HIS AND HIS III Cast and Theme Announced

The third installment of Pride Films and Plays' His & His.' cabaret series will be performed on Tuesday, April 11 in The Broadway at the Pride Arts Center, 4139 N. Broadway. Over the course of this season, His and His has followed the development of gay characters on Broadway. If you missed the first two parts, no worries. Chris will catch you up on what you need to know.

The first part of the evening will feature work from new musicals, or musicals with a Chicago connection. Some of the musicals to be represented in this part are Witches Among Us (by Chicago's Scott Free and former longtime Chicagoan Rick Karlin), Days Like Today (which premiered at Writers Theatre in 2014), Leo Schwartz's Pen and Jeff Bouthiette's Planted (both of which premiered at last year's Chicago Music Theatre Festival) and A History of Summer, which had a reading by PFP in 2016.

Part II celebrates famed Broadway composer-lyricist Andrew Lippa (The Wild Party, John and Jen, The Addams Family, Big Fish). Some of the songs to be performed in this tribute to Lippa will include "Life of the Party" (The Wild Party), "Crazier Than You" (The Addams Family), and "Fight the Dragons" (Big Fish).

Christopher Pazdernik curates and directs. Nick Sula is the musical director, and the all-star cast includes Scott Gryder, Jordan Dell Harris, James Nedrud, and Stephen Schellhardt.

Tickets for His & His III on April 11 at 7:30 are $25 for Reserved Center Section Seats, or $20 for general admission. They can be reserved at 1 800.737.0984 or online at www.pridefilmsandplays.com.

On March 30, 1970, the history of musical theater was changed forever with just two words from Lauren Bacall on opening night of Applause, the musical version of All About Eve. When she said "Bring him!" to her hairdresser Duane, Broadway finally had its first openly gay character in a musical paving the way for shows from La Cage Aux Folles to Fun Home.

Christopher Pazdernik (Curator and Director) is a director/choreographer with "a near encyclopedic knowledge of musicals" (NewCity Stage). Christopher's recent Chicago credits include The Rink, Anyone Can Whistle, City of Angels and Applause (Porchlight Revisits), Wicked City (Chicago Theatre Workshop), Planted (Chicago Musical Theatre Festival), Make Me a Song (Eclectic Theatre Co.), High Fidelity (Refuge Theatre Project), Story of A Story (The Untold Story) (Underscore Theater Co.), Bette, Live at the Continental Baths (Hell in a Handbag) and a Jeff Award nomination for co-choreographing Spamalot with Nightblue. An openly HIV+ artist, Christopher was named a 2016 Windy City Times 30-Under-30 honoree for his contributions to Chicago's LGBT community.

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