'The Showtune Mosh Pit' for February 23, 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:

Even if Stephen Schwartz's "Working" and Darren Criss's "Starship" are the two most-hyped musicals in town right now (even more so that the ecstatically-received "Spamalot"), those in the Showtune Mosh Pit are looking a little bit further down the road this week. The Bohemian Theatre Ensemble has announced its 2011-2012 season, and there are two musicals on the list! One of them has a score by the ubiquitous Schwartz, too. It's "Pippin," the 1971 tuner about Charlemagne's son and the theatrical troupe who brings his story to life. The other musical on BoHo's schedule is "Floyd Collins," the Adam Guettel/Tina Landau stunner about the trapped Kentucky cave explorer and the power of the media. Both shows will play at the Theater Wit space on Belmont Avenue: "Pippin" in October and November, and "Floyd Collins" in the summer of 2012. Well done, Bohemians! 

BoHo Announces Its 11/12 Season 

Speaking of that "Wicked" composer, Schwartz, it was announced last week that Northlight Theatre in Skokie will be the site of the world premiere of a "new" musical by Schwartz. Called "Snapshots," the show will use "more than a dozen of world-renowned composer Stephen Schwartz's best-loved songs (as well as some never-before-heard material)" to tell a new story (book by David Stern) about a couple in love and in trouble. OK, sort of like "Marry Me A Little" meets "Mamma Mia," only with some "Godspell" thrown in. Hm. Sounds like the revue "It's An Art," that Christopher Pazdernik put together for Davenport's last May and June. Only with a bigger budget and with some involvement from the composer. Some ideas are just ahead of their time! 

"Snapshots": the first show next season for Northlight Theatre 

Speaking of Christopher Pazdernik, the young director's next cabaret evening is called "Nobody's Side: Broadway's Cult Classics." At Davenport's for three nights (from March 14-28), it will feature Katherine L. Condit, Ryan Lanning, Elizabeth Lanza and Sean Effinger-Dean in numbers from shows everyone has heard of but very few have actually seen. The musical director is Aaron Benham. Sounds fun!

  'Nobody's Side' at Davenport's Piano Bar & Cabaret 

Last week we learned that Tony-winner Alice Ripley will be moonlighting from her "day job" while "Next To Normal" is on tour here this spring. Oh, she'll perform in the Tom Kitt tuner all right, but on Monday, May 2, 2011, she will appear at Stage 773 in a concert called, "Daily Practice: The Acoustic Sessions," produced by Alissa Norby and Lampkin Music Group. She'll be singing selections from her album, "Daily Practice: Volume 1," a collection of classic rock songs. If she really does sing these songs every day, they have been doing something right for her, by all appearances! This will be her Midwest concert debut. 

Alice Ripley at Stage 773 

Last week was a newsy one! The Chicago Symphony Orchestra announced its 2011-2012 season, and showtune fans found reason to celebrate. On November 25, 2011, as part of its "Friday Night At The Movies" series, the CSO will play Leonard Bernstein's music for "West Side Story" live in its Orchestra Hall home, while the iconic Academy Award-winning film, newly remastered in HD, plays on screen with all its dialogue and vocals (by Marni Nixon, et al.) intact. How's that for Showtune crazy? That's got to be awesome. 

CSO Season Announcement 

And "Million Dollar Quartet" is celebrating its 1000th performance in Chicago by extending its run again, this time until September! Now challenging "Wicked" for the title of Chicago's longest running Broadway musical, the show is apparently blasting on all cylinders at the Apollo Theater. They've got a ways to go until they hit "Forever Plaid"'s record as Chicago's longest running musical of any kind (seven years, give or take), but it's hugely impressive nonetheless. (I'm not sure how long "Blue Man Group" has been ensconsed at the Briar Street Theatre, but I'm not sure that it's a musical, either....) 

Million Dollar Quartet - Official Site 

Speaking of shows that used Chicago as a launching site for their New York aspirations, there are two such productions on the verge of opening in New York now. First up is "Tomorrow Morning," the 2009 Jeff Award-winning London musical (by Laurence Mark Smythe) which played the Victory Gardens Greenhouse Theatre here and spawned a cast album (released last year). The York Theatre Company and Hilary A. Williams will present the show in New York, with performances beginning on March 21. Chicago director Tom Mullen will again direct, but I don't think the cast has been announced just yet. But note that Mullen just directed another London musical, "Departure Lounge," in Chicago this past fall. Is he making a specialty of the London-Chicago-New York route, and could "Departure Lounge" be next? 

The York Theatre Company - Where Musicals Come to Life! 

The other current show is "A Minister's Wife," which will mark the New York debut of Writers' Theatre when the show opens at the Mitzi Newhouse Theater at Lincoln Center this spring (previews begin April 7). Another Jeff Award winner for its 2009 Glencoe production, conceived and directed then and now by Michael Halberstam and based on George Bernard Shaw's "Candida," the musical's book is by the legendary Austin Pendleton, with music by Joshua Schmidt ("Adding Machine") and lyrics by Jan Levy Tranen. Chicago actresses Kate Fry and Liz Baltes will be making their New York debuts with the production, which will also star Marc Kudisch ("9 To 5"), Bobby Steggert ("Ragtime") and Drew Gehling ("Jersey Boys"). This could be a stunner, folks. 

Lincoln Center Theater : A Minister's Wife 

And there were glimpses of the future of musical theater on display at Northeastern Illinois University on Bryn Mawr Avenue last Saturday, as the Chicago Chapter of the National Association Of Teachers Of Singing (NATS) held its second annual Musical Theater voice competition (I'm a member, btw, and was one of the judges). Students of singing from ages 14-25 competed in five divisions, for judges' feedback, for something to put on their resume, and (oh, yes) for cash prizes! Cara Rifkin (a student of Matthew Ellenwood) won the most advanced division with her rendition of "Don't Rain On My Parade" which, while acknowledging Barbra Streisand and Lea Michele, was most certainly her own. And she will do well in the business, if the track record of last year's winner, Sean Knight, is any indication (as he seems to work ALL the time). Bravo and congratulations to all the winners, and to all who competed! The future of the art form is in very good hands, indeed. 

Chicago Chapter, National Association of Teachers of Singing 

And that's it! The Mosh Pit for the week, fully loaded and tuneful and (I hope) a great deal of fun and information. Thanks for reading, as always, and I hope you have a great musical theater week! Pretty soon, I know I'll see you under the video screens.....-PWT

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