The entire cast and crew of Poseidon! An Upside Down Musical is heading for the Big Apple to appear in the annual New York
International Fringe Festival. The camp take on the camp cult disaster flick—a big hit last year for the new Hell In A Handbag
Productions—was written by out artist David Cerda and directed by out artist David Zak. To help finance the journey, Hell in a
Handbag will hold a New Year's in July benefit on the 27th, with a reception at High Risk Gallery followed by performance excerpts at
Bailiwick Arts Center. Call (312) 409-4357 for details and tickets ($30).
Poseidon! is not the only Chicago attraction invited to be part of the New York International Fringe Festival this year. The local
roster includes 10 attractions, ranging from one-person performance works to complete productions by various theater troupes.
Among the former will be dancer and writer Angel Abcede, who will take The Semen Tree to New York. Abcede debuted his one-man
show two seasons ago to considerable acclaim from Chicago critics. Abcede has just been honored again as a recipient of a
Community Arts Assistance Grant from the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs.
Several out theater directors are on Jonny's radar this week. The reviews from London have been very, very strong for Pacific
Overtures, directed by our own Gary Griffin, and first staged at the Chicago Shakespeare Festival (CST) in 2001. Griffin remounted the
CST production (including the original Chicago leads) at the prestigious Donmar Warehouse for a June 20-Sept. 6 run. While the
Donmar is considered an Off-West End venue, its hits frequently transfer to the West End for commercial runs. Pacific Overtures, of
course, is the cutting-edge 1976 work by Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman, the authors of the dull-edge Bounce now in a try-
out run at the Goodman Theatre.
Talented young director Jay Paul Skelton also is among the show-busy, so-busy folk this week, having staged Candide at the
Cultural Center, with four performances July 24-29. His cast includes Edward Thomas Herrera as the Narrator. The legendary
Leonard Bernstein musical (the Cultural Center insists on calling it an opera) premiered on Broadway in 1956 and failed, but was
revived in the 1970's with great success by director Harold Prince (director of Bounce), after revisions to the book and lyrics. Among
the astounding list of talented folk who tried to tame the story and write lyrics for the show are: Lillian Hellman, John LaTouche,
Richard Wilbur, Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler. Performances of Candide are in Preston Bradley Hall at the Cultural Center.
Tickets are free, but must be obtained in advance at the Visitor Information Center of the Cultural Center (first floor, Randolph Street
side).
Speaking of free—Jonny loves getting it for free—Hubbard Street 2, the second company of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago,
offers several free performances this week as part of its summer season. Check out HS2 (as they abbreviate themselves) July 29, 10
a.m. and Noon at the Ruth Page Center, 1016 N. Dearborn; or July 30, 11a.m. and 1 p.m. at the Vittum Theatre, 1012 N. Noble; or
July 31, 12:15 p.m. at the Harold Washington Library.
Two of Chicago's favorite divas, Karen Mason and Alexandra Billings, are featured performers in Stages 2003: A Festival of New
Musicals, Aug. 8-10 at Theatre Building Chicago. Former Chicagoan—and still a local fave—Karen Mason will star in You Might As
Well Live, which kicks off the Fest for one performance only, Aug. 8 at 7:30 p.m. Composer Norman Matthews has used Parker's own
writing to create all the song lyrics in the one-woman musical about the late wit, critic and alcoholic, Dorothy Parker. Should be a tour-
de-force for Mason.
Over the next three days, A Festival of New Musicals will offer workshop stagings of eight shows, among them This Fair World
with Ms. Billings. Written by Broadway veterans Sherman Yellen and Wally Harper, This Fair World is a screwball comedy musical,
set against the backdrop of the 1939 New York Worlds' Fair. It will be performed Aug. 9 at 7:30 p.m. and again Aug. 10 at the ungodly
hour of 9:30 a.m. Jonny can't imagine La Billings ever getting out of bed so early.
For complete Festival info or tickets, call (773) 327-5252.
Finally, Jonny notes that several shows which received favorable reviews in the Windy City Times have been extended. Jonny
has no doubt that the power and reach of this publication, plus the esteem in which WCT's theater critics are held, alone are
responsible for these extensions. To wit: Race at Lookingglass Theatre, now through Aug. 24; Pinafore! at Bailiwick, now through
Aug. 24; and Blind Tasting at Live Bait, now through Aug. 31.
