It's already safe to assume that the hottest ticket of the upcoming theater season is going to be the Goodman Theatre's revival of The Iceman Cometh directed by Robert Falls and starring two-time Tony Award-winners Nathan Lane and Brian Dennehy.
The Goodman officially announced July 15 that Eugene O'Neill's lengthy 1946 Broadway drama will round out its 2011-12 season with a run from April 22 to June 10, 2012.
This is not the first time that Falls and Dennehy have tackled O'Neill's drama about a New York saloon-full of dreamers and drunks who get stirred up by the arrival of a charismatic salesman named Theodore "Hickey" Hickman. Falls and Dennehy first worked together on the show in 1990 at the old Goodman Theatre near the Art Institute of Chicago. Only this time around Dennehy is taking up the supporting role of one-time syndicalist-anarchist Larry Slade, while Lane will take on the iconic role of Hickey.
Lane, of course, is most famous in theater circles for starring in big Broadway musicals (The Producers, Guys and Dolls and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum) and Broadway comedies (November, The Odd Couple, Laughter on the 23rd Floor). The out actor also made a name for himself off-Broadway starring in Terrence McNally dramas like The Lisbon Traviata, Lips Together, Teeth Apart and Love! Valour! Compassion!
While Lane might not be the first person in most people's mind for such a weighty dramatic role as Hickey (other famed actors in the role include Jason Robards and Kevin Spacey), he's such a skilled actor that he's bound to offer up an interpretation that will make the role his own (and after a year of carrying the critically panned musical The Addams Family, Lane certainly deserves the chance to get his teeth into some serious drama).
So far tickets to The Iceman Cometh are only available as part of five- or eight-play Goodman Theatre season subscriptions. Call 312-443-3800 or visit www.goodmantheatre.org for more information.
Celebrating 'Solo' in Rogers Park
The Fillet of Solo Festival is back in its 15th annual edition, returning again to the thriving Rogers Park theater scene in thanks to Lifeline Theatre artistic director Dorothy Milne and former Live Bait Theater artistic director Sharon Evans.
On tap this year's solo performance and storytelling festival are pieces by 13 Chicagoans, a trio of New Yorkers and a former Chicagoan now based in Los Angeles. Some notable shows include Jenny Allen's cancer piece I Got Sick Then I Got Better (since it features direction from Tony Award-winner James Lapine and Darren Katz), and Victory Gardens Playwrights Ensemble member Jeffrey Sweet's You Only Shoot the Ones You Love (since it is slated to appear at the upcoming 2011 New York International Fringe Festival). And of interest to LGBT audiences is Second City alum Jimmy Doyle's Must Be Nice, which details the out actor's less than happy exile in Los Angeles.
Fillet of Solo performances run in repertory at 7 and 8:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and at 3 p.m. Sundays from July 21 through Aug. 7 at these locations: Lifeline Theatre, 6912 N. Glenwood, and the Heartland Studio Theatre, 7016 N. Glenwood. Tickets are $10 per performance or $30 for a festival pass.
The final festival performance is James Braly's Life in a Marital Institution (produced by Meredith Vieira Productions), which plays 5 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 7, at the Mayne Stage, 1328 W. Morse. Tickets to this performance are $20 (festival pass does not apply).
For more information, visit www.lifelinetheatre.com or call 773-761-4477.
Missing 'Mommies'
The Royal George Theatre is without a major tenant now that the Chicago opening of The Mommies—A Musical Blog has been postponed indefinitely. The musical revue making light of the joys and jarring aspects of motherhood was to have opened at the Royal George at end of July, but writer/producer Jeanie Linders opted to halt the production.
Linders is also the writer and producer of Menopause The Musical, and she has been distracted by lengthy production rights litigation with GFour Productions of South Florida. The company is challenging the termination of its rights to present and produce Menopause The Musical.
"There is a process to a successful launch of any new show. The Mommies—A Musical Blog is a fabulous, fun new production about today's moms that deserves one hundred percent commitment from all members of my company. The litigation has not allowed that," Linders said in a statement. "The entire TOC/MOC staff is looking forward to giving our 'Mommies' the attention that is deserved once the dispute with G4 is concluded."
Since no new opening date has been set, Mommies ticket holders should look into the refund policies of their point of purchase.
Commemorating Guy Adkins
Porchlight Music Theatre recently awarded the first-ever Guy Adkins Award for Excellence in the Advancement of Music Theatre in Chicago to the company's former artistic director, L. Walter Sterns, at its recent soiree Journey On-A Brunch Benefit for Porchlight Music Theatre held on Sunday, July 17.
The award is named for the late out Chicago actor Guy Adkins, a native of Lansing, Mich., who excelled in the Chicago theater scene starting the 1990s with major musical theater roles for such companies as Drury Lane Theatre in Oak Brook and the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire. Adkins passed away from colon cancer at the age of 41 in May 2010.
"Guy loved theatre, and he loved music. He had a profound respect and admiration for any individual who strived to achieve their very best to create great art, and to share it passionately, proudly and wholeheartedly with an audience," said Sean Alan Krill, Adkins' longtime partner. "I can't think of a better way to honor his indubitable spirit than to encourage Chicago music theatre artists to continue to strive for excellence in their field, and to commend them for the advancement of this great art form."
