'The Showtune Mosh Pit' for September 18th, 2013

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:

And Chicago is once again (well, is continuously) a center for the production of new works of music theater! As if this were any sort of surprise. Have you heard of the new show, "Signs Of Life," which begins performances today, September 18, 2013, and runs through October 27th at the Biograph Theater (technically, the Zacek McVay Theater at Victory Gardens Theater)? It's based on the true story of the Czech Theresienstadt (Terezin) death camp/ghetto and the lies, lives and art that emerged from that dark corner of the Nazi regime before and during World War II. It is something of a labor of love for creator/producer Virginia Criste, who hired composer Joel Derfner, lyricist Len Schiff and bookwriter Peter Ullian to bring to fruition her vision of a play with music that would tell the story she felt people just didn't know. The show premiered at Amas Musical Theatre in New York in 2010, and this is the Chicago premiere of its continued development. The cast includes Jason Collins, Nathan Cooper, Brennan Dougherty, Matt Edmonds, Lara Filip, Megan Long, Michael Joseph Mitchell, Doug Pawlik and James Rank, with direction by Lisa Portes and musical direction by Mike Pettry. BroadwayWorld Chicago's own new Contributor, Elee Schrock, interviewed Criste and filed her report this past Sunday about the show and its gestation. As we welcome Elee to BWW Chicago, check it out!

BWW-Interviews-Producer-and-Creator-Virginia-Criste-Talks-Inspiration-for-New-Musical-SIGNS-OF-LIFE

Just opened at Writers' Theatre in north suburban Glencoe is "The Old Man And The Old Moon," a play with music that is raking in some nice reviews for its whimsy, cleverness, engaging story, puppetry, actor-musicians youthful charm and overall theatrical delight. Stuff like that. A group of recent Carnegie-Mellon theater grads calling themselves Pigpen Theatre Co. have brought their recent collective work to us for some honing and airing out, and it seems to be working. It will be running through November 10th. Check out these notices!

http://www.theatreinchicago.com/the-old-man-and-the-old-moon

And at the venerable Goodman Theatre in the Chicago Loop, "The Pullman Porter Blues" has just started performances, opening this coming Sunday afternoon and running through October 20th "in the Albert." It's a play by Cheryl L. West, directed by Chuck Smith, with a high-octane cast (Cleavant Derricks, Larry Marshall, E. Faye Butler and Francis Guinan among them) and four onstage/ontrain musicians. Chicago, the home of the Pullman cars, is the perfect place for this show to get up to speed. It's 1937, and a train from Chicago to New Orleans hurtles through the night during Joe Louis' heavyweight title bout.

http://www.goodmantheatre.org/Upcoming-Season/Pullman-Porter-Blues/

Also opening on Sunday afternoon (September 22nd), and also running through October 20th is Black Ensemble Theater's next show, called "The Story Of Curtis Mayfield: It's All-Right To Have A Good Time." Mayfield (1942-1999), a Chicago singer, songwriter and producer and a member of the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame and the Grammy Hall Of Fame, was behind "People Get Ready" (by the Impressions) and "Super Fly," among other hits. BET founder Jackie Taylor penned this tribute, and directs this production along with Daryl Brooks, at BET's swankily impressive facility on Clark Street in Uptown.

http://www.blackensembletheater.org/it-s-alright-to-have-a-good-time

A contemporary of Curtis Mayfield, with more of a Broadway bent, is Ben Vereen, and the Tony-winning legendary entertainer will be performing this Saturday night, September 21, at the Raue Center For The Arts in far north/northwest suburban Crystal Lake. I mean, how awesome is that? Ben Judas Leading Player Vereen. Why are you not buying tickets NOW? Seriously? Seriously!

Tony-Winner-Ben-Vereen-to-Play-Crystal-Lakes-Raue-Center-Stage

A younger and even more lauded Tony Award is Audra McDonald, who has five of the prized statuettes. And she is coming to town too! Or should I say, again? She seems to come here almost annually, and you get no complaints from the Mosh Pit peeps for that! Her fall 2013 appearance, "An Evening With Audra McDonald," will be at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's Symphony Center (aka Orchestra Hall) on Saturday night, October 12th. Joined by a trio of piano, bass and drums, she will wow you.

An Evening With Audra McDonald

Beginning performances the previous day will be yet another example of a kind of music theater, and one of the shows for which McDonald won one of her five Tonys. I'm talking about Terrence McNally's play about opera and so much more, "Master Class," the fall production from Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre. Two-time Jeff Award-winner Kelli Harrington (she won the last two years, actually) portrays opera diva assoluta Maria Callas in this play based on actual master classes taught by Callas at New York's Juilliard School in the early 1970s. Fred Anzevino directs, with musical direction by Jeremy Ramey (he also appears at the accompanist in the script). Rachel Klippel, Ashlee Hardgrove and Kevin Siembor appear as the students who sing Verdi, Puccini and Bellini for Callas (whose legendary "Lisbon Traviata" supplied McNally with the idea for an earlier play).

http://www.theo-u.com/master-class

Director/producer William Pacholski, who gave us a memorable "Assassins" last year, has something up his sleeve. He's bringing a revue called "The Night Is Alive" to Davenport's for two nights (September 27 and 28), with many of the same folks who populated Stephen Sondheim's tale of presidential killers at the Viaduct Theatre. It's also being live-streamed on the internet, and promises an announcement of yet another future project. Robert Ollis is musical directing. Never underestimate Billy Pacholski. Hmmmm.

https://thegoforth.tixato.com/buy/the-night-is-alive-a-musical-revue

Speaking of many people's "God of Musical Theater," we've noticed that "The Improvised Sondheim Project" will back at Stage 773 on Thursdays at 8 for an 8-week run, beginning October 3 (through November 21). This is a group of experienced musical limprovisers, many of them teachers of that art form, who've performed two runs at 773 in the past, plus their appearance at this year's Chicago Improv Festival. If you haven't seen them, it's a special and specialized kind of crazy brilliant. Joey Bland, Jeff Bouthiette, Kate Cohen, Katie Dufresne, Erica Elam, Aaron Graham, Rebecca Hanson, Nicole C. Hastings, Sarah Hoffman, Amanda Murphy, and Tiffani Swalley perform. Musical direction is by Aaron Benham and Stephanie McCullough Vicek. Sondheim smiles, I'm sure.

THE-IMPROVISED-SONDHEIM-PROJECT-to-Return-to-Stage-773-for-8-Week-Run

And, last but not least, more Sondheim. If there weren't enough going on at Porchlight Music Theatre lately (including Monday night's performance by the Aguilar brothers at Sidetrack, in promotion of Porchlight's musical, "Double Trouble, well, rest assured that there's more. "Anyone Can Whistle," Stephen Sondheim's 1964 musical which brought Angela Lansbury to the Broadway musical stage for the first time, will be staged for one night only, the first outing in the company's "Porchlight Revisits..." series. Christopher Pazdernik is directing Rebecca Finnegan, Jenny Lamb, Jason Richards Smith and a full cast, with musical direction by the very busy Aaron Benham. The magic night is Wednesday, September 25th, at Stage 773. Be there, or you don't live in the Mosh Pit! So many beautiful songs, so many legendary moments. Bravo to Porchlight for doing this.

Rebecca-Finnegan-Set-for-Porchlights-ANYONE-CAN-WHISTLE

So it's the second half of Super September! So much theater, so little time. I hope you're out and about, enjoying it all. And later, heading somewhere nice for a nightcap. I'll see you there, under the video screens.....-PWT

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