'The Showtune Mosh Pit' for September 10th, 2014

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:

Wow. This has been a hard one to write. Last week was the roughest one in a long time for members of Chicago's theater community. Coming after the deaths last week of actors Sati Word and Trinity P. Murdock, properties designer Joel Lambie, master electrician Brenton Wright and legendary WGN entertainment broadcaster Roy Leonard, there was a double punch that sent many show folk reeling beyond belief. Actress Molly Glynn, a regular on Chicago's legitimate stages for many years and a recurring player on the TV series "Chicago Fire," was struck and rendered unconscious by a falling tree on Friday, September 5th, while bike riding with her actor husband, Joe Foust (known for his portrayal of Jacob Marley in the Goodman Theatre's "A Christmas Carol"). His poignant Facebook posts went viral, and her death the next day in a hospital sent a shockwave of grief through actors preparing for a two-show Saturday.

And yet, around the same time her tragic death was being declared, word came that one of our leading musical theater performers for the last quarter century, 50-year-old Bernie Yvon, had been killed instantly on Saturday in a collision of his car with a large truck. Yvon was on his way to a rehearsal of "Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown" at Theatre At The Center in Munster, Indiana, one of our most highly anticipated fall openings. Yvon's partner is actor-director-choreographer Matt Raftery (he directed this summer's production of "Godspell" at the Marriott Theatre). Seemingly, everyone in Chicago's theater community knows at least one of these four performers, if not all of them. What happened next was astounding. Grief and love and support and shock and offers of help poured out all weekend and into this week, reminding those who do shows here just how lucky they are to know so many wonderful people. It showed those not (or not yet) in that community the intangible rewards that can come from a career built on short runs, job churn, shared work styles and taking turns in the spotlight. It's a special world, unique to Chicago, I think. Everybody in town, in seemed, had to take a moment to breathe.

A native of Maine and a Northwestern University graduate, Bernie Yvon found steady work by the late 1980s at the old Drury Lane Theatre in Evergreen Park and the Candlelight Dinner Theatre in Summit, Illinois (whose founder, William Pullinsi, ironically gave him his last theatre job, the taxi driver/narrator in "Women On The Verge"). In between, Yvon starred in many shows at the Marriott, and he was nominated for the Jeff Award four times for his work there. (He was Bert in "Mary Poppins" there last year, and he's pictured here with Johanna McKenzie Miller, starring in "The Music Man" in 2010.) Yet he worked all over, even appearing on Broadway as Harry Houdini in "Ragtime." He was Donny Osmond's understudy during the long run of "Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" at the Chicago Theatre. He was in Kander and Ebb's "The Visit" at the Goodman Theatre with Chita Rivera, made sense of "The Goodbye Girl" with Susan Moniz at the Drury Lane in Oakbrook Terrace, played Benny (at the Marriott) in "Guys And Dolls" with future Tony-winner Jessie Mueller, and starred in "1776" at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Florida. He had just appeared in the world premiere of "The Beverly Hillbillies" in Munster, early this summer. An old-school song and dance man who was a master of light comedy, who endeared himself to a generation of Chicago showtune theatergoers, his is a light that can never be replaced.

Two-Chicago-Actors-Killed-in-Separate-Accidents

Jason Epperson, Executive Director of the Greenhouse Theater Center, is spearheading a dimming of Chicago's theater marquees in honor of those who have recently died. Tomorrow night (Thursday) at 7:30 pm, many Chicago theaters will dim their marquees, include the downtown venues of Broadway In Chicago. And then? The shows will go on. Bernie and all the others would have had it no other way.

And what of "Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown," starring Cory Goodrich and Hollis Resnik, the first regional production of this show? I understand that two days of rehearsals were cancelled, but resumed yesterday. The theater has cancelled the first two days of preview performances, so the show will begin previewing on Saturday, September 13. The official press opening has been rescheduled to Sunday, Setember 21, and it was announced this afternoon that actor George Andrew Wolff will be stepping to Yvon's role. Break a leg, George!

http://www.theatreatthecenter.com/2014-Women.asp

There were two events over the weekend that helped the theater community come together and heal. Bebe Neuwirth was honored by the Sarah Siddons Society at noon on Sunday at the Ritz-Carlton on the Magnificent Mile. Heidi Kettenring, Rebecca Finnegan, Michael Halberstam and Travis Taylor performed, along with students from Roosevelt University's Chicago College Of Performing Arts.

http://www.sarahsiddonssociety.org/

And the Route 66 Theatre Company held a benefit concert at Martyrs' on Lincoln Avenue on Monday night, featuring Diana And The Dishes and ten of our hottest singing actresses, directed by Tammy Mader and recreating the Alanis Morissette album, "Jagged Little Pill." Featured in the bunch was Brianna Borger Aguilar, back from New York, where her husband, Adrian Aguilar, was in the cast of the late, lamented "Rocky."

https://www.facebook.com/events/296406880541541/

If you want to talk about interconnectedness, talk about the fact that Paramount Theatre artistic director Jim Corti originated the role of Houdini in "Ragtime" on Broadway, before Bernie Yvon assumed the role. And Corti's production of "Cats," directed and music directed by Shawn Stengel and choreographed by Harrison McEldowney, begins performances tonight out in Aurora, running through October 12. There are rumors of a lot of aerial work in this production. And the all-important design work for this title is being spearheaded this time around by the award-winning team of Kevin Depinet, Theresa Ham and Jesse Klug. No slouches, indeed.

CATS-to-Run-910-1012-at-Auroras-Paramount-Theatre

We're all looking forward to Bailiwick Chicago's production of "The Wild Party," the "Broadway" one with the score by Michael John LaChiusa ("Hello Again," "See What I Wanna See"). The production will play October 2-November 1 in the Richard Christiansen space at Victory Gardens' Biograph Theater. The show will feature Danni Smith as Queenie, Matthew Keffer as Burrs and Danielle Brothers as Delores, with Molly Coleman, Gilbert Domally, Patrick Falcon, Desmond Gray, Jason Grimm, Christina Hall, Sharriese Hamilton, Ryan Lanning, Steven Perkins, Khaki Pixley, Jason Richards and Sasha Smith. Brenda Didier directs and choreographs, and Theresa Ham is doing the costumes for this one as well.

Bailiwick-Chicago-to-Open-2014-15-Season-with-THE-WILD-PARTY

Later in October, the other "B" company in town (by name only, not by quality, I assure you!) will be presenting "Parade," the first Tony-winning score by the popular Jason Robert Brown ("The Last Five Years," "The Bridges Of Madison County"). I'm talking about BoHo, the Bohemian Theatre Ensemble, of course, performing the show from October 17=November 16 at Theater Wit. Linda Fortunato directs, with music direction by Matt Deitchman. The entire cast stars Jim DeSelm as Leo Frank and Sarah Bockel as Lucille, with Russell Alan Rowe, Angela Alise, Christa Buck, Nathan Carroll, Lillie Cummings, Scott Danielson, Cole Doman, Eric Lewis, Michael Potsic, Rus Rainear, Lorenzo Rush Jr., Rachel Shapiro, and Peyton Tinder. This score has a great number of fans, yours truly included.

BoHo-Theatre-to-Close-Season-with-PARADE

During September and October, MCL Chicago on Sheffield Avenue will have a wide variety of music, comedy and live performance offerings (hence the venue's name). Of interest will be "M.I.NT (Music Improv Night) "on Wednesdays at 7:30, Thursday night's double bill of music improv ensembles ("Stacked and Pitch, Please!" at 8:00 and "Vamp: An Improvised Musical Comedy Club" at 10:00), both "Anarchy" and "Sassafras" on Fridays (with a few weeks of "Mansical" thrown in the mix as well), and "Buffalo" and the "Improvised Sondheim Project" on Saturdays. MCL Chicago calls itself "the first venue in America dedicated to the art of music comedy." They get no complaints from me. Only nods of approval.... They make up songs on stage, people! And plots!

MCL-Chicago-Announces-Sept-Oct-2014-Comedy-Lineup

In the best Chicago theatrical tradition, a new company has formed, and has announced its inaugural fundraiser and its first season of productions. And guess what, Mosh Pit peeps? It's all musicals! Refuge Theatre Project will kick things off with a benefit on Sunday, September 28, 2014 at The Cab at Stage 773, where company members Morgan Briggs, Matthew Huston, Taylor Okey, Stephanie Sousa, Charlie Rasmann and Jameson Wentworth will perform, alongside company musical director Michael Evans. And the shows the company has announced are "Next Thing You Know" by Joshua Salzman and Ryan Cunningham and "Glory Days" by James Gardiner and Nick Blaemire. The productions will take place in 2015 at The Den Theatre on Milwaukee Avenue.

Refuge-Theatre-Project-Presens-Inaugural-Season-and-Preview-Concert

There's another Chicago theatrical tradition, that of taking work out of town, whether in New York, another city or on tour. And it was announced yesterday that the second national tour of "Sister Act" will be featuring two Chicago actresses! Of course it will. Maggie Clennon Reberg, most recently seen in "Damn Yankees" at Light Opera Works and on tour to England with Chamber Opera Chicago's "Persuasion," will be the Mother Superior, the role played by the aforementioned Hollis Resnik on the show's first national tour two years ago. BroadwayWorld Chicago Award winner Harmony France ("Violet") is in the cast as well. Well sung, you two! Too bad the six-month tour doesn't get any closer to here than Springfield and Peoria.

Kerissa-Arrington-Maggie-Clennon-Reberg-More-to-Star-in-SISTER-ACT

And so, with the last days of summer at hand and Super September in its second week, I will leave you for now. Live theater is special, isn't it? It's all about life in the moment, living for now, taking your chances at this very second. Let's all do that this time around, shall we? And I'll see you under the video screens.....-PWT

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