Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre, which recently closed out its 13-year residency in Rogers Park's venerable No Exit Café, has revealed the lineup of shows for its first season in its new venue at 721 Howard Street, Evanston. The company's Founding Artistic Director Fred Anzevino made the announcement today at a gathering of company donors and friends that served as a farewell to the No Exit Café at 6970 N. Glenwood Avenue.
To allow time to complete renovations of the company's new home, an existing building owned by the City of Evanston that is being leased to Theo Ubique for an initial term of 10 years, the company will forgo its usual fall production and instead begin the new season in December with the first of its three shows for 2018-19.
The company's first show in its new 85-seat home will be the musical THE FULL MONTY, running December 7, 2018 through January 27, 2019. David Yazbek and Terrence McNally's musicalization of the British film comedy of the same title opened on Broadway in the fall of 2000. Moving the film's setting from Great Britain to Buffalo, New York, the musical follows the adventures of a group of unemployed steelworkers who decide to make some money and regain some pride by performing as a troupe of male strippers. McNally is one Broadway's most prolific writers, with over 20 credits to his name, including RAGTIME, KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN, MASTER CLASS, IT'S ONLY A PLAY and ANASTASIA. Yazbek followed his Broadway debut of THE FULL MONTY with music and lyrics for DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS, WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN and this year's multiple Tony Award® nominee THE BAND'S VISIT. Anzevino will be stage director and Resident Music Director Jeremy Ramey will be music director. Cast, designers and production crew will be announced later.
THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY will be the second show of the season, beginning performances on March 8 and playing through April 21, 2019. This heartfelt, intimate musical based on the novel of the same name by Robert James Waller is the story of an Italian war bride living in rural Iowa in 1965 who meets and falls in love with a handsome globe-trotting photographer while her husband and children are out of town. Written by Tony Award® winners Jason Robert Brown ( PARADE, HONEYMOON IN VEGAS ) and Marsha Norman ( THE SECRET GARDEN, THE COLOR PURPLE ), THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY will be seen in an intimate setting that will be especially well-suited to this tender story of love, regrets and second chances. Anzevino will be stage director and Resident Music Director Jeremy Ramey will be music director. Cast, designers and production crew will be announced later.
The season will close with the thoughtfully funny and hard-rocking musical HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH, playing June 14 — July 28, 2019. This musical by Stephen Trask ( music and lyrics ) and John Cameron Mitchell ( text ) ran for over two years off-Broadway, and later won four Tony Awards® including Best Musical Revival when it was produced on Broadway in 2014. Jeremy Ramey will be Music Director. A stage director will be announced later. HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH concerns Hedwig Schmidt, a trans rock 'n' roll goddess from East Germany whose botched sex-change operation not only left her with an "angry inch" of flesh where her female genitalia should be. One of the first musicals to explore issues of gender identity, its varied score includes hard rock songs like "Sugar Daddy," the drag anthem "Wig in a Box" and the tender "Origin of Love."
All performances will be staged in the new Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre, 721 Howard Street, Evanston. Season tickets will go on sale soon at www.Theo-u.com .
Theo Ubique's New Home
Theo Ubique's new performance space will be a renovated storefront owned by the City of Evanston at 721 Howard Street, on the north side of the street that is the border between Evanston and Chicago. The theatre will have a flexible performance and seating area that will seat approximately 85 patrons — some 30 seats more than the previous capacity at No Exit. This expanded capacity will allow more audiences to enjoy the company's frequently sold-out shows but maintain the intimacy of the No Exit Café.
Audiences will enjoy the increased comfort of a newly rehabbed building as well. The City of Evanston is investing $1.2 million of TIF money in a. gut rehab of the building, including all new plumbing, electric, HVAC, asbestos removal, new restrooms, and a "catering kitchen" and bar, allowing Theo Ubique to continue to offer bar service and dinners provided through a catering partner to be announced. The company's ten-year lease with the city includes four options for five-year renewals.
General Manager Adam Webster says "We are excited by this new avenue by which to expand on our idea of thematically pairing our menu and drinks to the current production. The company will offer drink specials as well as expanded food options beyond just full dinner service for most of its productions."
THE FULL MONTY
Music and Lyrics by David Yazbek, Book by Terrence McNally, based on the motion picture released by Fox Searchlight Pictures and written by Simon Beaufoy, produced by Uberto Pasolini and directed by Peter Cattaneo
Directed by Fred Anzevino
Music Directed by Jeremy Ramey
December 7, 2018 — January 27, 2019
Press Opening Monday, December 10, 2018, 7:30 pm
Ticket prices previews December 7-9: All seats $25.00
Ticket prices regular run: Thursdays and Sundays $39.00, Fridays and Saturdays $44.00
$5.00 discount on regular run prices for seniors and students
Dinner ( optional ) is $25.00. Advance reservations required
Curtain Times: Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm; Sundays at 7:00 pm.
All performances will be held at Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre, 721 Howard Street, Evanston
More information at www.theo-u.com or by phone at 800-595-4849.
Student/Industry Rush All Season Long!
( Starting 15mins before curtain, all unsold seats will be released for $20 for those with a valid student ID or for industry with biz card or headshot. )
Based on the cult hit film of the same name, THE FULL MONTY follows a group of unemployed steelworkers from Buffalo who while spying on their wives at a "Girls' Night Out," see how much their wives enjoy watching male strippers. Jealous, out of work and feeling emasculated, the men come up with a bold and unclothed way to make some quick cash. In preparing, they find themselves extremely exposed; not merely physically but emotionally. As they conquer their fears, self-consciousness and prejudices, the men come to discover that they're stronger as a group, and the strength that they find in each other gives them the individual courage to "let it go."
THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY
Music and Lyrics by Jason Robert Brown, Book by Marsha Norman, based on the novel by Robert James Waller
Directed by Fred Anzevino
Music Directed by Jeremy Ramey
March 8 — April 21, 2019
Press Opening Monday, March 11, 2019 at 7:30 pm
Ticket prices previews December 7-9: All seats $25.00
Ticket prices regular run: Thursdays and Sundays $39.00, Fridays and Saturdays $44.00
$5.00 discount on regular run prices for seniors and students
Dinner ( optional ) is $25.00. Advance reservations required
Curtain Times: Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm; Sundays at 7:00 pm.
All performances will be held at Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre, 721 Howard Street, Evanston
More information at www.theo-u.com or by phone at 800-595-4849.
Student/Industry Rush All Season Long!
( Starting 15mins before curtain, all unsold seats will be released for $20 for those with a valid student ID or for industry with biz card or headshot. )
In this musical adaptation of the novel, Francesca Johnson, a beautiful Italian woman who married an American soldier to flee war-ravaged Italy, looks forward to a rare four days alone on her Iowa farm when her family heads to the 1965 State Fair. When a ruggedly handsome NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC photographer, Robert Kincaid, pulls into her driveway seeking directions, what happens in those four days may very well alter the course of Francesca's life.
HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH
Text by John Cameron Mitchell, Music and Lyrics by Stephen Trask
June 14 — July 28, 2019
Director TBA
Music Direction by Jeremy Ramey
Press Opening Monday, June 17, 2019, 7:30 pm
Ticket prices previews December 7-9: All seats $25.00
Ticket prices regular run: Thursdays and Sundays $39.00, Fridays and Saturdays $44.00
$5.00 discount on regular run prices for seniors and students
Dinner ( optional ) is $25.00. Advance reservations required
Curtain Times: Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm; Sundays at 7:00 pm.
All performances will be held at Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre, 721 Howard Street, Evanston
More information at www.theo-u.com or by phone at 800-595-4849.
Student/Industry Rush All Season Long!
( Starting 15mins before curtain, all unsold seats will be released for $20 for those with a valid student ID or for industry with biz card or headshot. )
"The Angry Inch" is a hard-rocking band fronted by Hedwig Schmidt, a fourth-wall smashing East German rock 'n' roll goddess whose botched sex-change operation left her with just "an angry inch." Using songs and monologues, Hedwig tells her story, which began in the former East Berlin where as a man named Hansel he met Luther, an American GI who promised to take the young man to the States on the condition that he switch his sex. After the bungled operation, Luther abandons newly named Hedwig in a Kansas trailer park, where she turns to music and meets geeky Tommy Speck, whom she takes under her wing and soon falls for. Tommy steals her songs, achieves rock star fame, and Hedwig is once again cast aside. She decides to demand redress and stalks Tommy's world tour, performing in venues next door to the stadiums in which Tommy plays.
ABOUT THEO UBIQUE
Theo Ubique was founded in 1997 by artistic director Fred Anzevino. Productions were first staged at the Heartland Studio Theatre, and from 2004 to May 2018, at No Exit Café, where the company began focusing on musicals and revues, reigniting the cabaret theatre trend in Chicago. The company will move to its own space in Evanston in fall 2018. Theo Ubique has produced more than 50 shows and received more than 40 Jeff Awards, having received more than 100 nominations. It has also received three After Dark Awards.
