Just in case you missed all the recent big theater news, allow me to review:
“Monty Python’s Spamalot,” a new Broadway musical based on “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” with a book by Eric Idle and music and lyrics by Idle and John Du Prez, will have a world premiere pre-Broadway engagement at the Shubert Theatre Dec. 21-Jan. 16. Mike Nichols directs and Kathleen Marshall choreographs this Broadway in Chicago presentation.
Another Broadway in Chicago offering, “All Shook Up,” Joe DiPietro’s musical inspired by and featuring the songs of Elvis Presley, will have its world premiere at the Cadillac Palace Theatre Dec. 21 and play through Jan. 23. The piece will try to do for the music of Elvis what “Mamma Mia!” did for the music of Abba. And it will try to make a comparable profit.
The Goodman Theatre’s 2004-05 season will include the world premiere of “Finishing the Picture,” Arthur Miller’s new play loosely based on events surrounding the 1961 filming of “The Misfits.” The playwright told me last week that he plans to come to Chicago and “look over the shoulder” of Goodman artistic director Robert Falls. The work will run in Chicago Sept. 21-Oct. 31.
When you add in the pre-Broadway run of “Slava’s Snowshow,” coming to the Chicago Theatre in April, and Broadway in Chicago’s previously announced pre-Broadway tryout of Shuki Levy’s “Masada” at the Shubert Theatre in September, that makes five–count ’em, five–pre-Broadway shows opening in Chicago this year, including three at Broadway in Chicago.
That’s the most in at least a decade.
There had been some indications that Chicago had lost some of its favor. Mel Brooks told me that he intended to take his upcoming tryout of “Young Frankenstein” to Seattle, which he considered more supportive territory. And even the presence of the Chicago director Gary Griffin wasn’t enough to stop the new musical version of “The Color Purple” from starting life at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, rather than in Chicago.
But the recent spate of announcements represents firm evidence in the other direction. In particular, the three bookings at Broadway in Chicago is a clear indication that the local leaders of this Clear Channel/Nederlander Organization joint venture have been successful in their ongoing campaign to be the leading center for pre-Broadway tryouts.
So a little credit where it’s due. I’ve been quick to complain when Broadway in Chicago has padded its slate with tertiary non-Equity affairs like the appalling “Oliver” and (coming in July) the significantly better but nonetheless non-union tour of “Oklahoma.” Who knows which (if any) of these new projects will be any good, but the announcements for the rest of the year are at least promising. Over the holidays, Chicago certainly will be the most interesting city in the country in which to go to the theater.
Broadway in Chicago clearly has figured out that catching shows before they go to New York is the only way it can fill its numerous theaters (it owns the Cadillac Palace, the Oriental and the Shubert and now has an exclusive deal to present theater at the Auditorium).
Merely booking tours–which these days, with a few blockbuster exceptions, tend to be cut-rate affairs–won’t provide the kind of programming consistent with the demands of this major market.
“We’ve worked very hard,” says Lou Raizin, president of Broadway in Chicago, “to position Chicago as the pre-Broadway city of choice.”
Clearly, that work has come to fruition. And from the actors who’ll likely get a chance to audition for the likes of Mike Nichols, to the city’s tourist industry, to residents who like to be on top of the latest thing, we’re all going to benefit.
Disappointment at Centre East
I wrote a couple of weeks ago about Centre East in Skokie finally snagging a full week of a Broadway show–namely Frank Gorshin’s one-man tour-de-force, “Say Goodnight Gracie.” It turned out to be something of a rolling nightmare.
Gorshin had a severe case of laryngitis all week. First he canceled his Tuesday opening (an understudy, Joel Rooks, went on) and later Gorshin nixed his Wednesday appearance. I showed up on Thursday to review the show, only to learn that Gorshin had gotten as far as backstage before deciding a few minutes before curtain that he was too sick to go on stage. Friday night, Gorshin gamely did the show, although his voice was in rough shape. That lasted through the 5 p.m. performance on Saturday–he canceled Saturday night. On Sunday afternoon, Gorshin did the show; Sunday night he had to cancel again.
That left Centre East with a lot of disappointed patrons and a lot of rescheduling to do. The week had been heavily sold–yet very few people actually got to see Gorshin.
Spying the line for refunds in the lobby Thursday night, I asked the genial Phyllis Cowen, executive director of Centre East, if her Skokie-based organization was going to have to pay the full amount for this booking of a one-man show without its signature star. “Good question,” she said. “That will be the subject of some intense negotiations.”
