'The Showtune Mosh Pit' for March 24th, 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:

On Monday, March 22, the showtune world celebrated Sondheim/Lloyd Webber Day! The joint birthday of the preeminent musical theater composers of recent times had a distinctly American flair, as Sondheim's 80th trumped Lord Lloyd-Webber's 62nd. And in the Showtune Mosh Pit at Sidetrack.....well, there were a lot of people there, but the birthday boys were noticeably underrepresented on the video screens. Go figure. 

At least Porchlight Music Theatre is set to rectify part of the problem, when "Into The Woods" opens there, playing April 9-May 30 at Theatre Building Chicago. Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's most accessible Broadway musical is sure to bring a springtime air to our thawing heads and hearts. "Children Will Listen" and "No One Is Alone" will be sung. Masks and puppets are promised. 

Click Here for Porchlight Music Theatre 

Not to be outdone, Andrew Lloyd Webber will be the topic of "Score-by-Score: An Evening of Andrew Lloyd Webber" at the Metropolis Performing Arts Centre in northwest suburban Arlington Heights, on April 7, 2010. Radio personality Kevin Moore, from WJJG radio (1530 AM) in Elmhurst will emcee and narrate an evening of ALW songs sung by leading Chicago cabaret artists, including George Howe, Anne Burnell, Heather Moran and Daryl Nitz, among others. Sounds great, only it's apparently already sold out! What's a Webberhead to do? 

Kevin Moore presents Score-by-Score: An Evening of Andrew Lloyd Webber 

We got an answer this week to the question, "What show will fill the gap in the Broadway In Chicago fall season?" The cancellation of the tour for the Broadway play "God Of Carnage" opened up a gap in the tour presenter's recently announced subscription series. The answer isn't the hoped-for "Next To Normal," "West Side Story" or "Hair," it's a dark-horse candidate, "White Christmas." The show, a stage version of the 1954 movie musical of the same name, has bounced around the country for the last several years, including the Marquis Theatre in Times Square, but has not played the Windy City before. We will have the tuner for the two weeks that count, December 15, 2010-January 2, 2011. Sounds like good timing. 

Irving Berlin's WHITE CHRISTMAS 

Speaking of Broadway In Chicago, the word about town is that tickets for "Billy Elliot" must be selling rapidly. A lot of folks have let it be known when they are going. We heard that last week's first public performance at the Ford Center For The Performing Arts, Oriental Theatre featured a stubborn turntable, but the problem was fixed during a long intermission. Hopefully, the redesigned set will obey from now on, and the show will open to great reviews and long lines at the proverbial box office! Hopefully....... 

Billy Elliot the Musical - Broadway in Chicago 

And BIC has another show in town for this week and next, "Beauty And The Beast," at the Cadillac Palace Theatre. This non-Equity tour has gotten favorable notices in other cities, after the show was reworked from its first tour configuration by many of the original 1994 creative artists, for a new economic reality and some smaller market cities. The Mosh Pit wonders how it will play here, and hopes for the best! On display from March 23 through April 4. 

Beauty and the Beast 2010 (Chicago) 

A bar in Rogers Park is becoming something of a showtune hot spot, without a Broadway VJ in sight! I'm talking about The Glenwood, located in the heart of the Glenwood Avenue Arts District parallel to the CTA Red Line tracks at the Morse stop. You see, The Glenwood is located in between three theaters, Lifeline Theatre, BoHo Theatre at the Heartland Studio and Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre at the No Exit Café. The bar has recently expanded, too. And actors, audiences and friends of all these theaters are bound to have noticed. Last Friday night, "Chess" from Theo Ubique provided the actors, audiences and friends for quite a fun gabfest in The Glenwood after the show's metaphorical curtain came down. Nice to know where you can go, right? Would the Mosh Pit lead you astray? 

The Glenwood 

As I mentioned in last week's column, yours truly had the privilege of meeting Tom Jones, the bookwriter and lyricist of "The Fantasticks," at the Annual Benefit Gala for Evanston-based Light Opera Works this past Sunday night (readers may know I have a long history as a former actor and Board member with the company). A witty, insightful, erudite, story-filled and charming man, he was accompanied by his wife Janet Watson, the choreographer of the original Broadway production of "Big River." I presented him and his long-time collaborator, Harvey Schmidt (who unfortunately was not able to attend) with the year's Artistic Achivement Award, and Jones informed me that the lyrics to "Try To Remember" were written during daily springtime commutes on the Staten Island Ferry. Dr. John D. McMahon received the company's Service Award, for his many years of production photographs and candid backstage shots of Light Opera Works actors, all shot on a volunteer basis by this dentist from Niles. Every theater company needs a Dr. McMahon! 

Light Opera Works 

And I can tell you two busy local actors have been cast in Light Opera Works' fall production of the Jones/Schmidt two-hander tuner, "I Do! I Do!" Larry Adams and Catherine Lord, currently appearing in "Ragtime" at the Drury Lane Theatre in Oakbrook Terrace, are slated to be Michael and Agnes for LOW. Just recently it was announced that Bernie Yvon and Heidi Kettenring would play the same roles for Theatre At The Center in southeast suburban Munster, Indiana, when "I Do! I Do!" plays there from April 22-May 23. I just love Chicago theater! 

Theater at the Center 

It seems there's been a buzz of casting activity surrounding the upcoming production of the "Princess Theater show" "Oh, Boy!" at City Lit Theater Company in Edgewater. This 1917 musical comedy by City Lit fave P.G. Wodehouse, his frequent collaborator Guy Bolton and one of the seminal composers of the American Musical Theater, Jerome Kern, will play City Lit from May 21-June 27, directed by the formidable Sheldon Patinkin. One senses that if one cares about the origins of our beloved art form, one should attend, right? And with Sean Knight and Harmony France in the cast, what's not to love? 

City Lit 

The world learned this week that the thirtieth anniversary of the original production of "Grease," at the long-gone original location of the Kingston Mines Blues Club on Lincoln Avenue, will not pass unnoticed in 2011. The American Theater Company will present what it is calling "The Original Grease" next spring, the "R-rated" original version of the 1971 show from the pens of Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey, set on Chicago's northwest side and featuring songs and scenes never seen or heard before. PJ Paparelli will direct. This could be international theater news. Be there or be square. 

American Theater Company 

Wrigley Field may play a prominent role in another motion picture with Mosh Pit interest. Todd Graff is helming a big screen remake of "Damn Yankees," to star Jim Carrey as Mr. Applegate and Jake Gyllenhaal as Joe Hardy. I am reporting that Playbill.com is reporting that MTV.com is reporting (got that?) that the film will replace the Washington Senators of the original Richard Adler/Jerry Ross/George Abbott/Bob Fosse musical with the Chicago Cubs. Logical, except for the fact that the Yankees and the Cubs don't play in the same league. Hmm. Stay tuned for developments, as baseball season looms over Lakeview once again! 

Graff Says Fosse Choreography Is Out And Steroids Are In 

And, last but not least, William Panek, Trish Vignola and I are looking for a fourth! The Chicago team of contributors to Broadwayworld.com is looking to add another to our ranks, and I urge you to contact me! As the linked article states, "If you'd like to join the BWW.com/Chicago team, please send 3 writing samples to paul@broadwayworld.com." I look forward to hearing from you, reading samples of your work, and collaborating with you on coverage of theater in Chicago that all the world will read! Don't delay....why wait......call now.......operators are standing by......e-mail is your friend.......lol. 

Looking for a New Contributor 

And with that, I'll leave you to another exciting week of an overabundance of quality local musical theater! And next week, I know I'll see you under the video screens.....--PWT

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