BY LUCIA MAURO
As it approaches its 100th anniversary in 2004, The Ravinia Festival has become more than the sum of its picnic baskets and world class music under the stars. Of course, dance and jazz concerts are as familiar as the blockbuster classical music events, with big name guest artists ranging from Itzak Perlman to Yo-Yo Ma. But theatre artists will be pleased to learn that in addition to the orchestral fanfare, Ravinia’s new president and CEO, Welz Kaufmann is making musical theatre a priority.
The Highland Park summer performance venue, with an indoor pavilion and more reasonably priced lawn seats, has launched a five-year celebration of the works of Stephen Sondheim, beginning this summer with a concert performance of Sweeney Todd on Aug. 25 and ending with a 75th birthday tribute to the composer in 2005. This initiative also will encompass workshop productions of a new musical at Ravinia’s Steans Institute for Young Artists, as well as community outreach and educational activities.
Patti LuPone and George Hearn will star in Sweeney Todd, directed by Lonny Price. The Ravinia Festival Orchestra will be conducted by Andrew Litton. This is the acclaimed production first performed by the New York Philharmonic last season to celebrate Sondheim’s 70th birthday.
Additional Sondheim shows under consideration for future performances include Sunday in the Park with George, Merrily We Roll Along, Passion, A Little Night Music and Pacific Overtures.
"As we look forward to the park’s centennial in 2004, we wanted to explore Ravinia Festival’s rich history of theatrical music, which dates back to our earliest days as one of the summer opera capitals of the world," says Kauffman. "Stephen Sondheim was selected as the composer to advance this new venture because his works, with orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick, so successfully explore and exploit the color, weight and grandeur of the orchestra."
The North Shore performing arts center opened in 1904 as a venue for plays, symphonic music and dance performances. Ravinia is traditionally a given on most people’s rosters of outdoor summer cultural activities. So it’s difficult to believe that, despite the high caliber of entertainment, Ravinia in its nascent days was not a financial success. By 1910, it was at the point of being sold.
A group of local residents banded together to purchase the park and rescue it from impending obscurity. The community’s commitment has remained steadfast through the years–one of the main reasons for the festival’s long-term success. And it’s refreshing to hear that Ravinia is expanding. In addition to a "Broadway Night" (July 22), John Mahoney starred as Bottom in a recent concert performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
"This music theatre enterprise," continues Kaufman, "also will touch upon every aspect of what makes Ravinia such a cherished institution. It will focus on the orchestra as an integral partner in music theatre, attract new audiences and teach youngsters through our community outreach efforts. It also will showcase a world premiere production of Pick Yourself Up and develop the performance skills of local artists through our Steans Institute."
Sixteen performers have been chosen by open auditions to be part of the Steans Institute for Young Artists’ new musical theatre branch. They are now participating in workshops and master classes, culminating in an Aug. 26 performance of Pick Yourself Up, a new musical written by Chicago pianist Kevin Cole and collaborator Leeds Bird. The musical incorporates the songs of Jerome Kern, including Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, Yesterdays and The Last Time I Saw Paris. Cole will serve as artistic director of this new arm of the Steans Institute in this inaugural season.
"This process affords young performers the rare opportunity to create a role that hasn’t already been done by someone else," says Cole. "The fact that Ravinia Festival would even consider doing something like this legitimizes new writing."
The Steans Institute for Young Artists is Ravinia Festival’s professional studies program for young musicians, giving participants the opportunity to study with an internationally known faculty of performing artists and to appear in recitals as part of the Festival’s summer concert schedule. The Steans Institute began in 1988 as a program for pianists and string players, with chamber music being added to the curriculum in 1990. The program for singers opened in 1992, and the year 2000 saw the addition of a program for jazz studies.
The Steans participants also may understudy the principal roles of Ravinia’s concert staging of Sweeney Todd, in addition to serving as a portion of the chorus for that production.
To tie into the musical theatre initiative, Ravinia Festival is planning a series of community outreach activities that will connect urban families and youngsters to the theatrical experience both at the Festival and at local programs. Current outreach programs include the Jazz in the Schools Mentor Program and the Ravinia Festival Lawndale Partnership.
In his first season of programming Ravinia Festival, Kauffman (who came on board in October 2000) engaged four conductors associated with Chicago’s music institutions–Ravinia Festival music director Christoph Eschenbach, Chicago Symphony Orchestra music director Daniel Barenboim, Lyric Opera music director Sir Andrew Davis and CSO resident conductor William Eddins–as the only conductors to lead the CSO through Ravinia’s 66th season. Barenboim’s performances mark his return to the Festival after a 30-year absence and his first appearances since becoming music director of the CSO.
The CEO–who has held leadership positions with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and New York Philharmonic–launched "Martinis at the Martin: The Great American Songbook," a new series celebrating America’s masters of popular song, featuring Barbara Cook, Patti LuPone and Andrea Marcovicci.
Kauffman has dedicated himself to many new initiatives in programming, technology and customer service–especially for the maturing patron, parents with children, and persons with disabilities. He is committed to developing new audiences, as he believes the Festival is uniquely poised to be "a listening laboratory for people of all generations."
For more information, call the Ravinia Festival box office at 847/266-5000 or visit the Festival Web site at www.ravinia.org.