'The Showtune Mosh Pit' for January 13th, 2010
By: Paul W. Thompson Jan. 13, 2010
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:
I had occasion to be in New York last week, and let me tell you that Chicago is very well represented there! And I don't mean the revival of our namesake Kander and Ebb musical, that is now the sixth longest running show in Main Stem history!
Everywhere I looked, I saw reminders of home. The marquees of "The Addams Family" and "Million Dollar Quartet" are already hung at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre and the Nederlander Theatre, respectively, ready to vie for the end-of-season awards with "Memphis," "Fela!," "Burn The Floor," "American Idiot," "Come Fly Away" and "Sondheim On Sondheim." (I'd say the odds for our entries look pretty good!) And one of our very longest running local musical productions, the sixteen year off-Loop marvel that is "Flanagan's Wake," opened for a weekends-only run at Sweet Caroline's on 45th Street this past Monday, January 11th. The show is directed by one of the eight original co-creators, Amy Binns-Calvey, with musical direction by another, Bonnie Shadrake. We wish these Chicagoans all the best in their new Hell's Kitchen home.
http://www.flanaganswakenyc.com/
Even though Northwestern University graduate Brian d'Arcy James is no longer appearing as "Shrek," and our former "Forever Plaid" star Sean Allan Krill is no longer in "Mamma Mia!," there are plenty of former Chicagoans on Broadway stages these days. Foremost among them may be Steppenwolf's Rondi Reed, leading several graduates from Chicago's "Wicked" onto the stage of the Gershwin Theatre eight times a week in the show's smash Broadway production.
Chicago's former young leading men Stephen R. Buntrock and Kevin Vortmann are part of the cast of the starry revival of "A Little Night Music," and Evanston native Kate Baldwin is starring as Sharon McLonergan in "Finian's Rainbow" at the legendary St. James Theatre. Across 44th Street, fellow Northwestern graduate Jim Weitzer is once again in "The Phantom Of The Opera" alongside Scott Mikita (son of Stan). And west suburban native Sean Hayes will star in "Promises, Promises" later this spring at the Broadway Theatre. And I'm sure there are many others.
Yes, we are doing pretty well in New York. Heck, a touring company from The Second City comedy troupe even performed last weekend in an industry showcase at my hotel. We are everywhere! And here's what's currently playing:
http://www.theatermania.com/broadway/
If you are in New York some time, you will of course want to check out the showtune-related nightlife! Many people are aware that Splash bar in the Chelsea neighborhood offers an abbreviated version of our "Chicago-style interactive showtunes" (as one Washington, DC bar calls it), in what New Yorkers dub "Musical Mondays."
And of course, Manhattan is filled with piano bars and such, with live singers as likely to belt out a showtune as anything else. But I found two events that just might make a Chicagoan feel at home, only with a slight twist.
Last Tuesday night, I headed to Therapy in Hell's Kitchen (on 52nd Street, to be exact, just west of "Wicked") to meet up with transplanted Chicagoan and musical director Joshua Stephen Kartes, and to witness "Broadway Sessions with Ben D." This program of live music and comedy, usually featuring a current Broadway performer, is hosted by the congenial actor Ben Cameron, every Tuesday night at 11:00. It's certainly worth a look, and the crowd sure looked familiar.
http://therapy-nyc.com/rxevents.html
And on Friday night, I met up with transplanted Chicagoan and stage manager Jessica Forella, making the trek to the West Village (just steps from the Christopher Street subway stop) and to the legendary watering hole Marie's Crisis Cafe. Here, every night of the week, one will find New Yorkers and tourists crammed into a tiny, ancient basement, hanging on every note played by a guy at an upright piano. He plays showtunes. And everybody sings! No made up, satirically alternate lyrics, either--people know the real ones. The crowd I was in sang a pretty creditable version of "Sorry-Grateful" from "Company," and "I Don't Care Much" from the revival of "Cabaret," among others. If you know what I'm talking about, then you need to visit this place, trust me! It is a blast, and makes you feel like you aren't the only person in the world who memorized cast albums in their bedroom in high school!
http://www.sheckys.com/newyorkcity/search/marie_s_crisis_cafe_1_222.asp
But enough about New York, I live in Chicago! And the big news here is the opening last week of "Funny Girl" at the Drury Lane Theatre, Oakbrook Terrace. It has received mixed reviews so far, but leading lady Sara Sheperd is being well reviewed, and, let's face it, "Funny Girl" lives and dies by its title character, right? It runs through March 7th.
Following "Funny Girl" at Oakbrook, by the way, will be "Ragtime," the show that just closed on Broadway this past Sunday! It will be a different production, of course, but it is still fascinating how a local production can be mounted nearly concurrently with a major New York revival. This may be somewhat unprecedented. We in the Mosh Pit are certainly looking forward to this Rachel Rockwell-directed production with excitement!
http://www.drurylaneoakbrook.com/live_theatre/now_playing.php
And we note that veteran director Gary Griffin has been out and about in Chicago a lot recently, helming the recent "The Merry Widow" at Lyric Opera of Chicago and sharing directing duties for "Funny Girl" with William Osetek. Griffin is also responsible for adding to Chicago's unofficial Noel Coward festival this winter, with his mounting of the Master's "Private Lives" (a non-musical, btw) for Chicago Shakespeare Theatre on Navy Pier. It runs now through March 7th. And continuing up at Writers' Theatre in Glencoe is the very well-received production of the intimate musical revue "Oh Coward!, extended now through March 28th. It's pretty remarkable.
http://www.chicagoshakes.com/main.taf?p=2,42
http://www.writerstheatre.org/boxoffice/production?id=0073
It was announced recently that the young director Christopher Pazdernik has arranged to bring the music of New York composer Scott Alan to The Cabaret at Davenport's in Wicker Park on Monday night, February 1st. It will star Broadway veteran Katherine Condit and three veterans of Chicago's Porchlight Music Theatre (Lina Kernan, Shannon Strodel and Becky Chicoine). The ladies' show is called "The Distance You Have Come."
http://davenportspianobar.com/
And we know that the theater scene in the Glenwood Avenue Arts District of Rogers Park is heating up again. Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre has begun rehearsal for its intimate production of "Chess," which opens at the No Exit Café on that popular date of March 7th.
Joining it on the boards about one block north, at the Heartland Studio, and about a month later, will be Bohemian Theatre Company's mounting of Micheal John LaChiusa's "Hello Again." I believe casting and pre-production work have now been completed for this unusual piece of music theater.
http://www.bohotheatre.com/hello2.htm
And last, but by no means least, I must point out that with the closing of several shows last week (most prominently, "Jersey Boys," of course) ALL of Chicago's major touring houses are dark this week, which has not happened at least since "Wicked" opened in 2005. How many theaters am I talking about, you want to know? Depends on your criteria, and how far back in time you want to go (Civic Opera House, Blackstone Theatre or the Arie Crown, anyone?). But, it is possible to consider these seven venues to be viable locations for Broadway shows these days: the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University, the Chicago Theatre, the Bank of America Theatre, the Ford Center for the Performing Arts, Oriental Theatre, the Cadillac Palace Theatre, the Drury Lane Theatre, Water Tower Place and the Rosemont Theatre. And there isn't a musical this week in any one of them!
Do not panic, my dear ones. Next week (beginning January 19th) the musical theater gods are bringing THREE national tours to our fair city! "Dreamgirls" will play for two weeks at the Palace, "Annie" will be at the Auditorium for one week and "Mamma Mia!" will play a week in Rosemont. All are under the auspices of Broadway In Chicago.
http://www.broadwayinchicago.com/
And so, counting the days until "Billy Elliot" appears on Monroe Street (and hopefully he will be there for a very long time), I hope you are warm, dry and cozy, until such time as I see you under the video screens.....--PWT
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