The American musical was born during the age of romanticism—an aesthetic demanding lush panoramic fantasies enhanced by bright lights, massive casts and spectacular visual effects.And while such elephantine extravaganzas can still be found (the sun never sets on the Disney empire, you know), theatergoers who prefer looking at actors' faces without the aid of opera glasses will find the fall season offering a number of words-and-warble evening entertainments in cozy spaces.
—The Little Musical that Started It All: The Fantasticks premiered in 1960 at the 150-seat Sullivan Street Playhouse in New York's Greenwich Village with a cast of nine players and an orchestra composed of a piano and a harp, where it proceeded to run continuously for the next 42 years. The west stage at Theatre Building Chicago is slightly more spacious, but director Walter Stearns promises that Porchlight Music Theatre's production, celebrating the romantic comedy's 50th anniversary, will retain the bittersweet coming-of-age story's delicate ambience.
"An intimate theatre provides a boutique experience," explained Stearns. "Having performers just a couple of feet away from the audience, or sitting in the seats with them, makes for a very communal experience. Our music is all acoustical, too, so the results should be raw, honest and beautiful." ( It is currently running through Sunday, Nov. 8; call 773-327-5252 or visit www.porchlighttheatre.com )
—The Big Musical in the Little Room: Man of La Mancha, based on the tales of Miguel de Cervantes, is renowned for its physicality—Don Quixote charging a windmill on horseback, for example, or rowdy muleteers rumbling in an innyard. But as Theo Ubique's stage at the No Exit Café has grown from a single platform barely larger than a bath mat to a promenade spanning the streetside wall, so have the productions essayed by this "cabaret theatre" expanded from low-budget revues to full-scale Broadway pageants rendered as exquisitely as Cornell boxes.
"In a limited space, you can't hide a mistake," says director David Heimann, "But when a show is really connected, the listener becomes part of the story, serving as a source of energy for the actors. This balance is what makes the [small theater] experience different from your antiseptic observational theatre and why our audiences keep coming back." ( It opens Friday, Oct. 16; call 773-347-1109 or visit www.theoubique.org . )
—The Little Musical in the Little Room: Gregg Opelka's C'est La Vie ( formerly La Vie Ennui ) enjoyed an extended run at Theatre Building Chicago in 2002. Light Opera Works' equity-cast revival stars Kelly Anne Clark and Jennifer Chada as Mlles. Dominique and Fatiguée, two Parisian cabaret chanteuses, weary of chirping Edith Piaf covers for the tourists, who contrive to have their boss, um, detained in the bastille while they revel in sassy chansons like "You Gotta Be A Waif" and "Toujours, But Not Today."
"There's no question that our space for this production is much simpler [ than the mainstage in Cahn Auditorium ] —no bells and whistles, and the front row of audience only six feet away," said director/choreographer Rudy Hogenmiller. "But it's a cute, funny, charming show—with touching moments, too—and it has hummable tunes. Gregg has tweaked the script and score since the 2002 production—which none of us involved in this one has seen—so we're starting from ground zero on a very new show." ( It opens Friday, Oct. 9, in the Evanston company's Second Stage facility. Call 847-869-6300 or visit www.light-opera-works.org . )
—The Musical That Is Not a Musical: Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, the third in August Wilson's suite of 10 plays tracing the history of Pittsburgh's Hill District and its African-American denizens, relies on the famous 1920s blues singer for its premise, with diva E. Faye Butler headlining in the title role and much of the action set in a recording studio, but this is less a "musical" than it is a play incorporating music into its story.
Ron OJ Parson, director of the production leading off the Court Theatre season, is adamant regarding this distinction: "When it opened on Broadway, many patrons anticipated a musical, and some of the producers wanted to make it a musical, but [ August ] Wilson was insistent on the play being the focus. So we're not working with dancers or any of that. Still, speaking from a dramatic perspective, most actors enjoy the closeness of the audience in tight quarters. This is what makes exciting theatre for both." ( It opens Sunday, Sept. 27; call 773-753-4472 or visit www.courttheatre.org . )
Small spaces also impose additional responsibilities on playgoers, who must curb their natural propensities for snoring, smooching, scratching, etc. But if you can remember to behave yourself and shut off your cell phone, there's a wraparound show out there waiting for you.
