'The Showtune Mosh Pit' for December 29th, 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:

The Broady Award Celebration is here! The Celebration of the first annual BroadwayWorld Chicago Awards is tonight, December 29, 2010 at The Call nightclub at 1547 W. Bryn Mawr Avenue, in Chicago's Andersonville neighborhood. Come one, come all for a night of laughs and networking, looking back, kicking back and gearing up, fun and relaxation. M. William Panek and Paul W. Thompson will be manning the microphone, welcoming guests from many of the shows and performances that took top honors in the online voting by YOU, the fans of Chicago theater! Stop by any time, from 9:00 pm to 2:00 am. 

"Ragtime," "Jesus Christ Superstar," "The Philadelphia Story," "Chess" and nine other productions were honored with awards, which were announced online at noon on December 24th. The award announcement became the most viewed article on the entire BroadwayWorld international website that day! From performances by Patti LuPone and Brian Dennehy, all the way to non-Equity storefront theaters presenting limited runs, the BCAs encompass it all. We are thrilled that you jumped onboard with the awards idea, and the Celebration may be your chance to help us make the whole awards experience better next year. I look forward to seeing you there! 

Click HERE for the 2010 BWW Chicago Awards 

Yesterday, December 28th, many Chicagoans were glued to their TV sets for the annual broadcast of the Kennedy Center Honors on CBS. I have seen very nearly every single Honors telecast, as this show was one of the few on the air when I was growing up which showed me people like me, artists and creative types from normal backgrounds, aspiring to do fantastic and mind-blowing things. And I can't remember a more Chicago-packed moment than the one at the end of the telecast's first segment, honoring Chicagoan Oprah Winfrey. 

There she was, Chicago's Queen of Talk, with Chicagoan Stedman Graham behind her and Chicagoans and First Couple Barack and Michelle Obama nearby. Onstage, Chicagoan Jennifer Hudson tore down the house singing "I'm Here," the triumphant 11:00 number from "The Color Purple," the Winfrey-produced Broadway musical directed by Chicagoan Gary Griffin. If that wasn't a Showtune-night-worthy performance, taking place at a quintessentially Chicago prime time moment, I don't know what could be. 

The show's first hour, and three of its five segments, were pretty heavily packed with Broadway-related moments. (Anyone for a Merle Haggard jukebox musical?) Paul McCartney's Broadway credits pretty much run to the 1970s "Beatlemania" and the current "Rain," coming to Chicago for a week in February, but Bill T. Jones is two-for-two in Tony wins for choreographing recent musicals ("Spring Awakening" and "Fela!"). Winfrey's segment included not only Hudson but John Travolta. And of course, there's Jerry Herman (pictured above). The broadcast segment honoring him (put together and choreographed by Rob Ashford), was shorter than many would have liked, but it delivered an incomparable cast of not one, not two, not four, but SEVEN Tony Award-winning women singing snippets of Herman's songs. Most of them danced, too, backed by a hard working male dance ensemble and (ultimately) two guest choirs. 

Matthew Morrison repeated his Tony Award performance of "All I Need Now Is The Girl," by performing "It's Today" in the same dynamic song and dance vein. Kelli O'Hara and TV's Matthew Bomer were fine, and Kelsey Grammer graciously appeared in his "La Cage Aux Folles" mode. But the "sublime seven," led by 89-year-old Carol Channing, hostess Angela Lansbury and a dancing Chita Rivera, were riveting to watch, and Christine Ebersole, Christine Baranski, Sutton Foster and Laura Benanti all winningly showed their stuff in some of Herman's greatest songs. Too short? Yes. But we'll take it. Thanks to CBS-TV for sticking by the Kennedy Center Honors all these years, ratings or no ratings. And why don't our Showtune Video Bars show more of these clips? I'm just sayin'. 

The Kennedy Center Honors 

Like most of the theater world, and much of the general public, Mosh Pit residents spent most of last week in water cooler conversation about the goings on at the Foxwoods Theatre in New York. You didn't? Ah, but you did. The Foxwoods, the former Hilton Theatre aka the Ford Center For The Performing Arts, is the home of "Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark." Ah, you say. Yes. Last week, the show's primary aerialist, former Chicagoan and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago dancer Christopher Tierney, was seriously injured during a performance. And this week, actress Natalie Mendoza, one of three performers in the show to be previously injured and the one who reputedly witnessed Tierney's fall close-up, left the production. Chicago native Alice Lee has joined the production. Will Julie Taymor (director of "The Lion King") and Bono (lead singer of U2) get their already legendary show into shape by February 7th (the latest official opening date)? Will health and labor authorities shut it down? Is publicity like this good or bad? Would YOU perform in it? It's a national topic now, and somewhat unprecendented. Most people don't even know what a preview performance is. (Two critics have published reviews anyway.) What is going on in there? The chatter is deafening. 

Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark 

Speaking of Broadway, it seems like every single musical that opened in the fall will have closed by next week, "Rain" being the exception. Am I wrong? This pattern of early January closings really took shape two years ago, and it hasn't broken yet. Patti LuPone's "Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown" announced its premature closing yesterday. Of course, many Chicago musicals are closing too. This weekend will see the final performances here of "Traces," the Goodman Theatre's "A Christmas Carol," Jerry Herman's "Hello, Dolly!" at Light Opera Works, "Miracle On 34 th Street at Porchlight Music Theatre" "Rudolph, The Red-Hosed Reindeer," and both "Black Nativity" and "White Christmas." The second weekend in January will see the last performances of Boho's "Striking 12," City Lit's "The Wind In The Willows" and the Marriott Theatre's "The Music Man." Act fast, because these shows will soon be GONE. At least we will still have "The Mikado," "The Pirates Of Penzance," "Kiss Me, Kate," "Wicked" and "Cats" to take us through the end of January. 

The League of Chicago Theatres can sort it all out for you! 

And then there's the film, "Black Swan," starring the now-pregnant Natalie Portman. She won the Chicago Film Critics Association award for Best Actress for this role, by the way. The movie is up for a ridiculous number of awards, including three SAG awards and four Golden Globes. So many people have seen and love this performing arts psycho-thriller. I haven't seen it yet. What do you think? 

BLACK SWAN: awards and nominations so far 

We've all got high hopes for the new Drury Lane Theatre production of "Spamalot," starring Sean Allan Krill and directed by artistic director William Osetek. Previews begin this weekend, and the show runs until March 6, 2010. Monty Python leading light Eric Idle paid the cast a visit last week. In New York, this show had the reputation of being the only Broadway musical that most of its audience would ever see. I wonder how it will transfer to the regulars in the western suburbs? 

Drury Lane Oakbrook - Now Playing at Drury Lane Theatre 

One of the touring shows that really has our attention is the new staging of "Les Miserables" that opened at the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey. Two stars of shows directed and choreographed in Chicago by Stacey Flaster this past summer are in the ensemble of the show, coming to the Cadillac Palace Theatre for the four weeks of February. Cooper Grodin was Billy Bigelow in "Carousel" for Light Opera Works, and Joe Tokarz was Judas in "Jesus Christ Superstar" at Theatre At The Center. Working with Flaster must be a good luck charm!

Chicago Les Miserables 2011 Tickets | Broadway in Chicago 

And we are REALLY looking forward to another chance to be a first class tryout town, as a new musical produced by Whoopi Goldberg will open at the Royal George Theatre on April 9, after a week of previews. It's called "White Noise," and it's being directed by dance man Sergio Trujillo. The show began life at the 2006 New York Musical Theatre Festival, and Marc Kudisch and Patrick Heusinger participated in a recent New York reading. It sounds like challenging subject matter. 

WHITE NOISE Heads to Chicago this Spring 

Speaking of readings and workshops, Chicago Opera Vanguard is working on an interesting hybrid project. Hot on the heels of their successful "Boojum," COV has held auditions for a workshop presentation of "The Suitcase: An Opera." What sort of work this will become is yet to be determined, of course, but any new stage work based on a suitcase of old letters and concerned with the gay underground of 1950s New York can't be conventional. Composer Eric Reda and librettist David Kodeski are collaborating with director Karen Yates on this tantalizing project, first going public at the end of January. 

CHICAGO OPERA VANGUARD 

And so, 2010 is done here at the Mosh Pit! What will 2011 bring? Stay tuned, keep reading, and keep telling me what to include next week! A very happy New Year to you all, and I'll see you under the video screens.....at The Call for the BWW Chicago Awards Celebration 2010!--PWT

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