If the musical blockbuster ”The Phantom of the Opera” arrives on schedule here in mid-May, the Auditorium Theatre will undergo $1.25 million worth of technical improvements and renovations to accommodate the musical spectacle.
Negotiations are in the final stages with producer Cameron Mackintosh to launch the American national touring company of ”Phantom,” with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, in a production to be unveiled at the Auditorium.
Originally, ”Phantom” wasn`t scheduled to play Chicago until 1992, but Mackintosh, who produced ”Les Miserables” in the Auditorium last spring and summer, is said to be delighted with that show`s impressive ticket sales and has all but decided to inaugurate the 8-city ”Phantom” tour there as well.
But the musical, which has productions running in London, New York, Los Angeles and Toronto, is one of the most elaborate stage vehicles ever produced, and if the Auditorium`s scenery flying system, components of which date back as far as 1889, is to handle the show, changes will have to be made. ”They will be permanent improvements, and will benefit the theater for some time to come,” said Dulcie Gilmore, the Auditorium`s executive director. ”This has been a problem for many years, including the fact that the older system makes labor costs higher, because it takes more time to set up and disassemble shows.”
As part of the agreement, the Auditorium will finance the renovations. Gilmore said a fundraising effort will be launched to raise the money once the show is officially scheduled. Meanwhile, the theater will be closed in late November, right after a return visit by ”Cats,” another Lloyd Webber smash, and will remain closed until May, except for a March 11 concert by singer Kiri Te Kanawa, whose recital can be held despite the ongoing remodeling.
Because Chicago is the first stop, the rehearsal period for ”Phantom”
will be something like two months. Gilmore expects the final decisions to be made within the next two weeks and the official opening date for ”Phantom”
announced then.
– Meanwhile, another stage version of the Phantom story, dubbed ”Phantom of the Opera-The Play with Music,” is touring the country and is due for a single performance at 8 p.m. Oct. 7 in the Rialto Theatre in Joliet.
The same production, devised in England by Ken Hill, is due for a Feb. 6-11 engagement in the Chicago Theatre.
This version offers novelist Gaston Leroux`s familiar horror tale (which is in the public domain), embellished with selections from 19th Century operas.
– In an unprecedented collaborative effort, Candlelight Dinner Playhouse in Summit and Marriott`s Lincolnshire Theatre will team up to present the Chicago premiere of composer Stephen Sondheim`s musical fairy tale ”Into the Woods.”
William Pullinsi, Candlelight`s longtime artistic director, will stage the production April 11-June 17 at the Marriott, and June 27-Sept. 16 at the Candlelight.
– A revival of the musical stage version of ”Peter Pan,” starring Olympic Gold Medalist gymnast Cathy Rigby, will visit Chicago March 6-18 at Arie Crown Theatre, 22d Street and Lake Shore Drive. More details of the production, which is being presented by Chicago Tribune Charities, will be announced later.
– ”Driving Miss Daisy,” Alfred Uhry`s Pulitzer Prize drama, which opened here April 22, 1988, in the Briar Street Theatre, has posted a closing notice for Oct. 22. Charlotte Rae, who now plays Miss Daisy, will leave the cast Oct. 15, with the role being taken by her understudy for the last week of the run.
”I`m Not Rappaport,” Herb Gardner`s 1986 Tony Award-winning comedy, with Shelley Berman portraying one of the play`s two feisty old codgers, begins previews Oct. 27 at the Briar Street and is set for a Nov. 7 opening. The Sheila Henaghan-Howard Platt prodution, using deisgner Tony Walton`s original Broadway set, is being staged by Sheldon Patinkin.
– ”Nature is Leaving Us,” a ”video opera,” will be presented Oct. 13-22 at the Goodman Studio Theatre, Columbus Drive and Monroe Street.
The video installation performance, to be presented on three video walls made up of 48 monitors, along with live dance, slide projections and original music, has been organized by composer Miroslaw Rogala, who assisted John Boesche on the video for Goodman`s 1987 production of the musical ”Sunday in the Park With George.” For tickets: 443-3800.
– Steppenwolf Theatre`s second play of the season will be Marlane Meyer`s ”The Geography of Luck,” a dark comedy about a rockabilly star who murdered his wife and is on parole in Las Vegas. The drama is to play Dec. 10- Feb. 4 in the theater at 2851 N. Halsted St.
Director and cast will be announced later. The show received its premiere at the South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa, Calif., earlier this year and won the California Playwrights` Competition. For tickets, call 472-4141.
