.png)
'The Showtune Mosh Pit' for February 24th, 2010
By: Paul W. Thompson Feb. 24, 2010
THE LATEST IN UNAUTHORIZED GOSSIP AND BUZZ FROM THE HEART OF CHICAGO'S SHOWTUNE VIDEO BARS,
AND MUSICAL THEATER NEWS FROM CHICAGO TO BROADWAY
by Paul W. Thompson
Overheard last weekend under the showtune video screens at Sidetrack and the Call:
Is winter over yet? Are the Olympics taking audiences out of theaters? I hope the answers are yes and no, in that order! And what a grab-bag of activities are piquing our collective curiosity this week! Let's get to it.......
Well, I hate to say that I am a psychic, or maybe that our bar talk put the idea into their heads. But at any rate, in the second "Mosh Pit" column ever (way back on August 11, 2009), I reported, and I quote, "The death last week of film writer/director John Hughes has some folks wondering why we haven't seen any musical stage adaptations of Hughes' films. The best bet for a workable adaptation: 'The Breakfast Club.' You heard it here first--unless you hang out where I do." Close quote.
And now it has happened! "Breakfast Club: The Totally 80s Musical" is playing every Thursday night at 10:30 pm, now through March 25 at the former ImprovOlympic (now iO) in their Del Close Theater on Clark Street, adapted and directed by Jason R. Chin. We think it's satire, or probably so, but come on, does it really matter? It's "The Breakfast Club!" And we all knew it would happen, six months ago. I mean, really. I'm just sayin.'
iO Chicago Theater's Breakfast Club
There's another new musical opening this Saturday, February 27, and playing just twice more, on March 6 and 7. It's "Pride And Prejudice," by Lindsay Warren Baker and Amanda Jacobs, playing at the Atheneaum Theatre under the somewhat unlikely auspices of Chamber Opera Chicago. Starring Nick Sandys, Ryan de Ryke, James Rank and Danielle McCormick-Knox, with the company's artistic director, Barbara Landis, as Jane Austin, the show is rumored to have been attempting a Broadway production during the 2008-2009 season, with names like Laura Osnes, Donna Lynne Champlin, Jim Stanek and Mark Lamos attached, and with versions of the show seen in Rochester, New York and at the Ohio Light Opera. It's all a bit hazy. Anybody know anything definite? Direction here is by Steven Daigle, by the way.
There's a new show across the pond that's getting a bit of press this week. And I don't mean Lake Michigan, either, but the Atlantic Ocean. Andrew Lloyd-Webber's long-promised sequel to "The Phantom Of The Opera," called "Love Never Dies," has begun preview performances at London's Adelphi Theatre, starring Illinoisan Sierra Boggess ("The Little Mermaid") as Christine and handsome, popular West End star Ramin Karimloo as The Phantom. Now, I KNOW that you know all about this, right? It's slated to come to New York this fall, and Lord knows whether this show will break the longstanding bad luck of musical sequels ("The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public," anyone?). But proper attention must be paid. The book and lyrics are by Glenn Slater, by the way, who shares that "Mermaid" credit with Boggess. And you can order the West End original cast album and view all sorts of goodies on the show's official website. This one may have legs!
Love Never Dies at the Adelphi Theatre | Home
Back a little closer to the Loop (in Oakbrook Terrace, to be exact), the Drury Lane Theatre production of "Ragtime" has started rehearsals. The show begins performances March 18th (through May 23rd), and it seems as though Father and Mother are being played by Larry Adams and Cory Goodrich. I mean, who else would you cast? This may be the biggest show in the venue's storied history, too. Buckle your rumble seat-belts, we're gonna ride "On The Wheels Of A Dream!"
Drury Lane Oakbrook - Season at a Glance
One week prior to "Ragtime"'s debut, the DLO will play host to the second annual benefit, "A Night For African Education," hosted by Abbie DeSantis, one of the Drury Lane's producers and a volunteer for an organization called the Indigenous Education Foundation of Tanzania. The benefit dinner, dance and silent auction will be on Thursday, March 11. Ms. DeSantis became involved with the organization while pursuing a Teaching English as a Foreign Language certificate in northern Tanzania in November 2008.
That same night and the night following (March 11th and 12th), Chicago Folks Operetta will present "Forever Operetta," a benefit concert evening at Pleasant Home in west suburban Oak Park. The evening will feature local performers in the songs of Emmerich Kálmán, Franz Lehár, Oscar Straus and others. Pastry, anyone?
Forever Operetta :: Chicago Folks Operetta
Bailiwick Chicago is proud to announce that its combination benefit/audience research evening known as "Show Us Your Love" has been extended for another month, now playing every Sunday evening through March 28, 2010 at 7:30 at Mary's Attic in Andersonville. Kate Garassino's production (music direction by Robert Ollis) features your favorites Eric Martin, Sean Effinger-Dean and many other Mosh Pit residents. Drinks and food are available during the show!
Promethean Theatre Company's first-ever musical production, Jones and Schmidt's "The Fantasticks," begins this coming weekend, for the next four, at City Lit Theater in Edgewater. We should all "Try To Remember" that "Soon It's Gonna Rain," as we await the coming spring. Coincidence? Probably so!!
Promethean Theatre Ensemble- Now Playing
The Annoyance Theatre will be bringing us an unusual musical comedy, on Fridays this weekend through April 30th. From the longtime home of "Coed Prison Sluts" comes a show that's called "Flames And Blazes." It's about a (fictional) 1928 high-rise fire, and one can only imagine the mayhem! The Annoyance is located in Uptown.
The Annoyance Theatre & Bar - Flames And Blazes
And, last but never least, opening this coming weekend is what I believe to be the first significant production of "Rent" in Chicago since the national tour with Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp came through town last year. It's a production by NightBlue Performing Arts Company at the Theatre Building Chicago, Thursdays through Sundays until the end of March. Now's your chance to introduce the show to all those people you form a circle with at 1:30 am, while you joyfully/tearfully sing "No Day But Today," with its counterpoint motif, "I'd die without you." Yes, we've seen you doing it..... Yes, we've done it too.......
And so, with all the big March doings in Chicago and New York lurking just around the corner, we all pray for February to make a dutiful and obedient exit. And until that happens, and even after it does, I'll see you under the video screens.....--PWT
Videos
