'The Showtune Mosh Pit' for July 13, 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 a midsummer party! Tonight is the "Broadway Rocks" concert at Millennium Park's Pritzker Pavillion, featuring Christiane Noll, Capathia Jenkins, Rob Evan, the Grant Park Orchestra and the Chicago Gay Men's Chorus. It's at 6:30, and I will see you there! Afterwards, you are all invited to come on up to The Call nightclub in Andersonville (1547 W. Bryn Mawr, at Clark Street) for an Afterparty hosted by me and BroadwayWorld Chicago contributor Misha Davenport (also a CGMC member). We'll get rolling by 10:00, I expect. And at midnight tonight, it becomes my 50th birthday! You know I'll be in the mood to have a good time. And I hope you all are! (Of course, it's 21 and over only.) Michael Hogan spins the most diverse set of Showtune videos in town, and always has a surprise or two up his sleeve. So, let's hit the town with Broadway in our ears and a good time to be had by all. See you tonight!

Broadway Rocks! | The Grant Park Music Festival 

It seems to be golden time in Chicago for children's theater musicals. TYA (Theater For Young Audiences) is always important, and usually popular, but July seems to be the sweet spot for the bigtime versions of these shows. Check it out! This week, the world premiere of a new musical based on an old tale, "The Adventures Of Pinocchio," begins performances at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier. And this is no by-the-numbers kid's show. It's by Neil Bartram and Brian Hill, the guys behind "The Story Of My Life," that two-man musical which ran on Broadway at the depth of the economic melt-down in 2009 and tried for a rejuvenation last Christmas at the Victory Gardens Biograph Theater. Chicago Shakes commissioned this work from the pair, and hired Rachel Rockwell (fresh from the Marriott Theatre's rejuvenated "Shout!") to direct it. Heidi Kettenring, Don Forston, Melody Betts, Ron Rains and Derek Hasenstab are among the local actors appearing in the show (July 13-August 28), with newcomer Skyler Adams in the title role. 

Chicago Shakespeare Theater's ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 

Not too far away, under the watchful eyes of tourists on the Magnificent Mile, our very own Emerald City Theatre has hit the equivalent of the TYA jackpot with the remount of their version of the recent Off-Broadway musical "Pinkalicious," picked up for a commercial run by Broadway In Chicago for its Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place. It runs July 8-September 3, and by most accounts is as sweet as can be. Its previous run at the Apollo Theater was pretty darn successful, and now the stage is even more prominent. It's nice when work gets noticed. 

Chicago Pinkalicious 2011 Tickets | Broadway in Chicago 

Speaking of the Marriott Theatre, they have a TYA musical at the moment as well, and it's a well-known title, "Aladdin." Not just any "Aladdin," mind you, but the Walt Disney one, with a score by Alan Menken, Howard Ashman and Tim Rice. It starts tomorrow and runs through August 14 up in Lincolnshire. Jameson Cooper stars as the titular boy hero, with Christine Bunuan as Jasmine, Karl Hamilton as Razoul, Dieterich Gray as Jafar and Bernie Yvon as the Genie, filling those big Robin Williams shoes. Theatrical observers know that a full-length version of this show was just introduced at the 5th Avenue Theatre in  Seattle (staged by "The Book Of Mormon"'s Casey Nicholaw), with plans to enter the Disney Theatricals performing rights catalog for adult companies to book. With two versions of the successful movie available, is it "A Whole New World" for flying carpet designers? 

Marriott Theatre In Lincolnshire 

Speaking of Menken and Ashman, their "Beauty And The Beast," in its full adult version but clearly leaning child-ward, is in the middle of its run downtown with Broadway In Chicago (at the Ford Center For The Performing Arts, Oriental Theatre through August 7). The cast did a benefit cabaret performance for Season Of Concern (the Chicago theater community's main social services charitable arm) this past Monday night, but I don't think very many people knew about it, which is a shame. And I don't know of anyone who's gone to see the show this time around. Maybe it's moved to a whole different demographic? Or has it lost its perception of quality? Should they have lowered the ticket price? Or are the parents of children too young to have seen the show 10 years ago glad for the opportunity to take their tots anyway, as ticket sales are rumored to be fine enough? It's a puzzlement! 

Beauty and the Beast 2011 Tickets | Broadway in Chicago 

Speaking of Broadway In Chicago, we can't forget another of their current offerings, which goes by the full title of: "The All-New Original Tribute To The Blues Brothers." With a trademark symbol at the end. It's at the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University through July 24. I'm not even sure if this is a musical or a concert, but that seems to be a question I ask myself a lot these days! And not just about an offering featuring a cover band of a cover band. Apparently this show has been very popular in the UK. Chicago, of course, is the home town of the Blues Brothers, that comic and musical creation of Dan Aykroyd and the late John Belushi (step aside, New York). So if they get it right here, they will have a big feather in their pork pie hats to wave about in other cities. Get it wrong here, and that's just sad. Who's seen it? What's the word? 

The All New Original Tribute to the Blues Brothers^TM 

In the category of more traditional musicals, we have the 1975 Best Musical Tony Award winner, "The Wiz," opening this week at the Theatre At The Center in nearby Munster, Indiana (now through August 7). Adrianna Parson stars as Dorothy (more Stephanie Mills than Diana Ross, thank you very much), with bona fide local stars Felicia P. Fields and James Earl Jones II leading the supporting cast. This upbeat, downtown version of L. Frank Baum's American fairy tale is directed and choreographed by Stacey Flaster, who is nothing if not versatile! 

THE WIZ 

And "The Secret Garden," becoming one of our most popular production titles, will be on display again soon, this time in the Evergreen Park neighborhood on the far south side, courtesy of the 99th Street Summer Theatre Festival. The 1991 musical by Marsha Norman and Lucy Simon will play July 21-24, 2011, at the Baer Theatre at Morgan Park Academy, directed by Patricia Haynes and starring Billy Vitucci and Tony Levine, with young Alix Solis as Mary Lennox. Mark Bartishell follows in the footsteps of John Cameron Mitchell as Dickon. 

"The Secret Garden" Opens at the 99th Street Summer Theatre Festival 

One title that will not be seen around town is the new show, "The Mommies: A Musical Blog." It was announced last week that the show, set for the mainstage space at the Royal George Theatre for the late summer, would not be appearing after all. Writer/producer Jeanie Linders cited ongoing litigation surrounding her previous (and very successful) venture, "Menopause: The Musical" as the reason for postponing "The Mommies" for some unspecified future time. We'll have to see if this does indeed materialize, though I wouldn't be surprised either way. 

THE MOMMIES- A MUSICAL BLOG Opening Postponed 

But new musicals do keep popping up! Last week I reported on the upcoming sessions of Midwest New Musicals for the fall. I failed to realize that the final event of the last year's sessions was scheduled for this coming Sunday, July 17, at the Second Stage venue for Light Opera Works, the McGaw YMCA Children's Center Auditorium on Maple Street in Evanston. Allan Chambers directs material from four new works, "Life Has Its Ups And Downs," by Gail Sonkin and Laura Toffenetti, "Real Life," by Scott Free and John David Nelson, "Surrogates," by David Charles Goyette, Mike O'Mara and Jean Vanier, and "Another Life," by J. Linn Allen and Leo Schwartz. The actors are Kellie Cundiff, Kevin Grubb, Sean Knight, Amy Malcolm and Amanda Marcheschi, and the director of the writers' workshop is John Sparks. 6:30 is the time! 

Midwest New Musicals Presents Mini-Musicals Project 

So that's the dealio for this week! I hope you stay cool, and I do hope to see you at the concert and the afterparty tonight. At any rate, I'm sure I'll see you soon, under those video screens.....-PWT 

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