A musical spring
Spring is just around the corner, honest!
Escape the recession blues with a musical or a sword
Spring brings musicals to Broadway in anticipation of Tony Awards season, and that tradition has crossed over to Chicago for many years. There is a particularly bountiful group of musicals this year, with Broadway In Chicago producing more shows than usual thanks to the backlog created by the long run of Wicked, which closed in January. Musicals are also being produced at several theaters that do not ordinarily get in the game.
Mary Poppins is the headliner, coming to the Cadillac Palace Theatre on March 11 for a run of at least two months. The story of the supernatural English nanny is familiar to generations of kids, and it offers up as much positive energy as one can possibly stand.
For those nostalgic for spoonfuls of despair, the AIDS-and-poverty-themed Rent is coming again on March 31 to the Oriental Theatre-Ford Center for the Performing Arts, and the recent Broadway revival of A Chorus Line, coming to the Oriental on April 14, transports the audience to the mid ’70s. Drury Lane Oakbrook is staging its own production of the recent Broadway musical Curtains, which begins on March 19. It is one of the final collaborations between John Kander and the late Fred Ebb, the legendary creators behind Chicago and Cabaret.
Big Broadway musicals, however, don’t have to be staged in big theaters. Some of Chicagoland’s smaller theaters use all of the moxie at its disposal, like Porchlight Music Theatre’s production of Stephen Sondheim’s Pacific Overtures, which comes to the Theatre Building Chicago on March 15. The musical is a long-underestimated classic from the man many fans call God. Theo Ubique’s ambitious undertaking of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Evita is coming on March 7 to the tiny Heartland Studio. This is one of the most intriguing productions of the spring considering that Webber is know for falling chandeliers. Also, Circle Theatre in Forest Park stages The Who’s Tommy beginning on May 8. This company has long been known for excellent productions of musicals that have since fallen under the radar, like Thou Shalt Not and Sweet Smell Of Success, and while everyone knows The Who’s famous concept album, the musical itself is almost never revived.
In other rock musical news, American Theater Company has postponed its Midwest première of the musical Yeast Nation, which is from the makers of Urinetown, til the Fall. Hedwig And The Angry Inch will replace it with performances beginning on April 9. Another revival of note is Wings from Apple Tree Theatre, which begins on March 11. This musical was a huge hit at the Goodman Theatre in the early ’90s and went to New York. It is the unorthodox story of a woman who suffered a stroke and her attempt to escape from the jumble of her shattered mind.
Of course, any discussion of musicals opening soon would not be complete without the inevitable parodies. Storefront Theater Musical is coming to the Cornservatory on April 11, skewering both High School Musical and the local theater scene. Beware!
