Schwartz's kind of town
Will Chicago-area audiences embrace other works by composer/lyricist Stephen Schwartz's the way they did with his Broadway blockbuster Wicked? Some professional and non-profit producers are certainly hoping so.
Now in previews at the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place is Working, a revised take on the 1978 Broadway musical revue based upon the late Chicago journalist Studs Terkel's 1974 book Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do.
Then to open its 2011 season, the Northlight Theatre is presenting the musical Snapshots, which features several famous and once-abandoned theater songs by Schwartz in a script by David Stern about marriage at the crossroads. The venerable Skokie-based theater company performs Snapshots from Sept. 16 through Oct. 23.
Though a quick flop on Broadway during its original 1978 run, Working instead proved to be a hit with community, school and other regional groups in the ensuing years. Now Schwartz, Nina Faso and director Gordon Greenberg have updated the show, which has always been famous for featuring material by other songwriters like Mary Rodgers (Once Upon a Mattress) and rock and folk star James Taylor.
Schwartz invited Tony Award-winning composer/lyricist Lin-Manuel Miranda (In the Heights) to contribute new songs, while Alex Lacamoire (also of In the Heights) wrote new musical arrangements.
This latest incarnation of Working was previously developed at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Fla., and at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego. Snapshots has also had a long developmental life in regional theaters, starting in 1996 at the Signature Theatre in Virginia and most recently in 2008 at TheatreWorks in California.
Whether either show has a future life in New York or London might depend upon whether or not Chicago audiences turn out in droves. But for now, Chicagoans can claim these shows as their own, especially Working with its local roots and Chicago-based acting company.
More laughs heading your way
Expect the comedy market to get even more competitive in Chicago.
The Chicago Tribune recently reported that the famed Los Angeles comedy club The Laugh Factory has taken out a lease on the Lakeshore Theatre at 3175 N. Broadway, which has been vacant since April.
The Laugh Factory is set to renovate the former movie theater-turned-live venue, notably changing the venue's seating plan to a traditional tables-and-chairs comedy club configuration.
The publication also reported that The Second City is teaming up with Levity Entertainment (which owns the nationwide chain of The Improv comedy clubs) to renovate the Piper's Alley space that once hosted Tony 'n' Tina's Wedding into a 280-seat comedy club.
The Improv already has a presence at Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, so having a Chicago outpost should please comedy fans who don't want to trek out to the suburbs. The Improv's move into the Chicago should also put pressure on the venerable Zanies, which has a comedy club down the street from Second City along with suburban venues in St. Charles and Vernon Hills.
Gay play readings a plenty
Pride Films and Plays is at it again with another script-writing contest. Last time around it was film screenplays. Now the Great Gay Play Fest is upon us.
Five new plays by playwrights from around the country writing on GLBT themes have been selected to compete for prizes at this festival which runs from March 3 through 6 in the Hoover-Leppen Theatre of the Center on Halsted, 3656 N. Halsted.
The roster features:
—False Reality by Joe Lauderdale of Los Angeles: It's about a young man who creates an imaginary twin in order to cope with his troubled family. Patrick Rybarczyk directs this drama at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 3.
—Short Expanse by Corinne J. Kawecki of Chicago: This drama concerns some unsetting revelations that get unearthed at a 10-year-old girl's costume-themed birthday party thrown by her swim coach neighbor and her partner. Liz Pazik directs the play which is read at 7 p.m. Friday, March 4.
—Learn to be Latina by Enrique Urueta of San Francisco: A comedy about a wannabe pop star whose Lebanese heritage proves to be unmarketable. So she's made over by her record company to be a fiery Latina, which only makes for complications when she falls in love with an actual Latina woman. Eddie Torres directs the comedy at 4 p.m. Saturday, March 5.
—Save the Date by Tyler Dean of Chicago: This comedy involves a wedding planner whose career could be made when he coordinates the nuptials of his friend whose intended's mother is also an editor at a high-profile wedding magazine. But when someone tries to disrupt the ceremony, the wedding planner has to sort out the ever-increasing mess. John Nasca directs this modern-day farce at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 5
—The Times by Mark S. Watson of Key West, Fla.: A man's 10-year reunion with his college sweetheart goes awry when he discovers that she's placed a wedding announcement about their forthcoming nuptials in The New York Times. David Zak directs this comic drama at 4 p.m. Sunday, March 6.
Each play is competing for both an Audience Award and one selected by a reading panel including Marshall W. Mason, Jason Moore, Doug Finlayson, Patricia Kane, Jeremy Cohen, Patrick Trettenero, Brian Fonseca and other theater professionals.
The Great Gay Play Fest is sponsored by Pride Films and Plays and the Center on Halsted, in association with Lampkin Music Group.
Tickets to each staged reading are $10 ($5 for students). A weekend pass is available for $25. Tickets can be ordered by calling 800-838-3006 or by visiting www.brownpapertickets.com . Visit www.PrideFilmsandPlays.com for more information.
Please send theater news and other related tidbits to scottishplayscott@yahoo.com and Andrew@windycitymediagroup.com .
