Vermont native and out performer Bret Pfister is so happy that the internationally acclaimed London burlesque/cabaret/big top show La Soirée is making its U.S. debut at the Riverfront Theatre in Chicago.
"I have quite a few friends living here so I was very excited," said Pfister, who is one of only two Americans cast in the show. "I would also say that Chicago is probably my favorite American city."
That the Riverfront Theater was able to book La Soirée is something of a coup for the 22,000-square-foot tented auditorium, which is located along the Chicago River near the Chicago Tribune Freedom Center printing plants. La Soirée's only U.S. dates for 2012 are in Chicago, following stints in Hamburg, Germany and Montreal before the show tours back again to Australia.
La Soirée also marks a distinct change in programming for the Riverfront Theatre, which debuted last summer with a successful 16-week run of a high-tech version of Peter Pan that debuted in London's Kensington Park in 2009. Family audiences were the norm last summer, but with La Soirée, adults are specifically sought to imbibe from the on-site bars and to enjoy the racy nature of the show.
"It's not like anything you've ever seen before," said Pfister describing La Soirée. "It's more like a party and a great night out with elements of circus, cabaret, burlesque, comedy, clowning and all of that is done with really strong undertones of sexuality."
Pfister's contribution to the show is his aerial hoop act, which is typically the domain of women in most circus-influenced shows.
"It is a very woman-dominated discipline, but I think that's part of what makes it special or something different when I do it," Pfister said. "I have an aesthetic that would considered quite feminine normally, in a more flexible wayI play on that vibe, for sure."
Pfister is also proud to boast that other artists in La Soirée serve as paeans to athletic and muscular male beauty. In particular, there's Denis Lock and Hamish McCann who appear as "The English Gents," two acrobatic comedic chaps who bear nearly all as they do complicated balancing stunts while wearing bowler hats. There's also the former Berliner gymnast David O'Mer, whose "Bath Boy" acrobatic routine involving a pair of wet jeans and a bathtub is another example of what Pfister calls a "beautiful topless man in the show."
The producers at the Riverfront Theatre also hope that La Soirée will mark the arrival of a higher-caliber of shows playing the venue. Admittedly, there have been some teething troubles for the venue this summer as the Riverfront Theatre aimed to present a variety of touring shows rather than just one production like Peter Pan last summer.
Some of the Riverfront Theater's originally scheduled shows this summer like Spirit of the Dance, Rocket Man and Man in the Mirror have been postponed indefinitely (Spirit of the Dance and Rocket Man have already respectively played this year at the Lumber Center for the Performing Arts in Grayslake and the Paramount Theatre in Aurora). The theater also switched public relations agencies mid-season, promising a schedule of more soon-to-be-announced shows.
"What I think we've learned this year really that it is the uniqueness of the show that really engages the Chicago public, so we're looking to program a much broader slate of programming," said Riverfront Theater executive producer Robert Butters. "The Riverfront is hopefully going to run through the end of the year and we're already thinking about programming for the next year."
In the meantime, the Riverfront Theater hopes Chicago audiences will respond to La Soirée, while the performers of La Soirée are wondering how the response of Chicago audiences will compare to audiences from other cities around the world.
"Different audiences by the nature of being in different countries will express themselves in different ways. When we played London, the people weren't shy about telling you what they really feel," Pfister said. "Whereas in Paris, while we had spectacular audiences and a fun crowd, they weren't so vocal."
La Soirée continues at the Riverfront Theater, 650 W. Chicago Ave., through Sunday, Aug. 5. Performances are 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays, 5 and 8 p.m. Saturdays and 2 and 6 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are $39-$85. Call 888-556-9484 or visit www.riverfronttheater.com .
You saw them here first
The off-Broadway venue 59E59 Theaters in New York has announced even more shows with Chicago-area ties for its upcoming season. The revised version of the Studs Terkel-inspired musical Working (previously seen at Chicago's Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place) will play from Dec. 1-30, while Bruce Graham's The Outgoing Tide (which had its world premiere at Skokie's Northlight Theatre) will play Nov. 7-Dec. 16. These two show join the previously announced run of Route 66 Theatre Company's A Twist of Water by playwright Caitlin Montanye Parrish, which plays Nov. 1-25.