Out Chicago-based singer/songwriter Susan Werner is mostly known for her contemporary folk music. In fact, her 2013 album Hayseed was conceptually focused on her Iowa heritage, particularly on "farms, farmers and the people who love them."
But Werner's songwriting reputation may soon attract a whole new set of fans—lovers of musical theater. That's because Werner wrote the music and lyrics to a stage adaptation of the acclaimed 1988 baseball film Bull Durham that starred Kevin Costner, Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins. The musical version was co-written with original Bull Durham screenplay author Ron Shelton, and focuses on the shenanigans of a former major league player who is brought in to mentor a talented pitcher playing for a minor league team in North Carolina.
Bull Durham recently finished a five-week regional tryout run at Atlanta's Alliance Theatre in October. If all things go well, the big leagues of Broadway may be next.
"It's been such a great pleasure to learn to tell a story on stage along with people who know how to do it," said Werner, pointing out that it was the show's producers who specifically sought her out, based upon the body of her previous folk and pop songs.
"It's an argument for doing whatever you do as a creative person to do it well. Even if a million people aren't going to hear it, or even if it doesn't achieve commercial success, making it excellent is a kind of argument for what might happen next," said Werner, never anticipating that her own music would lead to her first foray as theater composer for a Broadway-aimed musical.
Werner loved collaborating with so many talented and experienced musical theater artists on Bull Durham.
"Now I can sing, but I can't act. Acting is a whole other talent," Werner said, expressing a newfound respect for actors after working with such Broadway veterans like Will Swenson ( Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Hair ) and Melissa Errico ( One Touch of Venus, High Society ) who could incorporate new changes on Bull Durham daily. "You're up at it giving them new material and lines, and they just soak it up and at night they're onstage doing it—they really are like magicians."
Werner was also entranced by the work of Bull Durham choreographer Joshua Bergasse, who is best known for his work on the late NBC series SMASH and currently represented on Broadway with the critically acclaimed revival of Leonard Bernstein's On the Town.
"He's so wonderful. The choreography just knocked you out in the show," Werner said of Bergasse. "It's a great thrill to see someone put movement to your music and animate it."
Werner said at this point no Broadway date has been announced for Bull Durham, and the waiting game depends on a number of variables including available theaters and getting the right New York cast lined up. She likened the situation to sitting on a plane that's still circling in the air before it can land.
However, Chicago audiences can get a little taste of Werner's work for Bull Durham before Broadway beckons. That's because Werner will offer an "appetizer" of her Bull Durham songs along with her more trademark contemporary folk music when she appears Saturday, Nov. 8, as part of the Made in Chicago performance series at the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University.
"It will give people a flavor of [Bull Durham]," Werner said. "But also let people imagine what this might sound like when it's sung by actual actors."
The Auditorium Theatre gig is one that Werner has done before, and she treasures the chance to share her music with audiences seated on the actual stage of the national historic landmark that is currently celebrating its 125th anniversary.
"You see it from a different perspective when you're sitting on the stage looking out," Werner said. "And it's the kind of stage that makes a performer rise to the occasion because you feel that such big stuff has gone on here and you had better come with your A-game."
Werner was largely mum about any other possible musicals she might write for the future, though she did mention she was paying more attention lately to the works of late Chicago journalist Studs Terkel. And Werner also pointed out that she always wants to make sure that audiences have an enjoyable time at all of her shows.
"Like any good Broadway show, my concerts have lots of up-tempo numbers and a few ballads," Werner said. "We have a good time."
"On Stage with… Susan Werner" is at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 8, at the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University, 50 E. Congress Pkwy., as part of the Made in Chicago performance series. Werner is joined by Adam Chaffins on bass and Johnny Rodgers on piano. Onstage tickets are $50 and $75 for VIP seating; call 800-982-2787 or visit www.auditoriumtheatre.org .
