'The Showtune Mosh Pit' for December 7th, 2011
By: Paul W. Thompson Dec. 07, 2011
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:
The clock is ticking on voting for the second annual BroadwayWorld Chicago Awards! Anyone and everyone who has a valid e-mail address can vote for their favorites for the Broadies,Chicago’s only fan-driven theater award, but only through midnight onDecember 15, 2011. There are 125 nominations, spread among 67 different productions and 40 local theaters, all vying for one of the 25 awards, which include touring shows, resident Equity and non-Equity productions, including plays, musicals and revues. Competition is pretty close in some categories, with only a few percentage points separating the first place from the last place nominee, so every vote does count!
And it’s a pretty impressive list of nominees. Included are artists currently working on Broadway (such as Jessie Mueller, Jennifer Lim and Darren Criss), former Tony Award winners (like Mary Zimmerman, Alice Ripley and Amy Morton), nationally famous artists (like John Mahoney, David Henry Hwang, Constantine Maroulis, Brent Barrett and Tracy Letts), prior and current Jeff Award winners (like Maggie Portman, Chuck Spencer, Tammy Mader and Brenda Didier) and some of our most Popular Productions over the eligibility period of September 2010 through October 2011 (“Sweeney Todd,” “Cats,” “The Original Grease,” “Murder For Two,” “Follies,” “The Sound Of Music,” “Red,” “Man From Nebraska” and “The Pitmen Painters,” just to name a few). If you haven’t voted for your favorites, click HERE!
And everyone (fan, nominee, EVERYONE) who’s 21 and over is invited to attend the BroadwayWorld Chicago Awards Celebration at The Call nightclub in Chicago’s Andersonville neighborhood, on Wednesday, December 28, 2011 from 9 pm to 2 am. This theater family holiday party will be even bigger and better than last year’s celebration, with staff from BroadwayWorld Chicago and The Call working and on hand to greet nominees with yellow ribbons and winners with newly designed certificates, now being used in over a dozen BroadwayWorld competitions internationally. It’s free, and the party will last into the wee hours of The Call’s regular “Curtain Up” showtune video Wednesdays. I hope to see you all there!
BroadwayWorld Chicago Awards Voting System
Speaking of awards, the Grammy Awards nominations came out last week. Showtune recording aficionados were dismayed to learn that the newly named category of Best Musical Theater Album has only three nominees, due to the relatively smallish number of eligible entrants. But most agree that the Broadway cast albums of “The Book Of Mormon,” “Anything Goes” and “How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying” were the obvious nominees, and most folks hope that TBOM takes home the prize on February 12. Other Mosh Pit favorites nominated in other categories include Barbra Streisand and Harry Connick, Jr. vying for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album, “Burlesque,” “Tangled” and “Glee: The Music, Volume 4” for Best Compilation Soundtrack For Visual Media, and the six songs nominated for Best Song Written For Visual Media, songs from “Never Say Never,” “Family Guy,” “Tangled,” “Winnie The Pooh,” “Footloose” and “Burlesque.”
We talked about the Goodman Theatre’s venerable production of “A Christmas Carol” last week. Well, other theaters produce their own versions of Dickens’ immortal tale. Out in Arlington Heights, the Metropolis Performing Arts Centre’s tenth annual outing of the story is using a new script by Scott Woldman, with music by Micky York, under the direction of Brad Dunn. The show closes December 24th.
Metropolis Performing Arts Centre
And up in Lake Forest, the Citadel Theatre Company’s new production, with a script by Peter DuLaurier, runs through December 30th. It stars Equity actor Frank Farrell as Scrooge, directed by Pat Murphy. I’m not sure if there’s music with this one.
Citadel Theatre Company - Home Page
And speaking of the Goodman, the downtown venue is once again hosting (in its Owen space) the Congo Square Theatre Company production of “The Nativity,” which has reportedly changed somewhat this year, and is now raising the roof with its gospel music and dance telling of the Christmas story through December 31. The script is by McKinley Johnson, who co-created the music and lyrics along with musical director Jaret Landon. Ilesa Duncan and Kevin Iaga Jeff are the director and choreographer lucky enough to get to work with several cast members of the Court Theatre’s summer production, the well received “Porgy And Bess.” Awesome.
A show back for its second year is The Hypocrites’ version of the Gilbert and Sullivan classic, “The Pirates Of Penzance,” now in the basement of the Chopin Theatre through January 22, 2012. Neither your grandfather’s “Pirates” (the D’Oyly Carte version that premiered in New York, prior to London) nor your father’s (the 1980s version starring Kevin Kline, Linda Ronstadt and Rex Smith), this one is Sean Graney’s stripped down, modern dress (costumes by Alison Siple), re-orchestrated version that was a big hit a year ago and is apparently one again. Good for them.
The Hypocrites | We Make Theater
The Mosh Pit now veers from 19th century music theater to the 21st, as we note the opening of our first local staging of “Spring Awakening,” the Tony winner based on the Frank Wedekind drama. Griffin Theatre has taken it on, performing at Theater Wit on Belmont Avenue until January 8. The young Josh Salt and Aja Wiltshire star as the even younger Melchior and Wendla, directed by Jonathan Berry. As winter sets in, a show with the word “spring” in the title can’t be all bad!
Light Opera Works is preparing its production of “The Secret Garden,” the Lucy Simon/Marsha Norman show with the lush score, for its run from December 26-January 1 at Cahn Auditorium in Evanston. You will find Nicholas Foster, Brianna Borger and Maggie Portman among the large cast, directed and choreographed by the hot Stacey Flaster. And the company has announced its season for 2012--it’s a salute to the 1960s, apparently! “Camelot” and “Man Of La Mancha” will fill the summer slots, and “Oliver!,” starring James Harms as Fagin, will bring a new kind of Charles Dickens to our Christmas celebrations a year from now. And instead of their “Second Stage” series of mostly composer revues, the company will offer “Operetta’s Greatest Hits” in its slot for fall, 2012, a “stylish concert” at the Nichols Concert Hall, also in Evanston. The company may have moved its offices and rehearsals into a new space in Wilmette, but its performances are still firmly rooted in Evanston. Good news for Chicagoans!
Speaking of the northern suburbs, the Marriott Theatre has announced its cast for our first local staging of “Legally Blonde,” the tuner based on the book and movie of the same name. Directed and choreographed by Marc Robin, the show will star New York-based Chelsea Packard, Cole Burden and David Larsen as Elle, Warner and Emmett, with Chicagoans Gene Weygandt, Summer Naomi Smart, Lara Filip, Scott Alan Jones and more in supporting roles. The production will hit the square inLincolnshire on January 18, running January 27 through March 25.
The-Marriott-Theatre-Presents-LEGALLY-BLONDE
And that’s it! Stay warm, everybody, and get your shopping done when the sun peeks through. And get your theater fix too--it’s good for what ails ya! Get your voting done for the BroadwayWorld Chicago Awards, and then tell your friends to do the same, when I see you under the video screens.....—PWT
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