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Stage Door Jonny
by JONATHAN ABARBANEL
2006-01-18

This article shared 2115 times since Wed Jan 18, 2006
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Members of the Chicago theater community are mourning the unexpected Jan. 7 death of comedy actor and director Jim Zulevic, a veteran of the Second City and of numerous TV shows, among them Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Drew Carey Show. As a director, the heterosexual Zulevic enjoyed a fruitful partnership over the last five years with GayCo, returning from Los Angeles to stage GayCo's monster 2004 hit, Weddings of Mass Destruction, and also GayCo's first-ever Christmas show just last month, Do You Fear What I Fear? Short of a guy who gives money, Zulevic was the best straight friend a GLBT theater troupe could have. GayCo dedicated its Jan. 14 Chicago Sketchfest appearance to Zulevic.

At the time of his death, Zulevic had moved back to Chicago as co-host and writer for the weekly Second City Radio Show on WCKG-FM, and also was on air in a promotional spot for WFLD-TV ( Ch. 32 ) . A South Side boy who worked in his dad's Bridgeport gas station after school, Zulevic appeared on the Second City mainstage from 1992 to 1999 before taking off for success in Hollywood and Las Vegas. Instantly recognizable as the funny fat guy, Zulevic now joins John Belushi, John Candy and Chris Farley in a somber fraternity of Second City fat guys who died young.

There's happier news for GayCo company member Andy Eninger, who's shaking his money-maker at Bailiwick Arts Center. OK, Eninger's money-maker happens to be his head and his sense of humor, and he's co-author of Barenaked Lads in the Great Outdoors, a new musical revue which premieres at Bailiwick Feb. 21. Unabashedly picking up where the long-run Naked Boys Singing ( NBS ) left off, Bailiwick is seeking to create a cutsie-nudie franchise of its own that—like NBS—it can market around the country. Eninger's co-authors are composers Jon Steinhagen, Michael Mahler and Michael Miller.

While Barenaked Lads hopes to draw gay viewers, it also is being marketed to what eventually became NBS's mainstay audience, hen parties ( bachelorette events, birthdays, suburban girls' nights out, etc. ) . Among the sketches and songs are an all-male, all-nude world-famous boy band, a married couple on a beach in Provincetown, a gonzo personal trainer on Montrose Beach, a group of grade school children who get an unexpected lesson at the zoo from the Chicago Polar Bear Club, and a glamorous 1930's Hollywood Star whose swimming pool overflows with male beauty. The cast features one woman and six guys, among them NBS vets Brooks Robertson and John Cardone. Jonny hears there are Straight Guys in the cast. Do you think you can tell?

Jonny suspects that 'Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy night' might be good advice for the Bruised Orange Theatre Company late-night show, Femme Fatale, playing Saturdays in January at 10:30PM. Femme Fatale presents Joan Crawford directing a cabaret show featuring the impossible ( and implausible ) line-up of Liza Minnelli, Crawford arch-rival Bette Davis, Liz Taylor, Katherine Hepburn ( have you heard about the new book that discusses Ms. Hepburn's long-suppressed Lesbian side? ) , Marilyn Monroe and Sophia Loren, all of whom the Bruised Orange folk describe as 'fallen stars.' Jonny can't quite agree with that: some of them never fell, but just grew old ( Hepburn ) , retired ( Loren ) or fat ( Taylor ) . Now, if someone REALLY wanted to do a cabaret about fallen stars, they'd put together a show about Jean Harlow, Jeanne Eagles, Libby Holman, Ruth Etting, Mary Astor and Billie Holiday! In any case, Femme Fatale is written by Tiffany Joy Ross, and runs at Prop Theatre; ( 773 ) 329-1088; $15; BYOB.

The League of Chicago Theatres continues its popular Theater Thursday series with a Blue Man Group evening Jan. 26. If you're not familiar with the program, here's how it works: you purchase a regular-price ticket for a Theater Thursday attraction and, in addition to the show, you receive food, drink and a special pre-show or post-show behind-the-scenes experience. The Blue Man Group evening will begin at 7 with drinks and hors d'oeuvres at Jack's on Halsted, followed by the show at 8 at the Briar Street Theatre, followed by a discussion with the cast and band out of costume ( so you can see how cute—or not—the Blue Men really are ) . If you've never seen Blue Man Group, Jonny highly recommends it. You won't believe what these guys do with their mouths and a bag of marshmallows. And when they start working their tubes . . . . Well, if you don't have a good time, you're probably dead, although Jonny suggests you leave your adult behavior at the door—which shouldn't be too hard if you're a gay guy on Halsted Street. Call ( 773 ) 348-4000; $49-$59.


This article shared 2115 times since Wed Jan 18, 2006
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