11-23-07
Next to New York
Looks like The Adding Machine, the Jeff Award winning musical adaptation by Josh Schmidt and Next Theatre artistic director Jason Loewith, is set for an Off-Broadway run. Next’s world premiere of the energetic but somber musical was a surprise hit of last season. The New York production will be a commercial venture opening at the Minetta Lane Theatre in late February, with original director David Cromer at the helm. The Chicago principal performers, led by Joel Hatch, were expected to be signed for the Off-Broadway production.
As reported in Throughlines, Todd Schmidt now is managing director of the George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, NJ, which has friends asking how Todd’s move will affect his partnership with Greg Vinkler. Professionally, Greg will continue as artistic director of the Peninsula Players in Fish Creek, WI, a post he’s held for almost 20 years, and will assume full authority over artistic matters he’s shared with Todd as executive producer. Peninsula Players expects to hire a managing director, rather than another titled producer. Their enduring personal partnership will be a commuter affair for the foreseeable future as Greg remains in Chicago to continue his close association with Chicago Shakespeare Theater.
Friends and colleagues of John Sterchi have rallied to his side to help him through a serious illness for which he currently is under treatment. Casting director Claire Simon, a close friend, says Sterchi welcomes expressions of support, good vibes and positive energy of all types. Notes, letters, cards, photos, etc. can be sent or e-mailed directly to John at home or via Simon Casting, 1512 N. Fremont, Chicago 60622. Sterchi had planned to shoulder several major roles this season at American Theater Company, where he’s an ensemble member. His response to treatment will determine whether or not he’ll be able to appear in all three shows. John is a stalwart of our theatre community and we wish him well.
The remake of Sleuth, the movie, tanked despite the stars attached to it, but a real-life detective story has played out at the Royal George Theatre, courtesy of Forbidden Broadway: Special Victims Unit. Seems that a party unknown (“the perp”) liked one of the show’s costumes so much that said perp stole it on Halloween!!! The missing costume, one of the more specialized and expensive outfits, is the Edna/Harvey Fierstein costume, an outrageously patterned dress made from fabric identical to that used for Fierstein’s original Hair Spray rig. The police were called in. They dusted for fingerprints and discovered that the perp also had stolen a bottle of vodka from the Royal George bar. They theorize that the perp probably is a plus-sized individual, as only the dress was taken and not the fat suit worn underneath it. Forbidden Broadway, playing through Jan. 13, flew in a duplicate from New York. REWARD: Anyone providing information leading to the arrest of the notorious costume bandit will receive four tickets to the Forbidden Broadway performance of his/her choice. I’d check the gay bars if I were the cops.
In recent weeks, PerformInk has reported two new theatre construction projects that are going “green”—the proposed new American Theater Company home in Logan Square and the under-construction Morse Theatre in Rogers Park. Now comes word that another theatre enterprise has gone green, Footlights, the monthly program book. Rather than using the traditional glossy paper, Footlights now is printed on a brighter matte stock that’s manufactured with 30 percent post-consumer waste. The magazine also now uses a soy ink that’s more environmentally friendly. As a result, the publication says, Footlights’ ecological footprint will be reduced by 817 trees.
Planning Ahead Department: The League of Chicago Theatres has announced that its 2008 gala will be on March 31 at the Auditorium Theatre. Allowing even more lead time, the Ravinia Festival has announced that its 2008 gala will be on July 19 and will feature Kiri Te Kanawa in her Chicago farewell concert.
Speaking of Ravinia, the festival has commissioned a major new work from choreographer Bill T. Jones to celebrate the life of Abraham Lincoln. Tentatively titled A Good Man, the work will be performed by the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company and will premiere during the 2009 season as part of the nationwide Lincoln Bicentennial. A composer has not been announced yet. A distinguished contemporary dance maker, Jones won a 2007 Tony Award for his choreography for Spring Awakening. Chicago dance old-timers may recall seeing the then-little-known Jones and Zane for about $5 at MoMing, the hallowed 1970s performing arts collective.
Ravinia will honor Lincoln throughout the 2009 season with a series of programs grouped under the banner Mystic Chords of Memory. Our 16th president was born Feb. 11, 1809 in Kentucky but grew to manhood in central Illinois. As an adult, he made his home in Springfield, IL until elected president in 1860. History, sadly, records that Lincoln loved theatre all too well. During his days riding the Illinois legal circuit, Lincoln frequently took in plays when he was in Chicago, often at the old McVicker’s Theatre where he saw the greatest actors of his day, among them almost certainly Junius Brutus Booth, the father of his assassin.
Casting notices for singers and dancers have been posted in New York for the touring company of Dirty Dancing, which opens here next September at the Cadillac Palace Theatre. What’s more, the production will rehearse in Chicago beginning June 23. This makes Chicago the point-of-origin for the tour, which will help beef up the Equity work weeks for the Central Region come 2009.
Season of Concern (SOC) reminds all members of Chicago’s theatre community that December is the most important fundraising month for SOC, the make-or-break month of the calendar year. This year, SOC’s fundraising efforts kick off in earnest on Dec. 1, which is World AIDS Day (renamed from A Day Without Art) and continues throughout December, which is AIDS Awareness Month. You probably know all this, but among the ways of raising money for SOC there are three that are most commonly used. You might consider a company donation, whereby cast and crew choose to give a donation to SOC in lieu of opening night gifts to each other. Or, some theatres hold or designate benefit performances where all or part of ticket sales proceeds are donated to SOC. The third common method—and the most popular—is to solicit audience donations via a curtain speech during the bows and donation cans or baskets in the lobby. If your theatre company has not yet made a commitment to help, please do so now, keeping in mind that 100 percent of SOC’s funding comes from donations, solicited and gathered by the theatre community.