The pre-Broadway engagement of the musical First Wives Club at the Oriental Theatre is billed as a "world premiere." However, this musical is more of a second marriage after the first one failed.
First Wives Club initially played a pre-Broadway tryout at San Diego's Old Globe Theatre back in 2009. On paper, the musical's collaborators and stars all looked very promising.
The score was by the legendary Motown songwriting team of Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Eddie Holland, who were best known for penning hits like "I Can't Help Myself" and "Stop! In the Name of Love." The director was openly lesbian opera and theater director Francesca Zambello ( The Little Mermaid ), while Tony Award-winner Rupert Holmes ( The Mystery of Edwin Drood ) had adapted the late Olivia Goldsmith's best-selling 1992 novel for the stage.
But, of course, The First Wives Club was most famous for its smash hit 1996 film version, which was adapted by Robert Harling of Steel Magnolias fame. Audiences loved seeing stars Goldie Hawn, Bette Midler and Diane Keaton respectively playing Elise ( the film star ), Brenda ( the Jewish mother ) and the ever-apologetic Annie as they all teamed up as the first wives who took out revenge on their ex-husbands who discarded them all for younger women.
In the 2009 First Wives Club musical, Tony Award-nominees Sheryl Lee Ralph ( Dreamgirls ) played Elise, Barbara Walsh ( Falsettos ) played Brenda and Tony Award-winner Karen Ziemba ( Contact ) played Annie.
But for whatever reasons, First Wives Club failed to properly gel in San Diego, scuttling plans to move the show immediately to New York. In his dismissive Los Angeles Times review, critic Charles McNulty said "creative couple's therapy" was needed to save the show.
Now in Chicago, First Wives Club is attempting to make a second go of things with some new partners attached. The score is still by Holland-Dozier-Holland, who were recently awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Yet the script is now being adapted by Linda Bloodworth Thomason, who was Emmy Award-nominated for her work on the sitcom Designing Women. Additional material is also being contributed by the new director Simon Phillips, a very charming Australian who previously was an artistic director of the Melbourne Theatre Company and director of the global hit stage musical adaptation of The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.
"Every movie ever made is seen to be fodder for a musical these days. And it doesn't seem to me no matter how wildly inappropriate it is, someone gives it a go," said Phillips at an Oriental Theatre news conference on Feb. 4. "In the case of First Wives Club, it is one of those titles where if someone says First Wives Club and musical, in the same spirit, I think it just makes it click."
Also new to Chicago for First Wives Club are the trio of leading ladies, and two of them have very high-profile Windy City credits and connections.
Audiences who regularly attend musicals out at Drury Lane Theatre in Oakbrook Terrace, the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire and the Paramount Theatre in Aurora will be pleased to know that Jeff Award-winning Chicago-area actress Christine Sherrill could be making her Broadway debut in the role of movie star Elise.
"I think this is a perfect musical to bring here," Sherrill said at the news conference. "I've always taken pride in the fact that I think Chicago is not only smart, but the thing that makes us stand apart is that we really have heart and we look for heart in a piece and couldn't ask for more [in First Wives Club]."
Former West End star Carmen Cusack plays Annie, and she'll be remembered by Chicago-area audiences for starring as Dot in Sunday in the Park with George at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Nellie Forbush in the national tour of South Pacific at the Rosemont Theatre and Elphaba in Wicked at the Oriental Theatre.
"I'm so happy to be back here," Cusack said during the press conference. "It's like a full circle for me coming back to this amazing theater and this amazing city."
And then rounding out the trio as Brenda is Broadway veteran Faith Prince, a 1992 Tony Award-winner for the revival of Guys and Dolls.
"This is the first time I've done a comedyin Chicago," Prince said with a great deadpan delivery.
Hopefully for all those involved, the second collaborative marriage of First Wives Club will be the successful one.
First Wives Club continues now through Sunday, March 29, at the Oriental Theatre, 24 W. Randolph St. Tickets are $30 to $97; call 800-775-2000 or visit www.broadwayinchicago.com for more information .