The Tempo Players aren`t easy to pin down these days. In past years the group usually could be found presenting a big, splashy musical in early spring at one of the high school auditoriums around its headquarters in Glendale Heights. Now Tempo has shifted its performing base to Oakbrook Terrace and this month is embarking on its first summertime show in memory, a revival of the 1982 musical ”Is There Life After High School?”
The choice of ”Is There Life?” reflects the quirky spirit in programming at Tempo currently. The group, opening its 27th season, once reveled in only the standards of the 1950s and `60s, from ”Camelot” to
”South Pacific.”
With book by Jeffrey Kindley and music and lyrics by Craig Carnelia, ”Is There Life?” closed after a mere three-week run on Broadway and has been reproduced rarely since. Tempo believes it has never been done in the Chicago area before.
”The show just failed to catch on,” says Mark Duebner, a graphics designer from Glendale Heights who is co-director, with Keith Cornell, of the revival.
There is, indeed, virtually no plot at all to ”Is There Life After High School?” The show is a series of poignant monologues by a variety of old grads contemplating high school reunions, in a confessional style reminiscent of ”A Chorus Line.” The stars within the ensemble include Andrea Behegan of Villa Park, Tim Heck of Chicago and Barb Rogers of Lombard.
Tempo turned to a summer performance series to allow more members to get involved.
Attendance on opening weekend was encouraging. On July 31, more than 120 seats in the Joan B. Anderson Center`s modest 150-capacity auditorium were filled. ”That`s really good, I think, for a show that nobody has heard of before,” Duebner says.
Tempo will return to the familiar with a revival of ”The Miracle Worker” at the Anderson Center beginning Oct. 9. A children`s show, ”Snow White,” is slated for a January 1993 opening. A spring show next year is still not set yet. Tempo expects to perform again next summer too.
Performances are at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays through Aug. 15, with a special 2:30 p.m. matinee on Sunday at the Anderson Center, 1 South 325 Ardmore Ave. in Oakbrook Terrace. Call 708-495-1120 for tickets.
