'The Showtune Mosh Pit' for February 4th, 2015

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:

Well, we must be close to Valentine's Day! Four musical theater projects about young love are in the offing for Chicago showtune fans. The long-awaited, long-delayed release of the film version of the popular "The Last Five Years" is slated for February 13, 2015, as the show, a Chi-town favorite since its world premiere at Skokie's Northlight Theatre, comes to the big screen (and "on demand") starring Anna Kendrick ("Into The Woods") and Jeremy Jordan ("Newsies," "Smash") as Cathy and Jamie. Okay, twist my arm! I guess I will go see a movie starring two beautiful people, as they sing Jason Robert Brown songs and go through angst as creative types with complicated love lives. Let's hope it's good! But let's thank the musical theater gods that it ever got made at all. How many short-lived off-Broadway musicals get a theatrical release as a motion picture? Seriously, how many? And the trailer looks amazing.

http://lastfiveyearsmovie.com/

On the live front, the Chicago premiere of the short-lived on-Broadway musical "First Date" begins previews tomorrow night at the Royal George Theatre on Halsted Street. With a run through March 29, the musical has a book by Austin Winsburg ("Gossip Girl") and music and lyrics by Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner. Directed by J.R. Rose, choreographed by Becky DeBecker and musical directed by Elizabeth Doran, this production stars Charlie Lubeck (from the second season of "The Glee Project") and Dana Parker as Aaron and Casey, supported by Cassie Slater, Anne Litchfield Calderon, Shea Coffman, Adam Fane and John Keating. Sounds like a show good for a...first date!

Charlie-Lubeck-Dana-Parker-to-Lead-Chicago-Premiere-of-FIRST-DATE

The Chicago premiere of the off-Broadway "Next Thing You Know" will take place from February 13-March 8 at the Den Theatre, courtesy of the new Refuge Theatre Project. Joshua Saltzman and Ryan Cunningham's musical about four twenty-something New Yorkers (and yes, there's a theme with these shows) will star Morgan Glynn Briggs, Taylor Okey, Jameson Wentworth and Aimee Erickson, directed by Ross Egan. Cool.

NEXT-THING-YOU-KNOW-Opens-in-February

And the Chicago premiere (see that theme?) of the off-Broadway (see that theme, too?) "Ordinary Days" will take place February 12-March 15 at the Heartland Studio Theatre in Rogers Park, directed by Jason A. Fleece and music directed by Ilana Atkins. A production of the Bohemian Theatre Ensemble, the show with music and lyrics by Adam Gwon will star Demetruis Spidle, Courtney Jones, Nick Graffagna and Hannah Dawe. It's about finding beauty and connections in New York, as a young person, etc., etc. Now, let's all get out there and support all these shows, and write essays comparing and contrasting them!

http://bohotheatre.com/shows/ordinarydays.php

Another theme about town these days is musical adaptations of Jane Austen novels. Chicago Shakespeare Theater has announced the cast of the world premiere of its commissioned new musical version of "Sense And Sensibility," written by "Jane Eyre" (the musical) co-writer Paul Gordon and set for April 18-June 7 on Navy Pier. East coast star Megan McGinnis and west coast star Sharon Rietkerk will star as the sisters Marianne and Elinor Dashwood, directed by Artistic Director Barbara Gaines, choreographed by Harrison McEldowney and music directed by Laura Bergquist. Sean Allan Krill (currently standing by for Tony Danza in the Broadway production of "Honeymoon In Vegas," directed by CST Associate Artistic Director Gary Griffin) will return to Chicago as one of the suitors, along with Wayne Wilcox (Gordon in the film version of "Rent") and Peter Saide ("Jersey Boys"). Others in the cast include Michael Aaron Lindner, Paula Scrofano, David Schlumpf, Tiffany Scott, Emily Berman, Elizabeth Telford, Megan Long and Colin Morgan.

Megan-McGinnis-and-Sharon-Rietkerk-Set-to-Star-in-SENSE-AND-SENSIBILITY-Musical

Also, out of the several different musical adaptations of "Pride And Prejudice" floating about these days, the one created by Lawrence Rush will be presented in a staged reading on Monday, February 16, at Chicago Temple, First Methodist Church in the Loop, brought to you by the FWD Theatre Project. This is the second of three readings the group is sponsoring this winter, and I think casting information will be out shortly.

http://fwdtheatre.org/

With "The Addams Family" underway at the Mercury Theater Chicago, and "Big Fish" coming from Theatre At The Center in May, we are having something of an Andrew Lippa festival these days. His version of "The Wild Party" is playing at the Ethel M. Barber Theater in Evanston, produced by the Wirtz Center For The Performing Arts at Northwestern University from February 13-March 1, part of the university's mainstage theater season. And Lippa will be in attendance on opening night, joining a post-show conversation onstage with the production's director-choreographer, Tommy Rapley, moderated by music director Ryan T. Nelson It's ironic that "The Wild Party" is at Northwestern, as the school's Dolphin Show just finished presenting Maury Yeston's "Titanic" last month. And back in the fall, we had a production of "Titanic" from the Griffin Theatre that was concurrent with Michael John LaChiusa's version of "The Wild Party" from Bailiwick Chicago. Weird. Or just Chicago's theater community!

Andrew-Lippas-THE-WILD-PARTY-to-Run-2-13-3-1-at-Northwestern

The Chicago premiere of "Sondheim On Sondheim" begins performances on Friday of this week at Stage 773, in a highly anticipated production by Porchlight Music Theatre. Through March 15 only, the show will be directed by Nick Bowling and music directed by Austin Cook, with choreography by Emily Rogers. The cast includes Emily Berman (see "Sense And Sensibility," above), Rebecca Finnegan, Amelia Hefferon, the very busy James Earl Jones II, Matthew Keffer (see Bailiwick's "The Wild Party," above), Yando Lopez, Stephen Rader and Adrienne Walker. You really don't want to miss this.

http://porchlightmusictheatre.org/sondheim/

The Paramount Theatre has announced the cast for its upcoming production of "Les Miserables," directed by Jim Corti and running March 18-April 26 in downtown Aurora. Last week's "Tuesdays With Corti" blog let the cast out of the bag (see what I did there?) and announced New York actor and Naperville native Robert Wilde as Valjean and Chicago's very own Rod Thomas as Javert, current "Tommy" star Devin DeSantis as Marius and Erica Stephan as Cosette. Hannah Corneau and Lillie Cummings will be Fantine and Eponine, with Travis Taylor repeating his acclaimed Enjolras from the Drury Lane Theatre's production. George Keating and Marya Grandy will be the Thenardiers, Ricky Falbo, Savannah Groh and Nicole Scimeca are Gavroche, Little Eponine and Little Cosette, and Nicholas Foster the Bishop of Digne. And there's a great big ensemble cast of men, women and children besides. Oh, my!

http://paramountaurora.com/2015/01/tuesdays-corti-les-miserables-cast/

Lastly, word came yesterday that Broadway's (and Chicago's) Annaleigh Ashford will present a special concert performance at our Broadway Playhouse on Saturday, March 21st. Previously seen here as Lauren in "Kinky Boots" (Tony Award nomination) as well as starring as Glinda in our long-running production of "Wicked," Ashford will sing an eclectic mix of music originating from such artists as Donna Summer, Judy Garland, Alanis Morrisette, Stephen Sondheim and Kurt Weill. Sounds like a great evening, Annaleigh. Welcome back!

Tony-Nominee-Annaleigh-Ashford-Will-Bring-Solo-Show-to-Chicago-for-Single-Performance

If I may, I'd like to add a postscript about the shocking death yesterday morning of Chicago Sun-Times and WFMT-FM arts critic and friend of the Mosh Pit, Andrew Patner. From showtune videos to orchestra and opera performances, books, plays, politics, religion and more, Andrew was there, Andrew was involved, knowledgeable, warm, friendly, kind, generous and consistent. Gone suddenly and way too soon at age 55, there will never be another. But we've got to keep keeping on, because Andrew wouldn't have it any other way. If you knew him, you know the loss we've suffered. If you didn't, your life will simply never achieve the heights it would have, because the potential for him to impact you is gone. Or at least it's diminished. This is a rough one, as so many have been. Ah,well. Hold your loved ones close, ok? And I'll see you under the video screens.....-PWT

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