Chaz Wolcott News

Yesterday's photos included shots from PIPPIN, Broadway's MATILDA, the national tour of THE BOOK OF MORMON, FOOTLOOSE, and the final SIP from the 25th Anniversary National Tour of LES MISERABLES. Plus, photos from freeFall Theater's SPRING AWAKENING, featuring Rachel Potter and Chase Peacock, Ogunquit's JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT and more!

Yesterday evening's photos featured CINDERELLA's Laura Osnes getting a lift from her fellow castmates, MATILDA, West End's WICKED, THE JUNGLE BOOK, and a slew of regional shows from around the country!

It's Saturday, and that means it's time for BroadwayWorld's 'Saturday Intermission Pics' round-up. Today's photos feature NYC Pride-inspired pics from MATILDA, THE NANCE, THE FANTASTICKS, and Stratford Festival's FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, plus images from THE BOOK OF MORMON, KINKY BOOTS, TOP HAT, and lots of regional shows!

BroadwayWorld collected as many of yesterday's evening Saturday Intermission Pics as we could to bring you Part 2 of our June1 15th SIP round-up. Yesterday evening's photos featured MATILDA's homage to NICE WORK, KINKY BOOTS channeling SHAPING SOUND at the Beacon, THE LION KING and CARMEN'S PLACE celebrating Father's Day, and pics from Paper Mill Playhouse's THE LITTLE MERMAID, Stratford Festival's TOMMY, Las Vegas' PEEP SHOW and more!

It's Saturday, and that means it's time for BroadwayWorld's 'Saturday Intermission Pics' round-up. Today's photos feature a first intermission pic from the stars of Paper Mill Playhouse's THE LITTLE MERMAID getting sudsy, THE FANTASTICKS celebrating June, the cast of KINKY BOOTS sweating it out and photos from MATILDA and THE BOOK OF MORMON on Broadway and across the pond, NICE WORK, THE LION KING, MOTOWN, ANYTHING GOES, WAR HORSE, LES MISERABLES, 42ND STREET at Pittsburgh CLO and more!

It's Saturday, and that means it's time for BroadwayWorld's 'Saturday Intermission Pics' round-up. Today's photos feature fond farewells to HANDS ON A HARDBODY from the casts of the WICKED national tour and KINKY BOOTS, plus shots from NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT, THE BOOK OF MORMON, BIG FISH, TOP HAT in the West End, off-Broadway's THE FANTASTICKS and a last SIP from BUNNICULA, as well as F#%KING UP EVERYTHING, Max von Essen during filming for SUBMISSIONS ONLY and more!

It's Saturday, and that means it's time for BroadwayWorld's 'Saturday Intermission Pics' round-up. Today's photos feature the casts of Nice Work If You Can Get It, THE BOOK OF MORMON, NEWSIES, MOTOWN, KINKY BOOTS, AVENUE Q and more celebrating Easter, plus a slew of Easter-themed pics from the Netherlands, and images from HANDS ON A HARDBODY, PIPPIN, JERSEY BOYS, THE FANTASTICKS, HIT THE WALL, LES MISERABLES, PETER PAN, MATILDA, TOP HAT and lots of regional shows!

It's Saturday, and that means it's time for BroadwayWorld's 'Saturday Intermission Pics' round-up. Today's photos feature Kelli O'Hara's last SIP with NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT, Christopher Rice's first intermission pic with THE BOOK OF MORMON, fun with peeps backstage at THE FANTASTICKS, the cast of FLASHDANCE showing off their circus skills, and lots from MATILDA on Broadway and in the UK, plus photos from F#%KING UP EVERYTHING off-Broadway, ANYTHING GOES, PETER PAN, WAR HORSE, PHANTOM OF THE OPERA and more!

BroadwayWorld collected as many of yesterday's evening Saturday Intermission Pics as we could to bring you Part 2 of our March 16th SIP round-up. Yesterday evening's photos featured more from MATILDA on Broadway, a 'gaggle' of ball gowns from CINDERELLA, MOTOWN's interpretation of HANDS ON A HARDBODY, KINKY BOOTS, NEWSIES, a sexy soccer SIP from ROCK OF AGES, Ben Vereen backstage at MISS AMERICA HOMECOMING, and shots from JERSEY BOYS, LES MISERABLES, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, PETER PAN, THE ADDAMS FAMILY, and more!

It's Saturday, and that means it's time for BroadwayWorld's 'Saturday Intermission Pics' round-up. Today's photos feature Andrew Keenan-Bolger's last SIP with the cast of NEWSIES before he moves on to TUCK EVERLASTING, a first intermission pic from HANDS ON A HARDBODY, plus photos from SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD, KINKY BOOTS, SPIDER-MAN, THE FANTASTICKS, NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT, TOP HAT in the West End, THE WIZARD OF OZ in Toronto, FLASHDANCE, BUNNICULA, HIT THE WALL, MARY POPPINS, THE BOOK OF MORMON, ANYTHING GOES, ANNIE and much more!

BroadwayWorld collected as many of yesterday's evening Saturday Intermission Pics as we could to bring you Part 2 of our December 15th SIP round-up! Yesterday evening's photos featured more heartfelt Newtown wishes from the casts of JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT at Weathervane Playhouse, ELF's Jason Testa and PHANTOM OF THE OPERA's Jeremy Stolle, as well as pics from NEWSIES, THE GRINCH tour, BRING IT ON, THE LION KING, WHITE CHRISTMAS tour, THE ADDAMS FAMILY and a slew of regional productions of A CHRISTMAS CAROL, WHITE CHRISTMAS and more.

Casting is complete, and rehearsals are underway for the Long Island premiere of "Irving Berlin's White Christmas," playing tonight, Dec. 14-30, at the Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts.

Casting is complete, and rehearsals are underway for the Long Island premiere of "Irving Berlin's White Christmas," playing Dec. 14-30, at the Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts.

It's Saturday, and that means it's time for BroadwayWorld's 'Saturday Intermission Pics' round-up! Today's photos feature something new and exciting-Broadway's EVITA Tweeted: 'Ever want to come backstage at @evitabroadway & take a #SIP w/ the cast? NOW YOU CAN! ENTER NOW! pic.twitter.com/dyFhJATI'. Now you can join the SIP fun with EVITA's contest. Plus, check out NEWSIES' Keenan-Bolger sporting some Obama swag, a picture from KINKY BOOTS in rehearsals, and photos from Perez Hilton in NEWSical, NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT, CHAPLIN, ALLEGIANCE, THE BOOK OF MORMON, MARY POPPINS, MAMMA MIA!, THE LION KING, BRING IT ON, CLOSER THAN EVER, BILLY ELLIOT, JERSEY BOYS and several regional shows!

It's Saturday, and that means it's time for BroadwayWorld's 'Saturday Intermission Pics' round-up! Today's photos feature a beautifully composed #SIP from the cast of CHAPLIN, a generational portrait from EVITA's Ricky Martin, Max von Essen and the show's youngsters, Perez Hilton's first intermission pic from NEWSical, plus shots from FORBIDDEN BROADWAY, BRING IT ON, THE BOOK OF MORMON, JERSEY BOYS, MARY POPPINS and several regional shows!

The historic Fulton Theatre in downtown Lancaster launches its 2012/2013 season with Gypsy, often held up by critics as the best book musical written in the 20th century. Gypsy is loosely based on the memoirs of vaudeville and burlesque performer Gypsy Rose Lee, with music by Jule Styne, lyrics Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. It features some of the best-known and loved musical songs, such as 'Everything's Coming up Roses,' 'Some People,' 'Let Me Entertain You' and 'Rose's Turn.' BroadwayWorld has the full production shots below.

The historic Fulton Theatre in downtown Lancaster launches its 2012/2013 season with Gypsy, often held up by critics as the best book musical written in the 20th century. Gypsy is loosely based on the memoirs of vaudeville and burlesque performer Gypsy Rose Lee, with music by Jule Styne, lyrics Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. It features some of the best-known and loved musical songs, such as 'Everything's Coming up Roses,' 'Some People,' 'Let Me Entertain You' and 'Rose's Turn.'

The historic Fulton Theatre in downtown Lancaster launches its 2012/2013 season with Gypsy, often held up by critics as the best book musical written in the 20th century. Gypsy is loosely based on the memoirs of vaudeville and burlesque performer Gypsy Rose Lee, with music by Jule Styne, lyrics Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. It features some of the best-known and loved musical songs, such as 'Everything's Coming up Roses,' 'Some People,' 'Let Me Entertain You' and 'Rose's Turn.' BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek at the production below.

The historic Fulton Theatre in downtown Lancaster launches its 2012/2013 season with Gypsy, often held up by critics as the best book musical written in the 20th century. Gypsy is loosely based on the memoirs of vaudeville and burlesque performer Gypsy Rose Lee, with music by Jule Styne, lyrics Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. It features some of the best-known and loved musical songs, such as 'Everything's Coming up Roses,' 'Some People,' 'Let Me Entertain You' and 'Rose's Turn.'

Forget "Rock Of Ages." That 21st century musical about the 1980s has nothing on the real thing. "Cats," the show that set much of the look and tone of musical theater for the next decade or so when it opened in London in 1981 and in New York in 1982 (and began continuous touring in 1984, a record unmatched in theater history) is on display for this week only (sorry, "Now And Forever") at Chicago's Cadillac Palace Theatre. Forget "Rock Of Ages." That 21st century musical about the 1980s has nothing on the real thing. "Cats," the show that set much of the look and tone of musical theater for the next decade or so when it opened in London in 1981 and in New York in 1982 (and began continuous touring in 1984, a record unmatched in theater history) is on display for this week only (sorry, "Now And Forever") at Chicago's Cadillac Palace Theatre. And I, who saw the original Broadway production twice during that heady decade and have not seen the show in any form since then, was eager to go and see what the fuss was, and is, all about. So I went, Tuesday night. If you've never seen this show, if you kids have never seen it, or if you want to experience the magic of this unique theatrical masterpiece one more time, then this is a great opportunity to do so, as this is the only remaining North American production to (somewhat) accurately replicate the award-winning, record-setting British musical that took America and the world by storm thirty years ago. This tour of non-Equity performers, with its usual orchestra of five beefed up to eight for a weeklong stand (May 1-6) in a major theatrical market, has enough going for it that I highly recommend it. It's a little like entering a time machine, and there's a lot of sleight of hand, but it works. Let me explain. What is "Cats?" Much maligned by insiders, derided as dated by visual artists, underrated by dance teachers and ignored by voice teachers (save for its megahit song, "Memory," which is heard twice, but never in the sheet music version everything has heard and claims to know), it is in many ways a dichotomy. It's a dance show (choreography by Gillian Lynne) written by a singer's songwriter (Andrew Lloyd Webber), as well as a British song cycle based on poems written by a St. Louis-born English poet (T. S. Eliot) who never intended his work ("Old Possum's Book Of Practical Cats," and other snippets) to be either musicalized or staged. Its plot, slight though it is, is also the subject of much derision, but to this observer is very reminiscent of "A Chorus Line," a universally revered work that does include dialogue and more depth of character, but also honors unity of time and place. However, there are indeed works that dispense with plot entirely, and which people unabashedly love (you know, revues--"Ain't Misbehavin'" comes to mind), and even shows like "Forever Plaid" and Lloyd Webber's "Starlight Express" feature heaven-going as a climax that is not entirely a surprise. So, enough complaining about there being no dramatic tension, already. But the spectacle! Is it a rock concert with dance, a dance concert with character, a makeup and hair extravaganza with arena-style lighting (still thrilling, the work of David Hersey, as recreated by Rick Belzer), a radio-friendly cast album with a decidedly British keyboard-rock spin, an intellectual set of inscrutable poems with earworm melodies, an environmental theater piece that's fun for all ages (an unmistakeable set and costume design by the remarkable John Napier)--what exactly is going on? The answer, of course, is all of the above. Oh, and it owes a lot to the English music hall tradition and to contemporary classical music, too, not to mention Puccini. Name another show that encompasses so much. Not to mention that original marketing campaign. Aside from his immature works (the children's show "Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" and others), Lloyd Webber's previous shows written with Tim Rice (the two nominated for the Best Revival of a Musical Tony Award this year, "Jesus Christ Superstar" and "Evita,") were both introduced to the world via record albums and marketing campaigns that featured a logo rather than a star name and image. But "Cats" seemed to take that even further, dispensing with the concept album and zeroing in on the show AS the star. Indeed, this show has no leading roles. Really. But who can forget that moon/cats' eyes/dancer silhouette logo, and the letters of the title in color-coordinated graffiti (echoing the oversized junkyard scene design). It was exciting and revolutionary at the time, and the only shows that have done it better since then (Lloyd Webber's "The Phantom Of The Opera" and director Trevor Nunn's "Les Miserables," all three produced by wunderkind Cameron Mackintosh) are the only ones that have run longer in London and New York, due to the lessons they learned from the feline juggernaut before us now. It was "the birth of the musical spectacular," as Broadway In Chicago's promotional materials tell us. This particular edition of the endless "Cats" tour, directed and choreographed by Richard Stafford and featuring mostly young, recent graduates of top U.S. musical theater and dance schools, is indeed "cut down" from the total makeover that the Winter Garden Theatre in New York displayed for the 18 years it played there (1982-2000). But the "Christmas lights" that once ringed the audience do indeed extend past the proscenium arch, and the cast makes several trips out into the aisles, a nice touch. The back wall of the set does not swing down to reveal the ship's set needed for the "Growltiger's Last Stand" sequence--they use drops and a false proscenium downstage center here, and I almost liked it better. The set as a whole is not as detailed and certainly not as deep as it once was, but if you haven't seen the video of the London production, or the show as it played in the early '80s, you would be none the wiser. Sound-wise, I have to give credit to sound designer Duncan Robert Edwards, musical supervisor Kristen Blodgette and music director J. Michael Duff. I swear the show sounds better than ever, even with a smaller orchestra than originally employed. And I could understand the lyrics! The costumes and makeup design look simplified to me, though, but again, a newcomer to the proceedings wouldn't know. And do I care of part of the set is inflatable, as rumor would have it? I don't care how they get it from city to city, or how quickly they do it, but somebody does care, and they figured out a way to make it work! The floating tire and the thing that comes down from the fly space (spoiler alert?) look great, absolutely. Absolutely. The cast is led by Melissa Grohowski as Grizabella, the role made famous by Elaine Paige and Betty Buckley and carrying with it, shall we say, a certain expectation of a certain money note. Boy, does Ms. Grohowski deliver! Three people stood during the applause for the number. Bravo to Clemmons/Dewing Casting, I say! The two singing roles for the men, Old Deuteronomy and Gus/Growltiger/Bustopher Jones, are essayed here by Nathan Morgan and Christopher E. Sidori, who both acquitted themselves well and were very effective theatrically, whatever their actual ages. Among the dance roles, Daniel J. Self as the narrator Munkustrap, Chris Stevens as Rum Tum Tugger and especially Chaz Wolcott as Mistoffelees were crowd pleasers: Self with his movement detailing, Stevens with his Elvis impersonation and Wolcott with his amazing fouette turns. The cast of two dozen or so performers dances uniformly well, and sings very well, too, save for a few minor quibbles with single lines here. And there or some missing low notes that older performers would probably have no trouble with. But these are easily forgiven. Who cares if the leading lights of Broadway (Harry Groener, Terrence Mann, Anna McNeely and of course Ken Page) have been replaced in these roles by recent graduates of Wright State, SUNY-Purchase and Oklahoma City University? These energetic, disciplined performers are working their tails off (pun intended), singing like people who can't dance a lick and are basking in the glow of theater history with every city they visit. Yes, the show has moments that seem a little longwinded, and sure, it doesn't challenge your intellect as much as it challenges your wallet and your caffeine intake (it takes place at night, and everybody is dressed like a cat!). But I challenge you to remain unmoved when Grizabella begs for physical contact, when old Gus relives his moment of youthful theatrical triumph, when assorted junk becomes the train that Skimbleshanks loves, and when the sopranos of the ensemble soar on the words, "'Round the cathedral rang 'Vivat!" Come on! It's "Cats." It's eye and ear candy galore. I don't even like cats, but I do like "Cats." Very much. "Cats" plays this week only, Tuesday night through Sunday night, with additional matinee performances on Saturday and Sunday, at the Cadillac Palace Theatre, 151 W. Randolph Street in Chicago. Tickets are available at all Broadway In Chicago box offices, the Ticket Kiosk at Water Tower Place, all Ticketmaster retail outlets, by phone (800.775.2000) and online at www.BroadwayInChicago.com. Photos: Melissa Grohowski; The Cast