'The Showtune Mosh Pit' for June 29, 2011

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:

It's that time of year again--our favorite! Twice a year we compile our list of the Mosh Pit "Top Ten Hot Topics!" What have we all been talking about again and again, over and over, ever since the new year began? After analysis of a whopping 166 topics we've talked about here, the info is in, and we present it in count-down fashion. So, without further ado, read on, and discover if your favorite shows made the list!

10. "A Little Night Music" at Circle Theatre. Ever since we saw Catherine Zeta-Jones's head-twisting performance of "Send In The Clowns," at the 2010 Tony Awards, and heard bootlegs of Bernadette Peters tearing our hearts out on the same song as her replacement, this show has gone up a notch in the secret places of many Mosh Pit peeps. Circle Theater's late spring mounting of the show was just the ticket to keep our Swedish accents going, at least until Writer's Theatre in Glencoe mounts it in the spring of 2012. 

Circle Theatre in Oak Park, IL 

9. "Some Enchanted Evening: The Songs Of Rodgers And Hammerstein" at the No Exit Café. Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre (in association with Michael James) has undertaken a series of original composer revues in the last few years, and this one seems to have succeeded marvelously. A cast of five, a young, fresh musical director (Austin Cook) and his white piano, and extension after extension caught our imagination in various mid-century ways.

Home « Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre 

8. "Company" in concert at Avery Fisher Hall. We like this A LOT. First news of the casting, then ecstatic reviews online from our New York friends, then a teaser on the Tonys, and finally the full concert shown on film at the Century Center Cinema. Neil Patrick Harris is a bigger hero than ever, now, Ms. LuPone took on a brave challenge (again) and wrestled it to a tie (at worst), and Mr. Sondheim comes out on top, again. We're hoping that rumors of an eminent DVD/Bluray release are true! Dare we hope for a cast album? 

Screenvision - Stephen Sondheim's Company 

7. "The Original Grease" at the American Theater Company. When we heard about PJ Paparelli's plan to enlist Jim Corti's help in mounting the original, Chicago-centric version of this Broadway and Hollywood smash hit project, it sounded enticing, but scary. Would it work? It did. And how! Major publicity followed, and so did a lengthy extension. The greasers and bobby soxers of the Northwest Side, circa 1959, may have been glossed over and gussied up for the other productions you know, but when the tune of "Summer Nights" has the title "Foster Beach," you know something wonderful is about to happen. For four months. 

American Theater Company | the original grease 

6. "Merrily We Roll Along" at the Music Theatre Company. "Something Wonderful Right Away" is a slogan than can be applied to more than one Chicago arts institution. In just a few short seasons, the young and multi-functional artists up in Highland Park came up with a winning theatrical formula, and they hit a new plateau of consensus excellence with their production of this tricky Sondheim title. We can't wait to find out what they have planned for us next. 

:: THE MUSIC THEATRE COMPANY :: 

5. "Porgy And Bess" at Court Theatre. Reclaiming the Gershwin brothers' masterpiece for the theatrical community, Charles Newell and Doug Peck worked their chemistry on another touchstone of the African-American experience, at a time when the air is heavy with such opportunities elsewhere. Those folks may have bigger names, but the word is that they can't possibly have bigger talent. We're Chicago, after all. 

The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess - Court Theatre 

4. "White Noise" at the Royal George Theatre. This controversial new work, staged previously in New Orleans and brought here by Whoopi Goldberg in a new production by hot director-choreographer Sergio Trujillo, was not entirely successful. Indeed, the run was cut short, and star Douglas Sills ("The Scarlet Pimpernel") can't be blamed if he has signed on to the national tour of "The Addams Family." But everyone agreed it was a worthy effort, and that major artistic voices were heard. We're Chicago, after all. 

WHITE NOISE | Chicago 

3. The national tour of "Next To Normal" at the Bank Of America Theatre. During the last week of April and the first week of May, some internet buzz was generated here, the likes of which we haven't seen in recent memory, if at all. Did Tony-winning star Alice Ripley go on tonight in the long-awaited Pulitzer Prize-winning musical? Or was it her very capable understudy? How did she sound? Did it matter? How was the show? Was the theater too big, was the sound too muddy? Did you cry? It seems like everyone saw it, and everyone chimed in. And news of Ripley's solo concert on the Monday mid-point only served to heighten the legend. Musical theater was front and center, just as it should be. 

Chicago Next to Normal 2011 | Broadway in Chicago 

2. The Non-Equity Jeff Awards at the Park West. The Monday before that better-known theater awards show took place on the east coast, Chicago's non-union theater company held its annual award gathering, with The Hypocrites and their gender-bending version of "Cabaret" taking home top honors, probably in a close race with the "Cats" mounted at the tiny No Exit Café. Actors from Bohemian Theatre Ensemble's "Big River" took home awards as well. The night was hot and a few of the awards were given out under less than smooth circumstances, but it was only two hours, and the live performances were top-notch. We're Chicago, after all. 

Jeff Awards 

1. "Working" at the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place. Number one on our list of Hot Topics for the first half of 2011 is the revised version of this 1977 musical about the working classes of Chicago, with two new songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda ("In The Heights"), shepherded by Stephen Schwartz ("Godspell," "Wicked") and starring some of our very biggest musical theater stars. The production caught on and ran into the summer, and reportedly will become the basis for rental materials for all future productions of the show. Never before (even with "Grease") has the blue-collar spirit of our town been reflected so successfully on one of our Lyric Stages. Studs Terkel's book was given a jolt of theatrical invigoration, and we all hope it continues to work its particular brand of magic. 

Working the Musical - Based on the Book by Studs Terkel 

But that's not all, folks! I'm declaring "Glee" to be ex officio on this list, as it seems like it will dominate every six month period, in a way that's not exactly fair! It's a juggernaut, to be sure, and has its strenuous defenders, but let's treat it the way the Emmy Awards treat Oprah Winfrey, shall we? Always a winner, but never stealing the thunder of another winner. Let it be written, and let it be done. Always a place at the table, once and for always, "Glee." 

Glee TV Series 

And I've got a bonus for you this week! There's a show making what seems to be its Chicago area premiere, and it's only got one weekend left, and nobody seems to know about it! It's the musical version of "Happy Days," the legendary 1970s TV show about the 1950s, first staged in 2007 on the east coast by both the Goodspeed Opera House and the Paper Mill Playhouse, and with book by Garry Marshall and music and lyrics by Paul Williams! With a pedigree like that, you'd think this property would be better known. But it's been produced outdoors in Joliet at the Billie Limacher Bicentennial Park, with Chicagoan James Edward Dauphin as The Fonz, supported by a cast of Will County's best. What else you gonna do this weekend? 

Happy Days in Joliet 

So that really is it! Our top ten topics of conversation for the year to day, an honorific for a widely lauded show about music education and musical theater lovers, and a bonus show to tide you over until next week's column. Our usual format will return. Until then, I'll see you under the video screens.....-PWT 

[Be sure to subscribe to the Mosh Pit! Click here to subscribe to our BroadwayWorld Message Board discussion thread. Receive your e-mail notice that the weekly "Showtune Mosh Pit" is available!] 

[And click here to "Like" BroadwayWorld Chicago on Facebook!]