Hedwig and the Angry Inch, the drag punk-rock musical by Stephen Trask and the very gay John Cameron Mitchell, is gonna' try again in Chicago. You may recall the debacle about two years ago when the show's New York producer brought it to the Lakeshore Theatre in a mis-cast, under-publicized version that insulted the entertainment press and screwed its audiences, but fulfilled the producer's obligation to produce or lose her option on the show. It lasted just a few days. Now, a troupe called the Elemental Theatre Company is producing the 90-minute Hedwig as a late-night attraction at Theatre Building Chicago, opening this weekend ( March 18 ) and playing through May 7. Let's wish Elemental a better success, and here's hoping they give ticket-buyers a better production.
Theatre Building Chicago will be all-music all the time over the next two months, and not just with Hedwig and the Angry Inch. All the Finny folk in town are swimming over to TBC for the nation's first Finn Festival, a project of Porchlight Music Theatre presenting a rotating repertory of four musicals by very gay lyricist/composer William Finn. The Finn Fest begins this Sunday ( March 19 ) with matinee and evening openings of In Trousers and Falsettos, perhaps the two best-known Finn shows. Two more recent Finn works, A New Brain and Elegies: A Song Cycle will enter the rotation in late April. The Finn Festival runs through May 22.
Talented designer, painter and playwright Eric Appleton—subject of a Windy City Times profile last year—will have two new, short plays featured in the New Play Festival 3 at Circle Theatre in Forest Park. This Tunnel and West is the Land of Pie will be presented March 18, 24, 27 and April 2. New Play Festival 3 will stage 15 one-act plays in all in the course of the March 17-April 3 event.
Three big, 'tres gai' benefits are headed your way, so pay your money and take your choice. Or splurge and go to all three, which might prove tricky since two of them are on the same night, wouldn't ya' just know it. Well, you know how competitive queens can be.
In any case, Bailiwick Repertory hosts Cirque du Salacious: Adult Swim on Saturday, April 16 at the newly decorated Circuit Nightclub. There'll be dancers, singers, performance artists, food and drink for everyone, plus a Speedo fashion show for VIP ticket holders. VIP tix are $50, general admission tix are $25. As for the Speedo fashion show, Jonny says to hell with board shorts; Jonny wants to see the racing briefs. Call ( 773 ) 883-1090 for info or tickets.
That very same night, April 16, Windy City Performing Arts will hold its annual Broadway-themed formal dinner benefit, once again at the Chicago Cultural Center. As always, there will be an open bar, a good feed, a great silent auction and—for the first time this year—a star! Tony Award winner Kristin Chenoweth will entertain. Most tickets are $200 and $250; ( 773 ) 404-9242 or online. There are 10 tickets for $500 that include front-row seats for the Chenoweth performance AND dessert with her afterwards. By the way Windy City Performing Arts presents its spring concert April 2 at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Andersonville.
If you're not benefited out, the very next day, Sunday, April 17, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago throws its annual gay community event, the Celebrity Cast Party as the closing event of its 2005 spring season. There's a dance performance at 3 p.m. at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, followed by the party at 5 p.m. at the Moulin Rouge in the Fairmount Hotel, where you may enjoy cocktails, hors d'oeuvres and the Hubbard Street dancers. Go for it, honey, they don't have to work the next day. Tickets are $100-$125; ( 800 ) 882-4275 or online.
Tell the truth: when was the last time you saw The Wizard of Oz on the BIG screen? Years? Decades? Never? The Museum of Contemporary Art ( MCA ) will screen Oz March 26-27 at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. as part of The Road To Home, a film series that epitomizes the essence of travel in search of identity. Well, that sure hits The Wizard of Oz on the head. The films are being screened in conjunction with the current MCA exhibit, Universal Experience: Art, Life and the Tourist's Eye. Other 'road' movies in the MCA series are: Stroszek ( April 2 ) , Lost in America ( April 16 ) and Simple Men ( April 30 ) . Tickets are $7.50 at the MCA box office.
FYI, an anonymous TV writer at a daily newspaper once penned the following capsule description of The Wizard of Oz: 'A young girl, having killed once, is set loose with three bizarre companions in a strange land, only to kill again.' Now, THAT's Jonny's kind of writing!
