Chicago may be hosting big Broadway shows like Billy Elliot The Musical and Shrek The Musical in the Loop this summer. However, diehard musical-theater fans know to go north to the Ravinia Festival to see what should be the Broadway event of the summer: two-time Tony Award-winner Patti LuPone starring in Irving Berlin's 1946 musical classic Annie Get Your Gun.
The event marks LuPone's third take on major roles originated by the late and great Broadway belter Ethel Merman. In 1987, LuPone played Reno Sweeney in Lincoln Center Theater's Broadway revival of Cole Porter's Anything Goes. Then LuPone assayed the titanic role of Madame Rose in Gypsy first at Ravinia before it was eventually presented at City Center Encores and then on Broadway—leading to LuPone's second Tony Award in 2009.
Now it's unlikely that LuPone will be able to play rifle-rarin' Annie Oakley in a full-fledged staging at this point in her career ( though Ethel Merman did it at Lincoln Center in 1966, when wags dubbed it "Grannie Get Your Gun" ) . So now could be the only chance to see LuPone's interpretation of the great musical theater heroine at Ravinia.
LuPone is joined for the occasion by Ravinia regulars Lonnie Price as director, Paul Gemignani as musical director and fellow two-time Tony Award winner George Hearn as Buffalo Bill Cody. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra should be an amazing pit band onstage.
Tony Award winner Brian Stokes Mitchell was to have been Frank Butler, but pulled out of the concert. However, Ravinia was able to get Broadway regular ( and silver fox ) Patrick Cassidy to play Butler.
Cassidy comes from show biz royalty. His mom is the Academy Award-winner ( and Partridge Family star ) Shirley Jones, his dad is the late Tony Award-winner Jack Cassidy and his half-brother is pop star David Cassidy.
Cassidy was a replacement Frank Butler in the last Broadway revival ( opposite the Annie Oakley of Charlie's Angels star Cheryl Ladd ) , and his most recent Broadway credit was director Julian Marsh in the revival of 42nd Street alongside his mom, who played diva Dorothy Brock. The two even made an appearance that year at the Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS fundraiser Broadway Bares. If you do a certain amount of web sleuthing, you can find online photos of a shirtless and sculpted Cassidy next to his mom ( who isn't shirtless ) .
Annie Get Your Gun only plays 7:30 p.m. Friday through Sunday Aug. 13-15 at the Ravinia Festival in Highland Park. Visit www.ravinia.org or call 847-266-5100.
South Pacific soubrette
There's even more Broadway to be had a Ravinia, since three-time Tony Award-nominee Kelli O'Hara performs a solo concert at Ravinia's intimate Martin Theatre at 8:30 p.m. Wed., Aug. 4. ( O'Hara is also conducting a master class—free for concert ticket-holders—with conductor James Conlon at 7 p.m. in Bennett-Gordon Hall. )
Over the past decade, O'Hara has emerged as a beautiful golden-voiced soprano in such shows as The Light in the Piazza, The Pajama Game and, especially, in the Lincoln Center Theater revival of South Pacific. If you miss O'Hara locally, then be sure to set your DVR to record the Live from Lincoln Center PBS broadcast of the seven-time Tony Award-winning revival of South Pacific Wed., Aug. 18.
Now Chicago PBS affiliate WTTW-11 currently doesn't show it broadcasting South Pacific on that date. But don't fret too much Broadway babies. Back in 2006 when Live from Lincoln Center broadcast Adam Guettel and Craig Lucas' musical The Light in the Piazza, WTTW offered a tape-delay broadcast the following Sunday.
Sellars says
Controversial theater and opera director Peter Sellars hasn't officially directed on Broadway, but his career has made waves both internationally and locally. In opera, Sellars directed the 1987 world premiere of John Adams' Nixon in China ( which was recently added to the Metropolitan Opera's upcoming season of live HD simulcasts in movie theaters ) and he's famed for updating the Mozart/Da Ponte operas ( like setting The Marriage of Figaro in the Trump Tower ) .
At the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Sellars generated lots of controversy in the 1980s with his modern-day Mikado and televangelist take on Wagner's Tannhäuser.
Sellars returns to the Lyric with a new production of Handel's Hercules in 2011. And from the promotional art in brochures, it looks like Sellars will use the opportunity to comment on America's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. One brochure features a modern-day American soldier walking alone presumably in an Iraqi or Afghan desert. Another showcases what looks like a wealthy North Shore McMansion with a burning silhouette of a soldier in front of it.
Sellars will appear in conversation with James Cuno, president of the Art Institute of Chicago, at 6 p.m. Wed., Aug. 4, at the Harold Washington Library's Cindy Pritzker Auditorium, 400 S. State. So audiences might be able to ask Sellars about his Hercules concept then. The event is free, but seating is limited. Visit www.chipublib.org for more information.
A shifting Circle
It's a pity that the city of Forest Park isn't doing more to keep the 25 year-old Circle Theatre within its borders. But after 21 years, Circle Theatre is leaving its current location at 7300 W. Madison since its lease expires on Sunday, Oct. 31.
Long before Starbucks appeared across the street, Circle Theatre was doing its part to help attract visitors to a rapidly gentrifying Forest Park. Now it looks like Oak Park will benefit.
After its summer production of The Philadelphia Story closes ( and youth theater productions of Annie Jr. and Ragtime ) , Circle Theatre will then temporarily relocate to Oak Park at 1010 Madison ( where Village Players is a resident company ) . The first production is set to be the regional premiere of the musical The Wedding Singer. Circle Theatre hopes to find a new permanent performing space within 14 months.
Please send any theater-related news and other tidbits to scottishplayscott@yahoo.com or Andrew@windycitymediagroup.com .
