'The Showtune Mosh Pit' for March 3rd, 2010
By: Paul W. Thompson Mar. 03, 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:
We are in a dither!! The celebrities descending on us this week have us hyperventilating with joy and grabbing our cell-phone cameras like they are going out of style. You know what I'm talkin' about!
Patti and Mandy have arrived! "An Evening With Patti LuPone And Mandy Patinkin" is playing this week at the Cadillac Palace Theatre (through March 7 only!), brought to us by the gods of musical theater and presented under the auspices of Broadway In Chicago. The Tony-winning stars of the original Broadway cast of "Evita" (more than 30 years ago!), and separately the stars of so many other successes (especially on Broadway and television, but in London and the movies as well) are appearing in a show that they have been kicking around the country when their schedules permit. Whether a certain large east coast city will see this show at some point is unknown, but we have it now! Get thee to the Loop this week, or forever "Move On."
Click here for an evening with Patti and Mandy
The composer of "Being Alive" and "Finishing The Hat," among the many songs associated with these two stars, is making his own appearance in Chicago this week, on Thursday night, March 5th. Stephen Sondheim, who turns 80 years old on March 22nd, will talk with director Gary Griffin onstage at the Harris Theater For Music And Dance At Millenium Park. The man whose work expanded the limits of musical theater in the post-Golden Age will deserve all the homage you wish to pay him, during "A Conversation With Stephen Sondheim: A Life In The Theater." I guess that on Thursday, Patti and Mandy will be playing to a house of people who prefer that other March 22nd birthday boy, Andrew Lloyd Webber! You knew they were born on the same day, right?? Sounds crazy, no?
Get your Stephen Sondheim fix here
We have learned that at least one enterprising local theater troupe is producing a Sondheim show right now, and it is "Follies," no less. The Genesius Guild, a community theater company in Hammond, Indiana, has mounted this legendarily monumental show for three weekends, February 27-March 14, directed and choreographed by Chicagoan David Long and utilizing the facilities of the First United Methodist Church in Hammond, not far from the Loop via the Chicago Skyway. The question remains, will Sondheim see "Follies," Patti and Mandy, both or neither while he is in town? We would love to know the answer to that one......
Genesius Guild of Hammond, Indiana
Early this week the world got the news regarding musicals to be offered during the 2010-2011 season of Broadway In Chicago. And I can tell you, the sound you heard was a collective whimper of disappointment. No "Hair," "West Side Story" or "Next To Normal" in sight, though it is possible they could materialize at some theater, some time. And yes, "Rock Of Ages" is coming! But only for two weeks at the Bank of America Theater, not for a sit-down at that or any other theater, except for one in Toronto, Canada (the Royal Alexandra). Grrr. At least we will be the first U.S. city to see this particular tour company. Yay?
The post-Broadway musicals newly announced to run here are: "Avenue Q" (May 4-9, 2010, returning in a non-Equity production), "Rock Of Ages" (September 21-October 3, 2010), the Dolly Parton tuner "9 To 5" (January 18-31, 2011) and the dance musical "Burn The Floor" in a return engagement, I believe (February 1-13, 2011).
Future BIC presentations that have been announced previously include: "Billy Elliot" (begins an open run March 18, 2010), a non-Equity "Beauty And The Beast" (March 23-April 4, 2010), "Shrek" (July 13-September 5, 2010, at the beginning of its national tour), "The Lion King" (begins a limited engagement September 29, 2010), and "Wicked" (December 1, 2010-January 23, 2011).
Future variety, circus or spectacle shows BIC is presenting in the future include the return of "Stomp" (April 27-May 2, 2010), "Fuerza Bruta" (begins a limited engagement May 21, 2010), "Cirque Dreams Illumination" (June 2-6, 2010), and "Traces" (begins a limited engagement October 26, 2010).
And future non-musical plays coming to town (yes, Virginia, there are plays!) include "The 39 Steps" (May 19-30, 2010), "Jackie Mason: No Holds Barred" (June 18-20, 2010), and "God Of Carnage" (November 30-December 12, 2010). And now you know.
One of our Broadway babies begins performances in New York this coming week--our old friend "The Addams Family" opens the doors on its residence at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, starring Bebe Neuwirth, Kevin Chamberlin, Terrence Mann, Carolee Carmello and, oh yes, Nathan Lane. It will be fascinating to learn how show doctor Jerry Zaks has massaged and hopefully improved the Andrew Lippa musical (both as written and as performed) since its pre-Broadway tryout closed here in early January. Two months is quite a long time. Everybody pray.
The Addams Family Official Site
On the local-for-local front, two of our largest musical houses are on the move. "Fiddler On The Roof" has opened at the Marriott Theatre in north suburban Lincolnshire to mostly glowing notices. Ross Lehman, Paula Scrofano, David Girolmo, James Harms and a slough of younger familiar faces (Jessie Mueller and Justin Berkobien, to name just two) will be ensconced there in David H. Bell's production until spring. Literally. Till April 25th.
Marriott Theatre In Lincolnshire
And we've learned just a few days ago why the west suburban Drury Lane Theater in Oakbrook Terrace has been so coy about their upcoming "Ragtime." Not only are two of the cast members from the recent Broadway revival appearing here (Quentin Earl Darrington as Coalhouse Walker, Jr. and Valisia Lakae as Sarah), but the costumes from the original 1998 Broadway production designed by Santo Loquasto will be used by Drury Lane as well, joining a set by Steppenwolf and Broadway designer Kevin Depinet and the largest cast ever to appear in a DLO production. Larry Adams, Cory Goodrich, Mark David Kaplan, George Keating, Stef Tovar, Max Quinlan and Summer Smart are just some of the familiar local actors included in the cast of 33. Chicago's history with race relations and with the original production of "Ragtime" (Frank Galati and Jim Corti, anyone?--not to mention the renovation of the Oriental Theater as the Ford Center For The Performing Arts) should make the energy out in Oakbrook palpable. The show is on the boards March 18 through May 23. That's practically till summer!
Our two similarly named cabaret troupes are on the move as well. The folks at the Chicago Cabaret Project are winding up their Tuesday night stint at Hydrate on Halsted Street after seven months (last show, March 16), moving now to the second Thursdays of each month at the big-time Green Dolphin Street just off Ashland Avenue (beginning March 11). They'll also be at the Drake Hotel on Michigan Avenue on Sunday, March 14, meaning three different venues in six days for the small, intrepid band! Visit their website for more specific information.
And the Chicago Cabaret Professionals, an advocacy group which in recent years has expanded its activities to producing performance opportunities for its membership, is presenting "100 Years Of Broadway," a series of shows on the four Sunday nights in March at Davenport's on Milwaukee Avenue. Each Sunday will feature songs from a different era of Broadway, sung by a different slate of performers. Subtitled "The Hip Hooray And Ballyhoo: 1910-2010," the series sure sounds like it's worth checking out!
I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the unofficial rock musical festival we seem to be having right now. Hot on the heels of an apparently sold-out run of a good-sized "Tommy" at Northwestern University's Theater And Interpretation Center, closing March 7, comes "Chess," with a score by ABBA's Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, opening the very same day and running through April 25 at the No Exit Café, presented by the pocket-musical-minded Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre. And overlapping them both, running February 26-March 28 in a medium-sized production at the Theatre Building Chicago, is NightBlue Performing Arts Company's "Rent," in its first professional Chicago outing since the national tour production blew through just one year ago. These are certainly major examples of the rock musical genre, and you should catch one if you can!
And......I am ending my moratorium on talking about "Glee"! Not in anticipation of the new episodes of the hit, award-winning FOX-TV series about a high school glee club that begin on Tuesday, April 13, and not because of the casting competition and the guest star rumors or the DVD sales or the song downloads. No, it's because the existing cast is going on a live concert tour, and of the four cities announced on Monday, Chicago is the third stop! May 25-26, 2010, the Rosemont Theatre will be ground zero for all Midwestern Gleeks!! The Mosh Pit thinks this is pretty awesome.
Glee Kicks Off Live Concert Tour in May
And so, with all the news that's fit to know for now, I will leave you to it. And be sure to tell me what's caught your interest the next time I see you, under the video screens.....--PWT
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