'The Showtune Mosh Pit' for April 4th, 2012
By: Paul W. Thompson Apr. 04, 2012
THE LATEST IN UNAUTHORIZED GOSSIP AND BUZZ
FROM THE HEART OF CHICAGO'S SHOWTUNE VIDEO BARS,
AND MUSICAL THEATER NEWS FROM CHICAGO TO BROADWAY
by Paul W. Thompson
Overheard last weekend under the showtune
video screens at Sidetrack and The Call:
With the announcement of the return of Cathy Rigby as “Peter Pan,” the picture of the next eight-month season from Broadway In Chicago was set this past week. It’s an odd season, to be sure, though the non-season (but definitely top offering) “The Book Of Mormon” at the Bank Of America Theatre (beginning December 11, 2012) is the highlight for most theatergoers during the time period in question (June 5, 2012-February 10, 2013). Subscribers will be treated to a potpourri of theatrical endeavors: a Los Angeles hit, a pre-Broadway tryout, a national tour of a Broadway show from last year, a holiday musical seen on Broadway and elsewhere but making its local premiere, the tour of last year’s Tony-winning Best Play, and a perennial touring favorite making (perhaps) its last stop here. And subscribers can “add on” three shows that have been here multiple times in the past, plus a new show featuring improvisational puppetry! (Renewing subscribers may do so now, and new subscriptions will be available beginning Friday, April 27).
Many of you already know the shows I’m talking about, but for the record, they are “I Love Lucy: Live On Stage” (with or without the “R in the circle” thingy), recreating the magic of the 1950s and playing September 12-November 11, 2012 at the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place; “Kinky Boots” by Cyndi Lauper and Harvey Fierstein, directed by Jerry Mitchell and hoping for Broadway, beginning sometime in October at the Bank Of America Theatre but clearing out in time for the Mormons; “Sister Act” by Alan Menken (composer of three Broadway scores in two seasons and winner of eight Oscars), playing the landmark Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University November 13-December 2, 2012, “How The Grinch Stole Christmas,” based on the legendary children’s book and television special (at the Cadillac Palace Theatre December 5-16, 2012); “War Horse,” galloping in on the Grinch’s heels with its tremendous stagecraft at the Cadillac Palace from December 18, 2012-January 5, 2013; and “Peter Pan,” the 1953 musical which will follow “War Horse” into the Palace from January 30-February 10, 2013.
Other shows BIC is bringing in during the same time are “Rock Of Ages,” (June 5-August 5, 2012 at the Broadway Playhouse); “Stuffed And Unstrung,” (June 12-17, 2012 at the Bank Of America Theatre); “Rain: A Tribute To The Beatles” (June 26-July 1, 2012 at the Oriental Theatre); and “Les Miserables” (November 14-December 2, 2012 at the Cadillac Palace).
And don’t forget the current “Pinkalicious” (Broadway Playhouse) and “Fela!” (Oriental), and the upcoming “Jersey Boys” (Bank Of America) and “Cats” (Cadillac Palace), plus Kristin Chenoweth’s Cadillac Palace concert (June 18, 2012)!
Broadway-in-Chicago's-2012-13-Season
Revelers at Sidetrack on Monday night were treated to a brief performance from a show at the other end of the budgetary spectrum from BIC’s offerings, “The Boy Scout Musical (Knot Prepared),” directed by Mick Napier and featuring not one or two, but an entire cast of actual Eagle Scouts (all grown up, to be sure). Performing only on Friday nights at the Annoyance Theatre in Uptown (at 10:00 pm, following the 8:00 pm “Oprah’s Last Show: A Musical,” the Boy Scout show seemed from the sample to be full of inside jokes, earnest satire, lively melodies and clever lyrics. In other words, it’s at the Annoyance Theatre! It’s running through May 25th, I believe.
Moving up the north lakefront from Uptown to Rogers Park, we find that the well-received, intimate production of “The Light In The Piazza” has been extended twice now, and by seven weeks, all the way to June 23rd! Not bad at all--it’s yet another popular and critically acclaimed hit from Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre. Have you read the reviews? You should read the reviews. And, oh yeah, then go see it!
http://www.theatreinchicago.com
Also extended again, now through June 24th, is “The Doyle And Debbie Show” at the Royal George Cabaret Theatre. In the mainstage space at the Royal George, “Motherhood” is now in previews, preparing for its April 12th opening and scheduled at present for a run through May 20th. I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t mind extending to match D&D’s extension, if not to go further. Their challenge, I would think, is to get their target demographic to leave their kids long enough to attend the theater….Right now, they are giving away free tickets to new and expectant mothers, good through the end of April.
The Royal George shows above are both making their Chicago debuts. Also premiering here will be “Faustus: The Musical,” but for one performance only, at Davenport’s in Wicker Park on Monday, April 16, 2012. It’s by Michael Mott and Justin Silvestri, and was a hit in a new musicals festival in New York in January. Broadway’s Gary Lindemann heads a cast of five, directed by Jeff Whiting.
FAUSTUS-to-Make-Chicago-Debut-at-Davenports-Piano-Bar-Cabaret
Another show will have its one night in the sun (moon?) later that same week, when “Reefer Madness!” makes its second annual appearance on the night of April 20. (4/20, get it?) That’s a Friday, btw, and it’s a late night “staged reading” performance (11:30 pm) at Stage 773. The Brown Paper Box Company has presented this show four times in all, I think, and must know what it is doing by now….To help you further remember the date, all tickets are $20….
The 1985 Broadway musical “Leader Of The Pack,” featuring the songs of 1960s songstress Ellie Greenwich, was an early entrant in the genre of jukebox musicals, but it’s not performed often. The Big Noise Theatre Company is aiming to rectify that, performing the show at the Prairie Lakes Theatre in Des Plaines from April 27 through May 13. It’s directed by Nancy Flaster, choreographed by Flaster and Ann Fink and musical directed by Robert Deason. Belting out such tunes as “Chapel Of Love” and “Da Do Ron Ron” will be a a cast of fourteen, headed by Christie Burgess as Greenwich and Tommy Thurston as Jeff Barry, with Pascale Trouillot as the legendary Darlene Love. Sounds fun!
Big-Noise-Theatre-Presents-LEADER-OF-THE-PACK
Also evoking the music of early rock and roll, but written in the 1980s by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, is the popular “Little Shop Of Horrors.” Street Tempo Theatre, which last brought us “Let My People Come,” is mounting the B-movie homage at its home base, Stage 773, beginning next week, and running through Sunday, May 13. Artistic director Brian Posen and musical director Kory Danielson are co-directing, with choreography by Amy Uhl and assistant musical direction from Michael McBride. John Sessler and Erin Creighton star as Seymour and Audrey, with Candace Edwards at Audrey II.
Street-Tempo-Theatre's-LITTLE-SHOP-OF-HORRORS
Our community was saddened last week with the news of the death of Etel Billig, a pioneer of theater in Chicago’s south suburbs and a professional actress, teacher and arts administrator for over fifty years. She and her late husband, Steve Billig, founded the Illinois Theatre Center in Park Forest in 1976, and it was there that she was stricken with a brain aneuryism. She died last Wednesday, March 28, 2012, at the age of 79. The theater’s production of “Showtune,” a Jerry Herman revue (I love the name, btw), will open one week late, rather than the previously announced April 13. The cast includes Joe Lehman, Jeny Wasilewski, Caron Buinis, Frank Roberts, Khaki Pixley and Steve Greist, directed by Frank Roberts and musical directed by Etel’s son, Jonathan Billig.
Tribute to Etel Billig by the Rotary Club of Park Forest
And, last but not least, comes a southside production of “Dreamgirls” that most in Chicago’s theatrical community seem to have missed (yours truly included). Most readers of the Showtune Mosh Pit are aware that the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire will be mounting the show for a run from August 22-November 4 of this year. But how many of us know that a production ran every weekend in March at the Harold Washington Cultural Center at the corner of 47th Street and King Drive? Produced and directed by John L. Ruffin, and featuring the young singer China Stewart as Effie, Opal Staples as Deena as former “American Idol” contestant Ta-Tynisa Wilson as Lorrell, this production reportedly de-emphasizes the script and stagecraft and emphasizes the music, which may not be such a bad thing. Scheduled to close on April 1, the good news is the show will be back for at least three additional performances, on May 6, 11 and 13. I can’t find anyone who lives on the north side who even knew that this show was going on, but I guarantee you that folks on the south side were well informed, indeed. The PR I’ve seen looks like concert promotion rather than theater marketing, and that may not be such a bad thing, either. Especially since it seems to have worked.
And so, spring is here, and of course it got cooler! Well, we knew that the warm weather couldn’t last without a break here or there. Wonder what the summer will be like? Maybe it will be full of fabulous musical theater opportunities! Wouldn’t it be loverly if it were. Well, until that day arrives, we have plenty of great shows going on, and great theater fans to enjoy them with. I’ll see you before too long, either in a theater lobby, or under the video screens.....—PWT
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PHOTO of “The Boy Scout Musical (Knot Prepared)” in performance at Sidetrack by Paul W. Thompson
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