'The Showtune Mosh Pit' for March 14th, 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:

“The Book Of Mormon” is coming! Oh, it’s coming in a big way. Performances of the national tour production of last season’s megahit from the writers of “South Park” and “Avenue Q” and the director of “Spamalot” will begin December 11, 2012 at the Bank Of America Theatre. I’m not even sure there’s an ending date in the announcements anymore, though of course we all knew that wasn’t going to last. Oh, and there are three days of Equity auditions happening here next week. Oh, and American Express pre-sale tickets are available now, as well as group sales. Regular single tickets go on sale next Monday, March 19th. Oh, it’s going to be big.

http://broadwayinchicago.com/shows

In the meantime, Broadway In Chicago is bringing us the farewell tour of “Riverdance,” performing at the Oriental Theatre this week only. I don’t know whether this show has been touring constantly for the last fifteen years or so, or not, but I do know that it whipped up quite a multi-cultural dance frenzy through many PBS airings over the years, lots of tour appearances, and a Broadway stand that yielded a second “cast album” (one that won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album when many voters were probably intent on honoring the original studio album). At any rate, if you’ve heard of it but haven’t seen it, you should probably go. It was quite a performing arts sensation, and should be celebrated as such. We should all be so lucky….

Riverdance 2012

And “Bring It On: The Musical” is about halfway through its three-week introductory tour stand at the Cadillac Palace Theatre, with quite a lot of positive reaction, actually. I don’t know of anyone who downright hated it. Several folks have said they wished some of the songs were stronger, but everyone has loved the cheerleading and the dancing. Nobody has really had any strong objections to the book. Maybe the powers that be are getting it done the right way! Maybe? Have you seen it yet?

BRING IT ON

But enough about Loop tours. We’ve got our own theater community here, with many different “scenes,” too. And a big event on the storefront, non-Equity musical theater scene was this week’s opening of “The Light In The Piazza” at Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre, performing at the No Exit Café in Rogers Park (through April 29). Kelli Harrington and Rachel Klippel star in Adam Guettel’s lyrical Tony-winning musical (book by Craig Lucas) about growing up and letting go and moving on, set in romantic post-war Italy. Directed by Fred Anzevino and Brenda Didier, it’s getting some great reviews. Harrington, who teaches musical theater voice at the Chicago Academy Of The Arts on Chicago Avenue, seems young for the role of Margaret, but I guess any actress would like a compliment that like!

http://www.theo-u.com/2011-12-season/light-in-the-piazza

A combination tour and local production (identical productions sent out from a central brain trust, cast with local performers, I think) is “Motherhood the Musical” (though it doesn’t seem to have a colon or a comma before the word “the” in the title). And it begins performances March 30, opens April 12 and runs through May 20, on the mainstage at the Royal George Theatre. It’s a four-woman show by Sue Fabisch, and includes 20 songs. They’ll be sung in Chicago by a cast that is already hard at work in rehearsals: Madeline Duffy-Feins as Amy, Jennifer Chada as Barb, Kimberly Vanbiesbrouck as Brooke and Melody Betts as Tasha. The musical director is Johnny Rodgers, who was one of the guys in “Liza’s At The Palace,” in New York and on tour. The website lists productions in Philadelphia, Huntsville, Atlanta, Chicago, Mesa and Providence in the first six months of this year. Interesting!

http://www.motherhoodthemusical.com/

Yet another way to  replicate one’s theatrical success is via YouTube. And that’s the way that Chicago’s very own Team StarKid does it. The creative young music theater troupe, which originated with college chums of Darren Criss (“Glee,” duh), is based in Chicago and has announced its latest original musical. It’s “Holy Musical B@man!,” and it will play for two weekends only (March 16-25) at the Center On Halsted’s Hoover-Leppen Theater, the site of the troupe’s last show, “Starship” (winner of the BroadwayWorld Chicago Award for Best New Work of 2011). Actually, this weekend’s March 16-18 dates are preview performances, with the regular run slated for March 22-25. The show has a book and direction by brothers Matt Lang and Nick Lang, with a score by Nick Gage and additional music by Scott Lamps. (Criss doesn’t seem to be involved, though he is still a member of the group.) And of course, the performances are only the first part of how this company disseminates its work. The YouTube release of the video of the show, in April, will be the big headliner. And even though accessing the show that way is free, of course, somehow, through merchandizing, concert tours and CD sales, the company seems to be making money. Millions of hits will do that for you, I guess! Folks from around the world are watching Team StarKid, and not just for the entertainment value. It’s a business model worth paying very close attention to.

Team-StarKid-Announces-HOLY-MUSICAL-B@MAN

Up on the North Shore, Writers’ Theatre is preparing Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s “A Little Night Music” for performances May 1-July 8 (the time of year this show is most popular, it seems). But the Glencoe company has announced next season, and we won’t have to wait a full year for its next musical offering. Cy Coleman and Dorothy Fields’ “Sweet Charity” (book by Neil Simon) is scheduled for January 22-March 31, 2013, directed by Michael Halberstam with musical direction by Doug Peck. Expect something fresh, as the Writers’ website says Peck “reimagines the score for a live jazz combo!” Sounds cool.

http://www.writerstheatre.org

Also up north, Highland Park’s Ravinia Festival announced its summer season, and we now know that the previously announced concert by Idina Menzel will in fact be accompanied by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted (health issues allowing) by Marvin Hamlisch. That’s at 5:00 pm on Sunday, July 8. Earlier that week, the CSO will play an all-American program on July 4, with special guest Ashley Brown, the star of the current “Show Boat” at Lyric Opera Of Chicago. On Sunday, July 15, the true legend Barbara Cook will star in concert with the CSO, celebrating her 85th birthday. On Sunday, August 5 (I’m detecting a theme here), Ann Hampton Callaway and the John Pizzarelli Quartet will join the CSO for a tribute to Harold Arlen. But achieving a Saturday, and sporting a new hairdo in her publicity pix, is Patti LuPone, who will join opera star Patricia Racette and the CSO in performing for the park’s Gala Benefit. Tickets are $750 per person. Yes.

http://ravinia.org/

Judy Garland was certainly a Harold Arlen devotee, and I’m sure she sang some of his songs at her Orchestra Hall concert in 1961. Her Carnegie Hall concert of that year was recorded, to great acclaim and eternal thanks from the Mosh Pit peeps of the world. And in commemoration of the anniversary of those concerts, the Mayne Stage in Rogers Park is presenting “Judy At Carnegie: A Live Concert Event” on April 20 and 21. Some of Chicago’s most well-known cabaret performers will recreate Garland’s concert, song by song, in a fascinating idea, including among many others Daryl Nitz, Stephen Rader and BroadwayWorld Chicago Award winner Honey West. George Howe is musical director. This sounds just great!

Mayne Stage

And in September, Chicago will experience for the first time a live performance by West End and video star Ramin Karimloo! If you are not familiar with Karimloo (please, may I call you Ramin?), you certainly should be. He has starred in “Les Miserables” (as Jean Valjean and as Marius) and “The Phantom Of The Opera” (as both The Phantom and Raoul) as well as in the “Phantom” sequel, “Love Never Dies.” And he will be appearing in concert here at the Park West on Saturday, September 8, 2012! Actually, it may be his first solo concert anywhere in the U.S. I wonder if he is trying to emulate the success of Linda Eder, who was unknown until a rave review of her Park West concert by Richard Christiansen gave her the PR push she needed until “Jekyll And Hyde” took over. Remember that? I sure do. I wonder who will be reviewing Karimloo’s concert? It will be something. Plan ahead, peeps!

/article/Ramin-Karimloo-Announces-US-Tour-Dates

And so, we’re in a heat wave! It may not be a tropical heat wave, but it sure is warm up in here. And it will stay that way for the rest of the week. So you have no excuse to avoid being out and about. I’m sure I'll see you under the video screens.....—PWT

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