Jonny would like to begin with a public service announcement. We want to make sure all you fellas buy tickets to the right show. Y'see, it could be confusing with Jeff Stryker Does Hard Time opening April 18 at Bailiwick, and Lookingglass Theatre opening Hard Times, adapted from the Charles Dickens novel, just 10 days later. Jonny is certain both will be splendid productions, but one is about big dicks ( as we understand it ) and the other is about big Dickens. Go to either show-;or go to both!-;but don't confuse them. To tell them apart, remember this simple rule-of-thumb: Hard Times has hoop skirts and Hard Time doesn't.
Speaking of Bailiwick, don't forget the performances this Saturday and Sunday ( April 21 and 22 ) of All Girl Review 2, which will benefit Bailiwick's Lesbian Theater Series. The mainstage variety show is "100% lesbian-centric" according to the press release and includes stand-up comedy, poetry, theatrical monologues, classical music, dance and improv comedy. The $25 tickets include a pre-show reception and post-show cast party both nights. A warning: don't get too close to the Bailiwick studio theater. That's where Hard Time will be doing its thing.
One of the original "Bosom Buddies" from Mame, Bea Arthur ( she created the role of Vera Charles on Broadway ) , will appear at Park West May 22-31 in her new, Broadway-bound one woman show, And Then There's Bea, with Her Friend Billy Goldenberg at the Piano. Jonny thinks this is a don't-miss attraction.
Jonny's talented good friend, Tom Mula, has won the $5,000 Cunningham Prize for Playwriting, awarded by the Theatre School, DePaul University, and it couldn't go to a nicer curmudgeon. A good friend of our community, Tom is the actor, director, writer and teacher who played Scrooge at the Goodman Theatre for seven years. The role got him thinking about Scrooge's deceased partner, Jacob Marley, who's ghostly appearance sets A Christmas Carol in motion. So Mula created a splendid novella, Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol, that tells the story of what happened to Marley after he died, and how he finds his own redemption. It was published as a book in 1994, and adapted by Mula as a one-man play in 1998. The Cunningham Prize is given to a work that affirms the centrality of spiritual life and the human quest for meaning.
Monday, April 30 is the kick-off night for Women at the Door/2001, the eighth annual series of staged readings of new plays written and directed by women, presented by Famous Door Theatre Company at the Theatre Building ( 1225 W. Belmont ) . Four plays will be read on successive Monday evening ( through May 21 ) at 7 p.m., selected by Famous Door after a national search. Admission is free. Since 1994, this program has introded 27 new, full-length plays by women, including works by Claudia Allen, Lisa Dillman, Rebecca Gilman, Carson Grace Becker, Anne McGravie and Kristine Thatcher. The folks at Famous Door have a damn good eye for talent.
The Music Box Theatre ( 3733 N. Southport ) will be the place Tuesday, May 1, for a preview performance of Sing-A-Long Sound of Music, to benefit Windy City Performing Arts and the Howard Brown Health Center. You DO know about Sing-A-Long Sound of Music, don't you? Where they screen the film, and everyone shows up in lederhosen, nun's habits, Heidi outfits, etc, and sings along to the film, and talks back to it, a la the Rocky Horror Picture Show? Sorry, leather guys, no Nazi uniforms allowed. The screening includes subtitles for people too stupid to remember "Do, a Deer" and "Climb Every Mountain," plus door prizes and live entertainers. The regular run of the limited engagement is May 11-24. Tickets for all performances, including the benefit, are through Ticketmaster, alas, or at the Music Box box office day-of-show only.
Forever Plaid is NOT closing at the Royal George Cabaret Theatre April 29, as previously reported by Jonny. Due to a jump in ticket sales, the producers have announced they will keep it running another month, through May 27. Of course, Jonny is simply FURIOUS! Jonny hates to be back doored.
Ever-popular Karen Mason will be back in town for her annual Mothers' Day engagement at Davenport's Piano Bar and Cabaret. Her dates will be May 9-20, and her repertory will include Berlin, Bernstein, Sondheim and Lennon/McCartney among others. Cover charge: $25.
Lifeline Theatre once again has extended its excellent adaptation of Jane Eyre, this time through April 29. Chicago Shakespeare Theatre has extended King Lear, starring Greg Vinkler, through April 29. The Vagina Monologues also has been extended again ( let's face it, it's an open run with this extensions nonsense just a marketing ploy ) at the Apollo Theater, through May 27 at least. All three are very worthwhile shows.
The subscription brochures for next year are starting to flood in, and Jonny is happy to tell you that next season will include numerous theatrical treats. For example, they'll be taking it all off at the Shubert Theatre, beginning Sept. 6, as the brand-new national tour of The Full Monty comes to town for a limited run. This is the Broadway musical adaptation of the hit Brit film of several years ago. Also, diva Chita Rivera will grace the Goodman Theatre stage, Sept. 21-Oct. 28 in the world premiere of new musical by John Kander and Fred Ebb, with a book by Terrance McNally, and directed by Frank Galati ( how's THAT for credentials! ) . The show is The Visit, a musical version of the famous Friedrich Durrenmatt play about the world's richest woman, who returns to the town of her birth to buy revenge for wrongs done her when she was young and poor. Yummy!