Sweet and Hot: The Songs of Harold Arlen Plays No Exit Café, Opens 6/20

Sweet and Hot: The Songs of Harold Arlen, a musical revue of some of the 20th century's most popular tunes, is the next production of Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre in association with Michael James.

Opening night is 7 p.m., Sunday, June 20 at the No Exit Café, 6970 N. Glenwood Ave. in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood. Previews are June 18-19 at 8 p.m., and performances run through August 8 at 8 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays and at 7 p.m., Sundays. The No Exit Café is a cabaret setting, where dinner is served one hour prior to curtain with cast members as servers. Doors open at 6:45 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays and 5:45 p.m., Sundays.

Fred Anzevino is Director, fresh from his co-direction with Brenda Didier of Chess, which received eight of Theo Ubique's 11 Jeff Award Non-Equity nominations this year. Steve Carson is music director, and David Heimann is choreographer.

The musical troupe is comprised of three women and three men, all frequently seen on Chicago theatre stages and in previous Theo Ubique productions.

The women are Sara Hayes, recently Jeff Awards nominated for her role in Theo Ubique's Man of La Mancha last fall; Bethany Thomas, a 2009 Jeff Awards nominee for her role as Belle Barth in the Theo Ubique new work, and Stephanie Hermann, who received accolades for her role in Chess this spring.

The men are Kristopher Simmons, known for his one-man cabaret show I Ain't Got No Shame; Eric Lindahl, previously in Theo Ubique's 2007 After Dark ensemble winner Side by Side by Sondheim and a Jeff Awards recipient for the BoHo production of Side Show; and Eric Martin, also in Theo Ubique Jeff Awards winning productions of Cabaret in 2008 and Jacques Brel's Lonesome Losers of the Night.

Harold Arlen's Over the Rainbow, considered Judy Garland's signature song, is ranked first in the Songs of the Century list compiled by the Recording Industry Association of America and the National Endowment for the Arts. The American Film Institute also ranked Over the Rainbow the greatest movie song of all time on the list of AFI's 100 Years. . .100 Songs.

Arlen not only wrote the songs for the movie The Wizard of Oz, he composed more than 400 songs, such as Stormy Weather, made famous by the late Lena Horne; It's Only a Paper Moon, Get Happy, That Old Black Magic and Ac-cent-tchu-ate the Positive. These and many others will be performed in the Theo Ubique revue.

Tickets for Sweet and Hot: The Songs of Harold Arlen are now available online at www.theoubique.org or www.theo-u.org and through the ticket order line at 800-595-4849. Theo Ubique's information line is 773-347-1109, where updated theatre and show information are available. The emergency phone number to the box office, available two hours before curtain, is 312-898-0672.

Preview tickets are $15, and regular performance tickets are $25. A show/dinner package is optional for $45. Free parking is available at the parking lot on the corner of Morse and Ravenswood with free transport on the Lifeline shuttle van to and from the lot. The No Exit Café is a half block from the Morse stop on the Red Line. Special discounts will be offered through Theo Ubique e-news announcements, which are available by signing up through the web site.

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