2-16-07
Chicagoans in New York
I returned a few days back from my first visit to New York City in 15 months. Without even trying, I ran into Chicago connections at every turn. For instance, Gary Griffin didn’t receive a Tony Award nomination last year, but he’s the only director with two musicals running on Broadway currently: The Color Purple (the show for which he wasn’t nominated), and his revival of The Apple Tree by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick, originally staged for the Encore! series and now in a run at the Roundabout Theatre. Gary has snagged Broadway’s favorite liberal Christian, Kristen Chenoweth, as the female lead (a role originated in the 1960s by Barbara Harris) with ex-Chicagoan Brian D’Arcy James opposite her.
Director Robert Falls soon will have two shows running as well, although split between Broadway and Off-Broadway. His Goodman Theatre world premiere of Richard Nelson’s Frank’s Home began previews at Playwrights Horizons Jan. 13, with a Jan. 30 press opening. It’s scheduled to run through Feb. 18 (if not extended), which means it will have three days’ overlap with Falls’ Broadway staging of Eric Bogosian’s Talk Radio, which begins previews Feb. 15 at the Longacre Theatre. Chicago-based JAM Theatricals is one of the lead producers for the show.
Much to my surprise, I ran into long-time Chicago playwright Ron Hirsen at the Off-Broadway Abingdon Theatre Company. The 14-year-old troupe focuses on new work not previously seen in New York. Usually, but not always, that means a world premiere, and such is the case with Ron’s Frugal Repast, a name taken from the Picasso etching of the same title. Indeed, Picasso is a character in the play, as are Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas, Guillaume Apollinaire and art dealer Ambroise Vollard. Frugal Repast, developed in 2004 at the O’Neill Theater Center, runs at the Abingdon Theatre through Feb. 25.
I didn’t quite catch up with former City Lit artistic director Paige Hearn, but he left a phone message saying that he, too, has been affiliated with the Abingdon Theatre as an occasional actor in the troupe’s ongoing program of staged readings and play workshops. He’s paying the New York rent working at Breakdown Services, the script-vetting company.
I did manage to see Johnny Galecki in the Broadway production of Douglas Carter Beane’s The Little Dog Laughed, now scheduled to close Feb. 18 after a disappointing Broadway run of a little over 100 performances. It’s Galecki’s Broadway debut, and former Chicago friends and associates will be pleased to know he hasn’t forgotten his roots. His program bio reads: “The Drawer Boy and Pot Mom (Steppenwolf Theatre), Galileo (Goodman Theatre), The Member of the Wedding (Stage Left Theatre), along with many other Chicago productions.” His TV credits – you know, the stuff that made him rich and famous – are summarized in just eight words. Sounds like the boy has kept his values. The play itself is highly entertaining, although it’s more clever than good, or perhaps more clever than deep would be more accurate. All four characters are principals. Galecki plays a hustler with a heart of gold. He’s supposed to be 24, and Galecki still can pull it off even if Galileo at the Goodman was 25 years ago. You do the math.
Lots of New York theatre folk wanted my opinion of Boublil and Schonberg’s The Pirate Queen, directed by Frank Galati, which begins Broadway previews March 6 and opens April 5. The New York buzz is that the vastly expensive musical (a reported $20 million) has serious problems, which certainly was the general critical response to its October-November world premiere in Chicago. The producers have brought in heavy guns Graciela Daniele and Richard Maltby, Jr. to help solve the problems. Tony Award winning choreographer Daniele teamed with Galati on Ragtime, while Tony Award winner Maltby co-authored the book and lyrics for Boublil and Schonberg’s Miss Saigon. Daniele now will oversee musical staging of The Pirate Queen while Maltby attempts to improve lyrics and book. Chicago critics singled out the vacuous and one-dimensional book as the central problem, so Maltby’s work is cut out for him.
The House Theatre of Chicago will transfer its hit production of The Sparrow to the Steppenwolf Merle Reskin (Garage) Theatre, following the completion of its scheduled run (through Feb. 24) at The Viaduct. Performances at Steppenwolf will begin March 15 and run through April 21. This is the first time The House has had a transfer hit. But it doesn’t end there: the nearly-universal critical praise for The Sparrow has drawn the attention of several New York producers, who appear close to opening a bidding war for the project. No deal has been struck yet, but the odds are good for The House to make its New York debut in the foreseeable future.
I congratulate the six new members of the Steppenwolf Ensemble, especially the estimable Ian Barford, who’s done yeoman work at Steppenwolf and whose promotion was long overdue. Steppenwolf’s attempt to deal with diversity issues is even longer overdue. Over a decade ago, I wrote in North Shore Magazine that Steppenwolf’s board of directors was more diverse than its ensemble, and even with new members the charge still is true. The ‘wolfies do not have even one ensemble member of Latin, Asian or Native American descent. Part of the reason why is that the troupe virtually never engages in colorblind casting. Steppenwolf rarely has used a Latino or Asian or Black actor in any role that doesn’t specifically call for such.
Steppenwolf still has a long way to go in this regard, but they certainly are not alone. The lack of diversity among the principal ensemble or resident artist companies in Chicago is shameful and of long-standing, and I name the following names: American Theatre Company, The Hypocrites, Lookingglass Theatre Company, Profiles Theatre, Remy Bumppo Theatre Company, Shattered Globe Theatre and TimeLine Theatre Company. I’ve probably left out a few others that should be on the list. Some of the above are small troupes and some large, some rich and some poor. But all have been in business for a decade or more and have had enough time to address diversity issues. Younger troupes should avoid similar errors of ethnic blandness before they are too much older. The House Theatre of Chicago, that means you. My colleagues in the entertainment press have been woefully silent about diversity issues. Over the last decade, I’ve been virtually alone in returning to this subject – in print and on Chicago Public Radio – numerous times.
Corn Productions has announced the closing of its long-run hit, Floss!, after a run of seven years. The final performance is May 19. Says Corn Productions artistic director Robert Bouwman, “When Floss! first opened we had recently moved into the Cornservatory and we were producing show after show to pay the bills. We were barely afloat, but when Floss! hit, we could breathe for the first time. The show has been a great training ground for actors and directors alike. But what once saved us financially, is now holding us back artistically. The focus and time we’ve dedicated to maintaining the long-running hit may be better spent creating more new work and taking new risks.” Bouwman suggests, however, that a sequel might appear one day.