'The Showtune Mosh Pit' for November 25th, 2015

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:

Just when we're all on the verge of eating a lot of turkey, and just when you thought I had mentioned every holiday musical in the Chicago area this year at least once, I've realized that's not the case! I forgot about the Williams Street Repertory in far northwest suburban Crystal Lake, and its holiday production of "Plaid Tidings," Stuart Ross' "Forever Plaid" Christmas special. Directed by Mark R. Mahallak, the show begins peformances this Saturday, November 28, and continues until the famous ending date of January 3, 2016. Joel Bennett, Roy Brown, Chris Davis and Ryan Dooley star as the Plaids, summoned by Rosemary Clooney to return to earth (they're all dead, remember?) and spread holiday cheer. Performances are at the Raue Center For The Arts on, you guessed it, Williams Street in downtown Crystal Lake.

http://wsrep.org/index.php/whats-on/2015-2016-season/plaid-tidings/

I also forgot about the return of the Q Brothers to Navy Pier and Chicago Shakespeare Theater's Upstairs space, with their "A Q Brothers' Christmas Carol." First seen here in 2013, and in the same vein as the hip-hop duo's "Othello: The Remix," this musical retelling of Charles Dickens' timeless tale predates "Hamilton" AND is based on a much shorter book! Believe it or not, the run of this show is exactly the same as "Plaid Tidings": November 28-January 3. "A Q Brothers' Christmas Carol" was written by GQ, JQ, Jackson Doran and Postell Pringell, and is performed by them and DJ Super Nova. Anacron choreographs.

https://www.chicagoshakes.com/plays_and_events/qchristmas

And a parody show that proved popular last year is returning on weekends from December 4th to January 9th. It's at MCL Chicago on Sheffield Avenue, and it's called, "Yippee Ki-Yay, Merry Christmas: A Die Hard Christmas Musical." It's a 60-minute BYOB show written and directed by Michael Shepherd Jordan, with musical direction by Stephanie McCullough and choreography by Laura Marsh with Holly Gombita. Alan Metoskie stars as Bruce McClane, leading a cast of eight. "Die Hard," in case anyone's forgotten, is a Christmas movie.

http://www.mclchicago.com/yippee-ki-yay-press-release.html

Not every show will last that long, or even until the more obvious closing dates of December 20, December 27 or January 3. Lyric Opera Of Chicago's "The Merry Widow," directed and choreographed by Broadway darling Susan Stroman and co-starring a cohort of Chicago showtune theater favorite performers, will close on December 13th. And the last three performances will star the very capable Nicole Cabell as Hanna Glawari, rather than the diva the production was created for, Renee Fleming.

http://www.theatreinchicago.com/the-merry-widow/reviews/8064/

The slightly better-received "Hershey Felder As Irving Berlin" at the Royal George Theatre will close even sooner, on December 6, so make your way there soon if you want to catch the chameleon pianist, actor and producer evoking the life and work of "America's Anthemist" (my nickname for Berlin, but maybe it will stick...). It must close, you see, so that Felder can be producer for a quite curious-looking production, "Baritones Unbound," starring opera barihunk Nathan Gunn, journeyman opera star Mark Delavan and Broadway's hunky bariman, Marc Kudisch. This show, with interchanging stars, has been cropping up for the last couple of years, but this is its first Chicago appearance. Curious that Gunn, who starred alongside Fleming in "The Merry Widow" at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and who lives and teaches in Urbana-Champaign, isn't appearing in the operetta here, but in this vehicle instead. (Thomas Hampson, no slouch, is Prince Danilo for the Lyric.) At any rate, the Royal George's exploration of the baritone voice in opera and musical theater is directed by David Dower and will be onstage from December 11 through...January 3rd.

Marc-Kudischs-BARITONES-UNBOUND-Heads-to-the-Royal-George-This-Winter

If three years makes a holiday tradition, then one tradition is that the first Thursday in December is the occasion of a live musical presentation on NBC television. 2013 saw "The Sound Of Music," and last year gave us "Peter Pan." This year's choice for producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron is "The Wiz," with an all-star cast and some new material added to the 1975 Broadway original script and score by Harvey Fierstein, Stephen Oremus and Harvey Mason, Jr. And folks are getting pretty excited by the promo videos, the production photos and rehearsal clips that have been released. This one may, just may, be better than the overblown film version that starred Diana Ross, Michael Jackson and Richard Pryor, a trio obviously hard to beat. But Mary J. Blige, David Alan Grier, Ne-Yo, Queen Latifah, Stephanie Mills, Uzo Aduba, Amber Riley, Common and Elijah Kelley are a pretty good lot, too. Newcomer Shanice Williams seems like the real deal as Dorothy. And tonight on NBC is an hour-long "making of" special that will give you (and perhaps any young ones under your care) an inside glimpse into the goings on that will happen on December 3rd. Ease on down!

VIDEO-Watch-a-Preview-of-THE-MAKING-OF-THE-WIZ-LIVE-Airing-1125

Just three days after "The Wiz Live!," Chicago audiences can get another kind of one-night-only affair, this one courtesy of Bailiwick Chicago and taking place on the mainstage at Victory Gardens Theater. On Sunday, December 6, "Ease On Down" will feature songs from "The Wiz," "Wicked" and the MGM film "The Wizard Of Oz," directed by Lili-Anne Brown and musical directed by James Morehead. And on tap will be a slew of Chicago's storefront showtune talent, including Jayson Brooks, Sydney Charles, TJ Crawford, Rashanda Dawan, Gilbert Domally, Harmony France, Christina Hall, Sharriese Hamilton, Aaron Holland, Varris Holmes, Amanda Horvath, Jasondra Johnson, Jaymes Osbourne, Steven Perkins, Camille Robinson, David Schlumpf and Sasha Smith. That's quite a line-up! And a killer concept, to boot. Cool.

Bailiwick-Chicagos-EASE-ON-DOWN-Set-for-Victory-Gardens-Theater

If the original "The Wiz" was a triumph of the African-American experience, "The Lion King" can be seen as achieving an additional step in its embodiment of the international African experience on a Broadway stage. And the national tour of Elton John and Julie Taymor's phenomenally successfully show appears in Chicago next week (December 2, to be exact) and plays through January 17 at the Cadillac Palace Theatre. The actors who will be portraying Simba and Nala have Chicago connections, too. Aaron Nelson is a graduate of Columbia College Chicago, and Nia Holloway is a Markham native. I've heard that tickets are hard to get for this appearance of the tour, too. I hope you've planned ahead!

Cast-Announced-for-Return-of-Disneys-THE-LION-KING-to-Chicago

No sooner will that production have departed our shores than another one will crop up here, expected to be as friendly to both adults and children as Disney's "The Lion King." This one will be Filament Theatre's "Pinocchio: A Folk Musical," written by Tyler Beattie and directed by Scott Ferguson. They collaborated at Filament on "The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow" in 2009, and have reunited for this new work, with Tim McNulty providing music direction and orchestrations for the cast of six actor-musicians. Mara Dale, Felipe Carrasco, Kamille Dawkins, Frank Gasparro, Roberto Jonson and Maddy Low will appear in the show, at Milwaukee Avenue and Irving Park Road in Chicago's Six Points neighborhood.

Filament-to-Stage-PINOCCHIO-A-FOLK-MUSICAL-in-2016

And in case I've whizzed past the holidays too quickly for you, I'll leave you with a gift idea: the third volume of "Season Of Carols," the Chicago theater community's benefit recording of special songs that saw volumes one and two in 2012 and 2013. Produced by Cory Goodrich and Eugene Dizon, this year's collection of songs features casts of local shows at the Mercury Theater Chicago, Goodman Theatre, Bailiwick Chicago, Theatre At The Center and more, and includes many more well-known Chicago performers. I'm hoping that the names of musicians like Matt Deitchman, Andrew Blendermann, Brandon Dahlquist, Bethany Thomas, Michael Mahler, Dara Cameron, Malcolm Ruhl, Gary Fry, Aaron Benham, Christine Mild, Emjoy Gavino, Heidi Kettenring and many, many more mean something to you. I hope you've seen most of these names mentioned in this very column! Anyway, it's all to benefit Season Of Concern, and may be the most stylistically diverse set of holiday songs ever to appear under one heading. "Season Of Carols 3." You heard it in the Mosh Pit.

http://seasonofcarols.com/2015songs/

So that's it for this week, and for this month! Next week: December! Ahh!!! Got any shopping done at all? Well, you have just a few weeks to make it all count. Have a great Thanksgiving Day, everyone, and let's stay safe out there. I'll see you at the holiday event of your choice, and I'll see you under the video screens.....-PWT

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