Arena Stage, Huntington Theatre Company and Hartford Stage. Other productions include Doo Wop Shoo Bop (Jeff Award), Crowns (Helen Hays Nomination), Fences and Ain't Misbehavin'. Lina Kernan makes her Goodman debut. Other Chicago credits include Company, Cabaret and Ragtime at Porchlight Music Theatre. Her regional credits include Smokey Joe's Café directed by Chuck Smith at Timber Lake Playhouse; Chicago and Barnum at Cherry County Playhouse; and Almost Heaven with Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse. Kernan holds a BFA in musical theater from the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. Alexis J. Rogers most recently appeared at the Goodman in Congo Square's Black Nativity directed by Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj, and the reading of Rain, a new work by ReGina Taylor. Other Chicago credits include; Ragtime with Porchlight Theatre, Black Theatre Festival's Don't Make Me Over: A Tribute to Dionne Warwick (Dionne Warwick) with Black Ensemble Theater, Jeff Award winning Seven Guitars (Ruby) with Congo Square and Trouble the Water (Odetta) with MPAACT. Understudies include Sean Blake, Donica Henderson and Monique Whittington.

The design team and additional artists for Ain't Misbehavin' include Linda Buchanan (Set), Birgit Rattenborg Wise (Costumes), Robert Christen (Lighting), Josh Horvath and Ray Nardelli (Sound), Lisa Willingham-Johnson (Choreographer) and Malcolm Ruhl (Music Director).

Tickets to Ain't Misbehavin' are $23 to $78 and may be purchased online at GoodmanTheatre.org, at the Goodman Theatre Box Office, 170 North Dearborn Street, or charged by phoning 312.443.3800. Mezztix are half-price mezzanine tickets available at 12 noon at the box office, and at 10am online at GoodmanTheatre.org on the day of performance, subject to availability; Mezztix are not available by telephone. When purchasing on GoodmanTheatre.org, enter the promo code MEZZTIX. 10Tix are $10 mezzanine tickets for students available at 12 noon at the box office, and at 10am online at GoodmanTheatre.org on the day of performance, subject to availability; 10Tix are not available by telephone. Valid student I.D. must be presented when picking up the tickets at will call. Limit 4 tickets per student with I.D. Tickets are subject to availability and handling fees apply. Discounted group tickets for 10 persons or more are available at 312.443.3820.

Photos by Liz Lauren

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