Goldberg-Produced WHITE NOISE to Get Chicago Tryout?

Chris Jones reports in the Chicago Tribune that the Whoopi Goldberg-producEd White Noise may be getting its pre-Broadway try-out in Chicago sometime in the very near future.  White Noise director Sergio Trujillo tells the Tribune: "I think we're going to get it up in Chicago...Soon."

White Noise most recently received a private industry reading on October 1 in New York City. Whoopi Goldberg and Tom Leonardis have joined producers Holly Way and Jay Strommen with the intention of bringing the production to Broadway as early as next season. No official announcement has been made. Sergio Trujillo (Jersey Boys, Memphis, Next To Normal, Addams Family) also directed the reading.

The reading starred Marc Kudisch (9 to 5, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Assassins) Mackenzie Mauzy (A Tale of Two Cities), Emily Padgett (Rock of Ages, Grease, Legally Blonde), Patrick Murney, Patrick Heusinger (Next Fall, Fiddler on the Roof), Luba Mason (The Capeman, Jekyll & Hyde, How to Succeed...), Rodney Hicks (Scottsboro Boys, Rent), and Antwayn Hopper (Hair).

Catherine Brookman (Hair), Michael Buchanan (Cry-Baby), Morgan James (Addams Family), Joshua Kobak (American Idiot), Ryan Link (Hair, Rent), Leslie McDonel (American Idiot), Wallace Smith (Hair, American Idiot), and Dan'yelle Williamson (Memphis) will round out the company for the reading.

White Noise, which was picked up from the 2006 New York Musical Theater Festival has been entirely reworked by a new creative team, including book writer Matte O'Brien (The Meaning of Life...and Other Useless Pieces of Information) and music trio Robert Morris, Steven Morris and Joe Shane (Once Around the Sun). White Noise last played a limited, sold-out engagement at Le Petit Theatre in New Orleans last summer.

Set to the beat of modern rock, pop and hip hop music, White Noise, according to early press notes, is a cautionary musical loosely based on real life. The musical follows a teenage singing group - sisters Eva and Eden Siller, who promote their messages of white power through coded lyrics and irresistible melodies to penetrate the mainstream. Indeed, anything marketed, polished, and packaged correctly can sell. White Noise fuses today's blog and headline stories into a cautionary tale that challenges conventional notions about freedom of speech, entertainment, and the dramatic effects pop culture can have on a nation so preoccupied with "living" that it neglects to pay attention to "life."

For more information visit www.whitenoisebroadway.com.

Photo Credit: Genevieve Rafter-Keddy