'The Showtune Mosh Pit' for November 16th, 2011
By: Paul W. Thompson Nov. 16, 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:
Last week, BroadwayWorld announced the nominations for the 2011 BroadwayWorld Chicago Awards, and voter excitement has already reached fever pitch! The second annual "Broadies," the only Theater Fans' Choice Awards in the Chicagoland theater community, include 125 nominations in 25 categories, covering touring productions and resident Equity and Non-Equity productions which opened between September 1, 2010 and October 31, 2011. Those 14 months saw some great productions, too! 40 different theaters are represented in the nominations (40!), even though the Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier topped all others with a whopping 18 nominations! 5 different shows from CST received nominations, including 5 nominations each for two shows directed by Gary Griffin, "Follies" and "As You Like It." Goodman Theatre's "Candide" also received 5 nominations, and New York, Chicago and Hollywood celebrities are on the list as well (you do know that Darren Criss is a member of a Chicago theater collective, Team StarKid, don't you?). All the theaters you know and love are represented, more likely than not.
Vote now if you haven't, and get your friends involved as well! Theaters should get their patrons and subscribers to vote, too. You can track the real-time vote totals (by percentage) on BroadwayWorld's unique voting system, as thousands of votes have already been cast. But there's plenty of time. Voting will be open through December 15, 2011, and the winners will be formally announced before Christmas. All that will be left then will be for everyone, Mosh Pit peeps, winners, nominees and voters, to attend the BWW Chicago Awards Celebration at The Call nightclub, 1549 W. Bryn Mawr Avenue in the Andersonville neighborhood, on the evening of Wednesday, December 28, 2011, the bar's regular showtune night. You have to be 21 to get in, I'm afraid, but much fun will be had by all!!! Planning is already underway...
Voting Begins for 2011 BWW Chicago Awards!
We are surrounded by "West Side Story" nostalgia right now! The 50th anniversary of the release of the wildly popular and critically acclaimed film version of the 1957 Bernstein/Sondheim/Laurents/Robbins musical is this month, and rare but completely justified attention is being paid to this anniversary by many in American society. Last week, "Glee" chimed in with the McKinley High School version of the musical, and next week the Chicago Symphony Orchestra will play the film's soundtrack live! The voices of Marni Nixon, Jimmy Bryant, Betty Wand and Tucker Smith will ring throughout Orchestra Hall, while the faces (and sometimes the voices) of Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Rita Moreno and Russ Tamblyn will flash by the eyes and ears of those in attendance. It's November 25, 26 and 27 at Symphony Center on Michigan Avenue. That'll make a big movie theater!
Chicago Symphony Orchestra - Tickets and Events
There are three non-holiday musicals opening in Chicago these days. One that is somewhat well known, and has roots in the northern suburbs (it premiered at Northlight Theatre), is "The Last Five Years," the first successful piece from the pen of Jason Robert Brown. For one week only (November 14-22), the show will be performed in concert style as a benefit for the Highland Park-based Music Theatre Company, starring Alan Schmuckler and Hilary Patingre, directed by Stacey Flaster and with musical direction by Diana Lawrence. Kyle Dougan is Associate Director. I have to tell you that all five of these artists seem to move so quickly from one project to another that it's a wonder the show is happening at all! Catch it while you can, indeed.
:: THE MUSIC THEATRE COMPANY ::
A rarity indeed is the unsuccessful "The Baker's Wife," remembered primarily for the travails surrounding the inclusion of the song "Meadowlark" and the personalities of Patti LuPone, Stephen Schwartz and David Merrick during its gestation process in the late 1970s. In this Chicago Schwartz-heavy year, Circle Theatre in Oak Park is giving us a look as this lovely and lyrical work, opening November 16, 2011 and running all the way through to January 22, 2012 (no shows between Christmas and New Year's). BroadwayWorld Chicago Award nominee Kevin Bellie (see how I did that?) directs and choreographs a cast of 18. (Bellie is nominated for his choreography for this fall's "Urinetown.")
The Bakers Wife - Circle Theatre
And as if that weren't rare enough, an even more rare musical (though popular in its time) is underway at Stage 773 on Belmont Avenue in Lakeview. It's "Let My People Come," the 1974 off-Broadway sex hit that (as far I am aware) has all but vanished from consciousness. Street Tempo Theatre, 773's new new-production affiliate, is behind the new production. Brian Posen directs. The show has already opened, and it will run through December 31. It's a "sexy, funny and provocative" one-act musical revue. Okay.
Under the category of traditional holiday fare (though it's a fairly new stage adaptation) is "White Christmas," at the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire. The Irving Berlin film of the same name was staged during the last decade on the road, on Broadway and in the Chicago Loop, and now it is running quite successfully in this regional, in the round premiere. The highly decorated director-choreographer Marc Robin has pulled together a show slew of top-drawer Marriott regulars to put nostalgia, holiday cheer and military sentimentality into a blender and come out with a winner. And they've got that title tune! Now through January 1, 2012.
White Christmas - Marriott Theatre In Lincolnshire
For somewhat less traditional fare, though it is developing some traditions of its own in its 14th year, we will have this year's edition of David Cerda's "Rudolph, The Red-Hosed Reindeer," the annual offering from Hell In A Handbag Productions satirizing the children's television special of the similar name. It will run December 1-30 at Mary's Attic in Andersonville, and gender issues, clothing choices, feeling different and fitting in will all be discussed and dealt with. Alex Grelle is back for the third year as Rudolph, with BroadwayWorld Chicago Award nominee Michael Hampton returning as Santa. And who could forget Yukon Cornelia (Lori Lee)? Just sayin'.
On the Theater for Young Audiences (TYA) front, there are at least two productions of the Victor Herbert 1903 operetta "Babes In Toyland" heading our way, thought I don't know how much of Herbert's original score will be used, or exactly what the book and plot will be. The first will be at the Theatre At The Center in Munster, Indiana, running November 28-December 12.
Theatre at the Center - Babes in Toyland
And the second will be in Oak Park, in a new production courtesy of Chicago Folks Operetta. It's one weekend only (December 2-4) at the Nineteenth Century Club. And you know, as long as the title song (lyric by Glen MacDonough) exerts its magical and sentimental pull, we will continue to have TYA productions of this legendary Broadway show (it had its out-of-town tryout in Chicago, don't you know). Ah, Toyland....
The Chicago Kids Company has two different productions of the same TYA show, "Mrs. Claus." It runs November 21-December 21 at the Stahl Family Theater on Belmont Avenue on the far west side, and November 29-December 23 at the Beverly Arts Center on the far south side. Their website says they're performing it for the 13th year. But it doesn't say who wrote this "holiday musical," this "holiday classic." Ah, well. I should have googled it.....
chicagokidscompany.com/mrsclaus
And back up at the Marriott Theatre, we have a grown-up Broadway show that didn't do so well (one of fairly recent vintage), but which has found extensive new life in a TYA incarnation. It is "Seussical," by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty ("Ragtime," "Once On This Island"), now onstage through December 31. George Keating, Melody Betts and all will lead you into the world of the Cat In The Hat, Horton The Elephant and the Whos he hears, little Jojo, Gertrude McFuzz and the rest. I bet this one is good for folks of all ages. Just sayin'.
Marriott Theatre In Lincolnshire TYA
Is the cold weather here to stay yet? Seems late, but no one's complaining! Well, the minute you feel a draft, vote for the Broadie awards and then buy a theater ticket for a showtune show. Then, head to your favorite watering hole, and yes, I'll see you under their video screens.....-PWT
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