'The Showtune Mosh Pit' for September 1st, 2009
By: Paul W. Thompson Sep. 01, 2009
THE LATEST IN UNAUTHORIZED GOSSIP AND BUZZ
FROM THE HEART OF CHICAGO'S SHOWTUNE VIDEO BARS
by Paul W. Thompson
Overheard last weekend under the
Sidetrack and Cattle Call showtune video screens:
As summer turns to fall, the thoughts of Chicago's musical theater fans turn to the new season's shows, both here and in New York. What theater is doing what show, and who is in the cast? Let's get right to the exciting buzz!
Chicago's showtune mosh pit residents are excited by the rumors coming out of New York, that the cast of the revival of "A Little Night Music" may be headed by Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury as Desiree and Madame Armfeldt! We love Catherine in all those "Chicago" clips, and of course Angie in the timeless "Bosom Buddies" number with Bea Arthur. If they really do land on the Great White Way this year, there will be a highway in the sky, filled with Midwesterners making the trek east! Awesome.
/article/RIALTO_CHATTER_Riedel_Says_ZetaJones_Lansbury_Set_For_NIGHT_MUSIC_20090821
Closer to home, and closer in time, the scrumptious Kelli O'Hara ("The Pajama Game" and "South Pacific") will be starring in a Rodgers and Hammerstein evening at the Ravinia Festival in suburban Highland Park, this coming Sunday evening, September 6th. Her co-star was originally scheduled to be her equally scrumptious "South Pacific" co-star, Tony-winner and opera singer Paulo Szot, but word came this weekend that Szot has withdrawn from the concert, to be replaced with the stalwart Jason Danieley, a Grant Park favorite and a star of Broadway's "The Full Monty" and "Curtains." While it would have been great to hear Szot's "Some Enchanted Evening," it is clear that Danieley is capable of a pretty remarkable "Younger Than Springtime." Exit Handsome One. Enter Handsome Two.
Also announced this past week was the fabulous news that this year's pre-Broadway tour of the new musical "101 Dalmatians" (score by Dennis DeYoung of Styx) will star none other than Rachel York as villainess Cruella De Vil! The tour kicks off in Minneapolis in mid-October, and is slated for the last two weeks of February, 2010, here at the Oriental Theatre, Ford Center for the Performing Arts. We loved York in "Turn Of the Century" at the Goodman Theatre one year ago, and it's exciting to know she will playing the next block over in less than six months!
http://www.the101dalmatiansmusical.com/
Speaking of the Goodman, they have a pretty intriguing musical in rehearsals right now, to be revealed in mid-September. A new version ("contemporary adaptation") of the classic Marx Brothers stage and film musical, "Animal Crackers" will feature a cast of Chicago and New York actors, with none other than Chicago actress Molly Brennan in the role of Harpo. Yes, that's right! A little bit of non-traditional casting in this show, with book by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind, and music and lyrics by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby. Joey Slotnick takes the Groucho role. What a great opportunity for Chicago audiences! This could prove to be a major theatrical event. "Animal Crackers!"
http://www.goodmantheatre.org/season/Production.aspx?prod=91
The more modestly scaled Porchlight Music Theatre is mounting the always-lovely "The Fantasticks," beginning September 11th. Chicago leading man Jeff Parker takes the role of El Gallo. He made quite an impression in the spring of 2008 in Porchlight's production of "Nine," and his fans are eager to welcome him back to the Theatre Building Chicago and hear him "Try to Remember."
http://porchlighttheatre.com/index.html
Also "going up" at a Chicago area theater this month (one day sooner, on the 10th, as a matter of fact) is another off-Broadway masterpiece from the 1960s, "Man of La Mancha." Theatre At the Center in suburban Munster, Indiana is mounting the "Impossible Dream" musical, starring veteran actor James Harms as Cervantes/Quixote. Here's the story: Harms played the same role, in a completely different production of the show, back in March of this year with Chamber Opera Chicago, at the Athenaeum Theatre in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood. How often does an actor get a chance to play a leading musical theater role under these circumstances? Fascinating!
http://www.theatreatthecenter.org/
And, last but by no means least, the big-time. Equity-category Jeff Award nominations were announced this week! Showtune fans may be partial to "The 25th Annual Putman County Spelling Bee," "The Boys From Syracuse" and "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" in some of the more prominent musical categories, but we loved "Curtains" and "Grey Gardens," too. Oh, and "Miss Saigon" and "The Producers" and "Candide" and "Joseph......" and.......well, it's an embarrassment of riches, isn't it? There were so many great local productions this past year, and, due to relatively short runs, there is always a smorgasbord of offerings for the voters to consider. "Good luck" and "Break a leg" to all the nominees! The Jeffs will be handed out the night of October 19th at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie.
http://www.jeffawards.org/Nominees/index.cfm
So, as we say a slow, fond goodbye to a mild but exciting summer, we see a great fall stretching out before us. And before we say goodbye to the upcoming Labor Day weekend, I'll see you under the video screens.....-PWT
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