'The Showtune Mosh Pit' for July 29th, 2015

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:

Even as the excellent touring production of "Kinky Boots" departs our shores, another tour disembarks for a short Chicago stand. The touring cast of Diane Paulus' revival of Stephen Schwartz's "Pippin" is here for two weeks (July 29-August 9, 2015) at the Cadillac Palace Theatre. The production won four 2013 Tony Awards, and uses a circus motif and a whole host of circus-trained performers (pictured). "The Voice" performer Sasha Allen is the Leading Player, with Sam Lips as Pippin. Original cast Pippin John Rubinstein is Charles, with original "Grease" Rizzo Adrienne Barbeau as Berthe. (Have they known each other for 42 years?) And no, Irene Ryan did not die on stage in 1973!

http://broadwayinchicago.com/show/pippin/

And the "Pippin" cast will create a bit of fun on their night off, next Monday, August 3rd. The Schwartzites will take over half of Sidetrack: The Video Bar for a two-hour evening of cabaret performances benefitting Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. It's called "Summer's Simple Joys," and takes place from 7-9 pm. Your $25 ticket includes two drinks. Broadway people at Sidetrack on a Monday! What a shocker...

http://sidetrackchicago.com/

No sooner will "Pippin" depart than Broadway In Chicago will present its tantalizing and very popular preview of its upcoming season. That performance, always very oddly named, will be on Monday evening, August 17, at 6:15 pm. And of course, it is free, taking place at the Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park. The official name of this concert is "Summer Concert At Millennium Park." Got it! I will include performances by cast members from "The Lion King," "Cabaret" and "Dirty Dancing," among others. And it will be packed.

http://broadwayinchicago.com/show/2015-summer-concert-millennium-park/

Another gala performance, this one with local performers benefitting our Porchlight Music Theatre, takes place every August as well. It's "Chicago Sings," and this year, the tag to that moniker is "Motown." "Chicago Sings The Best Of Motown" will take place at 7:00 pm on August 17 (yes, the same evening as Broadway In Chicago's concert) at City Winery. Which is conveniently located on Randolph Street! Same as Pritzker Pavilion, sort of. So theoretically one could see parts of both events. At any rate, Rob Lindley and Doug Peck are putting together performances by such local theater stars as E. Faye Butler, Adrian Aguilar, Felicia P. Fields, James Earl Jones II, Shariesse Hamilton, Alexis J. Rogers, Meghan Murphy, Joey Stone, Bethany Thomas and more. That's a lot of Jeff winners.

Porchlight-Music-Theatre-to-Host-2016-CHICAGO-SINGS-THE-BEST-OF-MOTOWN

Three weekends in August there will be a theater production at the Rogers Park venue where Porchlight held several previous "Chicago Sings" galas, the Mayne Stage. It will be the sort-of-forgotten "Altar Boyz," the 2005 off-Broadway musical comedy that mashes up boy bands, religion and a lot of teen angst. In what may be the show's first local production this decade, it opens Friday, August 7 and runs through Sunday, August 23, mounted by Cult Camp Productions and directed and choreographed by Corey L. Mills. The cast of five includes Antonio Rodriquez, Nic Eastlund, Taylor Okey, Max Weinberg and Jared Dailey, with music direction by Jennifer McCabe. Go RoPa!

http://www.maynestage.com/events/?event_id=6057705

Another "boy" musical is "The Boy From Oz," the musical biography of singer-songwriter Peter Allen, the Australian writer of "I Honestly Love You," "Don't Cry Out Loud" and "I Go To Rio," among others. Its first professional production ever to play in Chicago begins previews on August 5 and opens that same August 7, running through August 30 at Stage 773. You've seen the amazing and sexy promo photos, right? Pride Films And Plays is finally bringing the show to us that won Hugh Jackman his Tony Award, starring Chris Logan as Peter and rising star Luke Meierdiercks as his lover, Greg. His wife, Liza Minnelli (yes, you read that right) is played by Michelle Lauto, and her mother, Judy [?], is played by Nancy Hayes. Michelle McKenzie-Voigt plays Peter's mother, Marion, with Garrett Hershey as the young Peter. David Zak directs and Robert Ollis music directs. Highly anticipated.

http://pridefilmsandplays.com/the-boy-from-oz/

Another highly anticipated August opening is the locally produced premiere of "American Idiot," the 2010 Broadway musical and 2011 Grammy Award winner based on the music of Green Day and currently playing its West End premiere engagement. We, having seen the show on tour, will now receive a new production by The Hyprocrites, directed by Steven Wilson, music directed by Columbia College Chicago's Andra Velis Simon and choreographed by Katie Spelman. The show will play on the mainstage at The Den Theatre from August 28-October 25 and will star a bunch of young, unknown performers: Luke Linsteadt, Jay Cullen, Steven Perkins, Alex Madda, Becca Brown, Krystal Worrell, Brian Keys and Malic White, with a supporting ensemble of ten more. Cool.

The-Hypocrites-AMERICAN-IDIOT-to-Rock-The-Den-Theatre-This-Fall

Opening in September will be another premiere, that of "Dogfight," by the young writers Benj Pasek and Justin Paul ("A Christmas Story"). BoHo Theatre, aka the Bohemian Theatre Ensemble, is producing the local premiere of this 2013 Lucille Lortel Award winner, at Theater Wit, with a run from September 5-October 18. Garrett Lutz, who recently appeared in "A Marvin Hamlisch Songbook" (choreographed for Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre by the aforementioned Chris Logan), stars alongside Emily Goldberg in a cast of eleven, directed by Peter Marston Sullivan. It's about soldiers who compete to find the ugliest date, and the life lessons that ensue.

BoHo-Theatre-to-Present-DOGFIGHT

And BoHo has announced its 2016 season. February and March of next winter (?????) will bring the song cycle "Fugitive Songs" to the Heartland Studio, written by Chris Miller and Nathan Tysen. And after a new translation of Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya" stretches everyone's straight play muscles, the company will present the 2010 Pulitzer Prize-winning musical "Next To Normal," at Theater Wit sometime in the fall of 2016.

NEXT-TO-NORMAL-More-Set-fo-BoHos-2016-Season

But before that happy (?) day arrives, other shows are slated for a fall opening this year, natch. In far north suburban Round Lake, the Broadway World Award-winning Williams Street Repertory Theatre is staging "Gypsy" from October 9-November 1, starring Amanda Flahive as Rose, Joe Lehman as Herbie and Willow Schneider as Louise, with Ryan Naimy as Tulsa. Mark Mahallak directs.

Amanda-Flahive-to-Lead-Williams-Street-Reps-GYPSY-as-Mama-Rose-Full-Cast-Announced

And, not to be outdone, the on-again, off-again NightBlue Performing Arts is staging two musicals in repertory this fall, as "The Producers" will share space and cast with the hardly-ever produced "Victor/Victoria!" Did anyone see this coming? Anyone? Anyone? Julie Andrews' gender bender vehicle, with music by Henry Mancini and Frank Wildhorn, previews on September 5 and runs through October 9, and the multi-Tony Award-winning "The Producers," by Mel Brooks, will begin previews on September 6, running through October 11. The shows take place in the thrust space at Stage 773, and yes, there are some days when they are scheduled to play back-to-back. Maddeningly, I can't find any information on the cast, though I believe that folks are appearing in both productions. Kudos to them, and to whoever thought up this weird showbiz coupling. Wonder what the sets will be....

http://www.nightbluetheater.com/

So that's it for today! Keep cool, and keep reaching for the stars, peeps. Sometimes, there's a star right beside you....See you under the video screens.....-PWT

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