Paul W. Thompson - Page 13

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. The new musicals 'Eastland' and 'Hero,' new and newish shows based on hats, songbooks, TV shows and recordings, 'Floyd Collins' and Ashley Brown, and more!

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. The Sidetrack all-time Top Ten list, Make Music Chicago, Chicago concerts by Chenoweth, Callaway, Mason, Menzel and Eder, two puppet musicals, 'Next Stop,' 'The Hunchback Variations' and more!

Chicago's non-Equity Bohemian Theatre Ensemble has undertaken Adam Guettel and Tina Landau's 1996 off-Broadway masterpiece (or close to it) and put it on at Theater Wit on West Belmont Avenue for the next month (through July 25, 2012). If you have imagination enough to meet the company halfway, somewhere between the hardscrabble Kentucky soil and the cave beneath it where the real Floyd Collins met his doom in 1925, you will come away with a musical and theatrical experience you are unlikely to repeat anytime soon, anywhere else.

BroadwayWorld Chicago contributor Paul W. Thompson, author of the popular weekly column, THE SHOWTUNE MOSH PIT, will be performing his 2012 solo show, SONGS I'VE NEVER SUNG BEFORE, on the afternoons of June 21 and June 28 (both Thursdays). Both concerts last about an hour, and both concerts are FREE!!

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. Our Tony Award wrap-up, all that 'Rock Of Ages,' three musical tribute shows, two operettas, a stellar TYA 'Beauty' and Kristin Chenoweth, plus more!

In case you missed it in the "Showtune Mosh Pit" column last week, here is my full listing of musical theater shows (plus three special concert events) happening in Chicago this summer. Click on the name of each show for a link to more information. And enjoy!

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. The non-Equity Jeff Award winners are announced, and we cover 18 regional theaters and their summer offerings, from northern Wisconsin to St. Louis and southern Illinois, from southwest Michigan to western Illinois. It's the Regional Summer Musical Theater Scene!

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. The non-Equity Jeff Awards are Monday night, and we've compiled our first ever Summer Musical Theatre Guide! Here are 35 listings for your viewing pleasure....

Summer Stages - Top 5 Picks for Chicago

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. Three shows make a PR appearance at Sidetrack, ATC plans a 'Hair' re-do, 'Camelot,' 'Floyd Collins,' three new mainstage musicals, a reading, a benefit and more!

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. The 'Apocalyptour,' two Sondheim/Lapine productions, Hunter Bell and Jeff Bowen visit Northlight, 'The Last Five Years,' Spider Saloff writes and stars, that 'Smash'ing season finale, and more....

Here is the complete set list for the 21-city APOCALPYTOUR, the national tour by Team StarKid that premiered May 9, 2012 in Chicago and will wind up at New York's Roseland Ballroom on June 10th!

I'm talking about StarKid Productions, aka Team StarKid, and their "Apocalyptour," which opened last night at Chicago's House of Blues (a second show is tonight). The troupe behind "A Very Potter Musical," the Billboard phenomenon "Me and My Dick," the BroadwayWorld Chicago Award-winning "Starship" and more, heads off to Indianapolis, Nashville, New Orleans and points beyond in the coming days...

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. 'tick...tick...BOOM!,' 'A Little Night Music,' a local 'Avenue Q?,' Kevin Earley and Nathan Lane are in town, 'Sexy Baby,' the High School Musical Theater Awards and more....

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. Jessie Mueller, 'Cats,' '[title of show],' David Cromer's 'Rent' 'The Marvin Gaye Story,' 'Fame' seeks a tenor and more....

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

Chicago's Call Bar has announced that the cast of "Jersey Shore: The Musical" will perform at The Call tonight, May 2, 2012, during "Curtains Up! Wednesday" - Andersonville's Showtune Night!

Chicago's Call Bar has announced that the cast of "Jersey Shore: The Musical" will perform at The Call on Wednesday night, May 2, 2012, during "Curtains Up! Wednesday" - Andersonville's Showtune Night!

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. The non-Equity Jeff Award nominations, a 'Jersey Boys' benefit, 'Cats' now and forever, the market for 'Motherhood,' Roosevelt lands 'Lysistrata Jones,' and much, much more....

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. 'Hairspray' at Oakbrook, two projects from Team StarKid, 'Rise Of The Numberless' from Bailiwick and New Colony, a new theater in Naperville, 'Bab Fab' and so much more!