Michael Cerveris Plays a Solo Show at The Wine Goddess in Chicago

Two Time Tony Award and Grammy Winner Michael Cerveris Plays first solo show in Chicago in 16 years Saturday, February 1st, 2020 at The Wine Goddess.

Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/michael-cerveris-live-at-the-wine-goddess-tickets-89177663793

Michael Cerveris is a singer/songwriter and guitarist who toured the US and UK as a guitarist for Bob Mould, but also happens to have been declared "possibly the most versatile actor on Broadway" by Playbill magazine, while The Wall Street Journal suggested he "might just be the best musical-theater performer we have." A veteran of performances at Chicago's Goodman Theatre, Northlight Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, and several seasons of Sondheim at Ravinia, Cerveris' last singer-songwriter performance in Chicago was at the celebrated Schuba's Tavern in 2004 on tour for his first solo record, Dog Eared.

In 1998, Chicago singer-songwriter and punk rock guitar slinger Jason Narducy met Michael Cerveris while the latter was on tour in the Midwest playing with the former's friend and frequent collaborator Bob Mould-the punk rock icon whose bands Hüsker Dü and Sugar had laid the foundations of American punk and alternative rock in the 80s and 90s. Michael and Jason formed a friendship that has lasted through the years, connecting in grungy rock venue backstages when either was on tour, or in Broadway dressing rooms when Jason would attend Michael's musical theater gigs. Now Narducy has a new musical of his own about to open at Chicago's House Theatre company, and Cerveris is returning the favor. He'll be travelling to Chicago for Verböten, inspired by the true story of Narducy and his band of outsider teens with seriously complex home lives who found a self-made family and reasons to survive in the punk rock band they formed as teenagers in 1983 Chicago. Narducy wrote lyrics and music with the book by Brett Neveu (Odradek, Pilgrim's Progress, Traitor) for this world premiere production.

In return, Narducy is presenting Cerveris in a rare Midwest solo performance of his own songwriting (and perhaps a rock showtune or two) at the intimate Wine Goddess wine bar in Evanston IL. Saturday Feb 1st from 8-10pm.

Over the years, Cerveris has sung on tours with Pete Townshend, The Breeders, and Stone Temple Pilots, opened for Frank Black and Vic Chestnutt, and recorded with Teenage Fanclub and members of Sonic Youth, The Posies, Sleater-Kinney, and Guided By Voices. He has also sung with New York City Opera, National Symphony in DC, New York Philharmonic, Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, and Lincoln Center. Cerveris has recorded two solo albums for his label Low Heat Records, Dog Eared and Piety, and three releases with his Americana band Loose Cattle, whose recent Christmas album, Seasonal Affective Disorder, was chosen one of Rolling Stone Country's "Ten Country/Americana Records To Hear Right Now" and awarded 3 out of 4 stars by the LA Times. The band has appeared twice on NPR's Mountain Stage, at Lincoln Center as part of the American Songbook series, and a gala honoring President Bill and Secretary Hillary Clinton, along with appearances at Jazz Fest in New Orleans, the band's current home base.

In his day job, Cerveris is a two-time Tony Award and Grammy Award winning actor for Fun Home, The Who's Tommy, and Assassins, (also Lucille Lortel Award) with additional Tony nominations for Evita, LoveMusik, and John Doyle's Sweeney Todd. Other Broadway includes In The Next Room, Hedda Gabler, Cymbeline, and Titanic. Off-Broadway includes King Lear, Macbeth, Abingdon Square, Nikolai and the Others, Sondheim's Road Show, an oak tree, and The Games at BAM/Next Wave with Meredith Monk and Ping Chong, as well as Hedwig off-Broadway, in Los Angeles and on London's West End. In Chicago, he has appeared at The Goodman, Chicago Shakes, the Ravinia Festival, and Northlight Theater, as well as a solo show at Scubas Tavern.

Cerveris' film work includes Ant Man and The Wasp, Cirque Du Freak and The Mexican. Television series David Fincher's "Mindhunter," Stephen Soderberg's "Mosaic," "The Plot Against America," "Tremé," "Gotham," "The Tick," "Blacklist," "Madame Secretary," "The Good Wife," and five seasons on "Fringe.