'The Showtune Mosh Pit' for March 17, 2010
By: Paul W. Thompson Mar. 17, 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:
Stop the presses!!! LOL. Just as I was about to start writing this St. Patrick's Day column, I learned that the one and only Liza Minnelli will be performing at the Chicago Theatre on June 6, 2010. Tickets go on sale this coming Saturday, March 20th. Liza made an under the radar appearance during Labor Day weekend of 2008 at The Venue in Hammond, Indiana, in preparation for her Broadway run of "Liza's At The Palace," and we don't know how similar this concert will be to that show. But the Mosh Pit knows a fun evening when we see one, and this one sounds like the real deal. How many more times will we have to see and hear her? For God's sakes, GO.........
Click Here for Liza Minnelli In Concert
We were going to start this week's Mosh Pit with the biggest musical theater happening of the spring, but Billy got bumped to number two! Of course, I'm referring to "Billy Elliot," winner of ten 2009 Tony Awards and guaranteed to move anyone....repeat, anyone....who has ever aspired to a career beyond the imaginings of their parents. This production, only the world's fourth, starts performances at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts, Oriental Theatre on Thursday of this week. Who'll be the first to go and report back? We know that Emily Skinner (she's on camera left in all those "Sideshow" clips) will be on hand, putting one of the four Billys through their ballet paces, and several Chicago-based actors, including Susie McMonagle, are in the cast as well. Tommy Batchelor (the so-called "fourth Billy" from the Broadway production) is here, alternating in the demanding title role with Giuseppe Bausilio, Cesar Corrales and John Peter Viernes. Sir Elton John's music ("Electricity" and "Merry Christmas Maggie Thatcher" are but two of the songs) joins the direction of the original film's director, Stephen Daldry. After all the rumors about the set (is it a "touring set" or a "sit down set?" and the orchestra size (reportedly bigger than London, but smaller than New York), you know you're gonna go. Come on. You know you're gonna go. GO.........
Billy Elliot Tour - Official Site - Cast and Creative
Also on the boards beginning this week (through May 23) is that stupendous sounding "Ragtime" at the Drury Lane Theatre in Oakbrook Terrace. With two performers from the recent Broadway revival, costumes from the original Broadway production and local favorites Larry Adams and Cory Goodrich as Father and Mother, the show that the Oriental Theatre was renovated to hold, and that was such an off-Loop success just three years ago, makes another Chicago appearance. We just can't get enough of Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty's masterpiece to date.
Welcome To Drury Lane Oakbrook Terrace
Sandwiched between Patti LuPone's appearances with Mandy Patinkin earlier this month and Liza's aforementioned evening at the Chicago Theatre, is a concert we would be remiss to not mention. It's the appearance of Chicago native and two-time Tony winner Christine Ebersole (recent Tonys, I might add, for the "42nd Street" revival and for "Grey Gardens") that's coming up at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance at Millenium Park on Thursday, March 25th. Wonder how many times she'll say the word "staunch?" You gotta love a woman who looks great in evening wear and who can deliver the line "It's a mean, nasty, Republican town" without batting an eye. What's not to love? And that voice........
Harris Theater: Christine Ebersole
It was announced last week that there would be no national tour of the Broadway play, "God Of Carnage." So, despite what it says on the Broadway In Chicago website, the show isn't appearing here. I've been told that phone inquirers to BIC are being told, "we are looking for a show to replace 'God Of Carnage' in our upcoming subscription series," or something like that. Which makes sense. Which leads us to hope--will the replacement be one of the "Mosh Pit Missing Three?" Will "Next To Normal," "Hair" or "West Side Story" finally be announced, and soon? Please don't let it be another dance/circus/variety show. Thank you.
God of Carnage Tickets still inexplicably listed by Broadway in Chicago
Speaking of such shows, I will now mention a show that I thought I would never mention again. Do you remember the two productions that we sent off to New York recently, the ones that are doing so great in previews now? I'm talking of course about "The Addams Family," which reportedly has changed a lot, and "Million Dollar Quartet," which reportedly hasn't changed much. Well, there is that third show, albeit an off-Broadway one, "Banana Shpeel." After such a dismal run at the Chicago Theatre for the holidays, the show moved to New York's Beacon Theatre, where its opening has been delayed again, for a third time. Official opening day is now set for May 19, 2010. That's a VERY long period for changes. Hopefully there have been a lot.
Word came last week about the 2010 summer season at the Ravinia Festival in north suburban Highland Park. Previously announced was the first "Annie Get Your Gun" starring Patti LuPone, to co-star Brian Stokes Mitchell. Whether or not Ms. LuPone is a little bit old for this, her third major Ethel Merman role, doesn't seem to bother the powers that be. The concert will feature the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Paul Gemignani, and will run August 13-15. Other nights of interest to Mosh Pit residents include the July 31st Gala Benefit Evening, an 80th birthday tribute to Stephen Sondheim featuring LuPone, Audra McDonald, George Hearn and Michael Cerveris, also with the CSO under Gemignani. Rising diva Kelli O'Hara will sing a concert at Ravinia's Martin Theatre on August 4, and Hershey Felder will impersonate Leonard Bernstein in "Maestro" there on September 7. And on July 23, the CSO under conductor John Axelrod will accompany Kim Criswell, Anna Christy, Nicholas Phan, John Aler, Jonathan Beyer, Kathryn Leemhuis and Evanston's Lakeside Singers in a Vocal Suite from "Candide."
Ravinia Festival Website Here
Chicago's Porchlight Music Theatre announced its 2010-2011 season last week. This fall the company will begin with the Sondheim/Lapine Pulitzer Prize-winner, "Sunday In The Park With George," then it will reprise its 2009 holiday offering, "Miracle on 34th Street." In the spring, Porchlight will present the Midwest premiere of "Meet John Doe," a new musical based on the Frank Capra movie of the same name. And later next spring, "The King And I" by Rodgers and Hammerstein will round out the season.
Porchlight Music Theatre Announces Their 2010-2011 Season
There's one more local production that is hitting the boards this week--another Pulitzer winner, "A Chorus Line." This Marvin Hamlisch tuner is of course the longest running American musical in Broadway history. It plays through April 16 at the Village Players Theatre in Oak Park, directed and choreographed by Shawn Quinlan and musical directed by Julian Chin.
And last but not least, yours truly will have the distinction this coming weekend of presenting an award to the writing team behind the longest running off-Broadway musical in history, "The Fantasticks." At its Annual Benefit Gala on Sunday, March 21, Evanston's Light Opera Works will present its Artistic Excellence Award to Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt, and Jones is expected to attend. As a former Board member of the company and as a current contributor to Broadwayworld.com, I am honored to be asked to do the honors. Light Opera Works is presenting Jones and Schmidt's "I Do! I Do!" as part of its 2010 season, along with "The Yeoman Of The Guard," "Carousel" and "Hello, Dolly!"
Light Opera Works - Upcoming Shows
One last item, peeps--did you know that Christopher Sieber ("Shrek") and Cheyenne Jackson ("Xanadu") are currently filming a TV pilot for ABC? It's called "It Takes A Village," and it co-stars Leah Remini as Sieber's ex-wife, and James Patrick Stuart as her new husband. I don't have to tell you what this show is about, do I? You don't think they play a romantic couple, do you??? Even most online news agencies seem to have reported parts of this story inaccurately this week. But social networking sites have gotten it right, I think. We're just glad that two Broadway musical stars are on the way to starring together in a network sitcom. Way to go, you guys! And don't forget your roots, or your audiences. I'm sure they won't.
And with that bit o' news, I leave you to the fun of the Green Day. And next weekend, dried out and a wee bit wiser, I'll see you under the video screens.....--PWT
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