Category: Broadway-bound
Review: Women Are Crazy Because Men Are A**holes (Cyur Studios)
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Women are Crazy Because Men Are A**holes Written by Brad Gottfred Check for half-price tickets |
News: David Henry Hwang’s Chinglish Headed to Broadway!
June 28, 2011 — NEW YORK (AP) — David Henry Hwang‘s new play “Chinglish” about a clash of cultures is coming to the Crossroads of the World.
The play about an American businessman’s difficulties trying to expand into China will make its Broadway premiere this fall at a theater to be announced later.
“Chinglish” is currently running at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre.
Leigh Silverman, who directed Lisa Kron’s “Well” on Broadway, will return to direct the Broadway production.
Hwang’s plays include “M. Butterfly,” which won the 1988 Tony Award, “Golden Child,” ”Yellow Face” and “FOB.”
He also wrote the books for the Disney musicals “Aida” and “Tarzan,” the script for the film “Possession,” and reworked Rogers and Hammerstein’s “Flower Drum Song.”
Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Review: White Noise (Royal George and Whoopi Goldberg)
Though it doesn’t quite rock the hard place, it still rocks
| Whoopi Goldberg presents |
| White Noise: a cautionary musical |
| Book by Matte O’Brien Music/Lyrics by Robert Morris, Steven Morris, Joe Shane Directed and choreographed by Sergio Trujillo at Royal George Theatre, 1641 N. Halsted (map) through June 5 | tickets: $50-$65 | more info |
Reviewed by Barry Eitel
Neo-Nazism, maybe now more than ever, is definitely a lonely philosophy, with both sides of the political spectrum trigger-happy to brand their opponents as followers of the Fuhrer. Unlike the more fashionable discrimination against Latinos, Muslims, and gays, wholesale white supremacy is not in vogue these days. White Noise, the new “cautionary musical” produced by Whoopi Goldberg, asks what would happen if subtle and coded racist rhetoric went viral? It’s already sort of happening over on 4Chan; in this way, Matte O’Brien’s book is screamingly relevant. He’s assisted by well-wrought, if often disturbing, songs and Sergio Trujillo’s snappy staging. However, by using tired Nazi philosophy 
as its punching bag, White Noise fails to present a nuanced reflection on racism in today’s America—something we desperately need.
The events of the play were inspired by a little duo of white nationalists who formed a band called Prussian Blue. The two tween girls sang about race wars and crushes on skinheads, nearly immediately gaining the ire, and spotlight, of the national media. However, the pinnacle of Prussian Blue’s career was playing a state fair or two. The titular band in White Noise is sexier, more talented, and more marketable—singing their ciphered bigotry, they become YouTube darlings and put out a number one single.
One wonders how their repulsive beliefs are kept hidden from the media – something the show never explains. In fact, you aren’t really told much about how those beliefs came to be; there is never the searing indictment of inherited racism you find in American History X.
What we’re left with is the terrifically short rise and fall of White Noise, which is comprised of sisters Eva and Eden (Mackenzie Mauzy and Emily Padgett), skinhead/bassist/Eva’s boyfriend Duke (Patrick Murney), and Jake (Eric William Morris), who’s slapped onto the band by record exec Max (Douglas Sills as a lukewarm Bobby Gould-lite) with the mission of repackaging the group. The show becomes a battle between the greed of the amoral Max and Duke’s desire to vocalize his disgusting views on a national platform. Eva and Eden are caught in the crossfire. Eden just writes the tunes; she’s never really that concerned with the message. Eva fully believes the stuff, but she’s also a capitalist.
This story is juxtaposed with Max and Jake’s attempts to repackage backpack rappers Dion (Wallace Smith) and Tyler (Rodney Hicks) as gangstas. It doesn’t help that the two’s original ideas are pretty lame (like a rap version of the Declaration of Independence – not kidding), lacking the intelligence of Lupe Fiasco or De La Soul. Against their will, Max turns them into Blood Brothers and Jake writes them a little tune called “N.G.S.,” a smash hit about N’s (think N.W.A.) shooting “white boys.” Obviously, Jake and Max are guilty of racist double-dipping, but Max could care less and Jake is concerned with making his career. The whole musical leads up to a giant concert featuring a double bill of White Noise and Blood Brothers. Needless to say, it doesn’t go down as smooth as “Ebony and Ivory.”
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Mauzy and Padgett give great performances and nail the musical numbers. Their tunes, penned by Robert Morris, Steven Morris, and Joe Shane, are legitimately catchy. Murney is chilling and Morris, who becomes the romantic lead in this tale, is decent. Max is a wannabe Mamet character who just isn’t quite ballsy enough, but Sills does the best he can.
I have to give props to this show – which has Broadway-level production design – for not shying away from the vile language. The show may be as blunt as Nazi propaganda. It presents racism in a polarized manner that doesn’t speak to the insidious, quieter racism that we see today. But White Noise still asks some relevant questions. The Hitler salute-inspired choreography in the video of White Noise’s hit single, “Mondays Suck,” inspire rounds of fan vids on YouTube, a la “Single Ladies.” At the end of the night, I was wondering how stupid all those kids must feel after they realize they posted videos of themselves goose-stepping.
| Rating: ★★★ |
White Noise: a cautionary musical continues at the Royal George Theatre through June 5th, with performances Tuesday-Thursday at 7:30pm, Fridays 8pm, Saturdays 5pm and 8pm, and Sundays at 2pm and 5pm. Tickets are $49.50-$64.50, and can be purchased online or via the box office (312-988-9000). For more info, download the
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All photos by Carol Rosegg
REVIEW: Million Dollar Quartet – yeah, it still rocks!
Yeah, it still rocks
| Apollo Theater Chicago presents |
| Million Dollar Quartet |
| Book by Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux Musical Arrangements by Chuck Mead Directed by Floyd Mutrux & Eric Schaeffer at Apollo Theater, 2540 N. Lincoln (map) through September 5th | tickets: $59-$80 | more info |
reviewed by Oliver Sava
I know two people that have seen Million Dollar Quartet over 30 times. A retired married couple, they are the target audience of the musical: seniors with a nostalgic appreciation for the pioneers of rock n’ roll. I have a nostalgic appreciation for No Doubt. My knowledge of Johnny Cash’s music is the “Walk the Line” soundtrack, my Elvis I.Q. is limited to my mother’s cassettes on road trips, and I recognize the songs 
of Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis, but know next to nothing about the men themselves. That being said, Million Dollar Quartet is currently playing on Broadway with a national tour in the works and Tony nominations in its pocket, so it’s got to be good, right?
It is.
I expected dynamic musical numbers from skilled performers, but Million Dollar Quartet is more than just a glorified cover band. Escott and Mutrux’s book is edutainment at its finest, a spirited history lesson on the early days of rock n’ roll centered on legendary music producer Sam Phillips (Tim Decker), the man responsible for the superstar jam session. Decker understands the emotional journey of his character, from Phillips’ pride in the humble Sun Records, his anger at losing his major talent, and his hope in the future of rock n’ roll. Phillips’ devotion to the music is clear in Decker’s confidence on stage, portraying a man whose home is the studio.
Flashbacks to Phillips’ first encounters with Perkins (Gabe Bowling), Cash (Sean Sullivan), and Presley (David Lago) establish the relationship between the musicians and their producer, and reveal how paramount Phillips was to the evolution of these men as artists. These three men are the already established Sun Records family, three brothers that don’t always get along but respect each other, with Lewis (Lance Lipinsky) as the cocky new kid with the potential to be a star. When the four of them play together, the results are electric, and Phillips is that tie that binds them.
The thrill of Million Dollar Quartet is seeing four legends playing together for the first and only time. The actors have to sell the illusion for maximum impact, and the new cast does so admirably. Lipinsky has big shoes to fill – Levi Kreis is nominated for a Tony and has won the Outer Critics Circle for Best Featured Actor – but he backs up Lewis’s ego with boundless energy and fevered fingers that showcase his technical mastery. Lipinsky’s mischievous smile and carefree demeanor contrast with his more professional comrades, providing comic relief and adding tension to the script, particularly in his interactions with Bowling’s hotheaded Perkins. With his hit song “Blue Suede Shoes” usurped by Presley and his record sales dwindling, Perkins stands to lose the most, and Bowling finds the desperation that lies beneath the temper.
Sullivan has Cash’s bass vocals down pat, and his gentle conduct serves to make the character’s conflict – telling Phillips he will not be renewing his Sun contract – all the more believable. As the most imitated of the group, Lago does all the hip shaking and lip curling you expect, but is careful not to become a caricature. At this point in his career Elvis is still a young upstart, and Lago plays him with an understated sexuality that suggests a man not yet in control of the power he has over people, especially women. Kelly Lamont brings some estrogen to the studio as Dyanne, Presley’s sassy girlfriend with a powerhouse belt, and her rendition of “Fever” smolders, starting softly and building in intensity until the last note. Watching the quartet take turns flirting with her is consistently amusing, and the a cappella fan in me swooned as she vocalized the fiddle part in “Riders in the Sky.”
When the quartet plays, they forget about contracts and television appearances and just live in the music. That release is rock n’ roll, and Million Dollar Quartet is a fitting tribute to its early years that shouldn’t be missed.
| Rating: ★★★½ |
"Little Miss Sunshine" to be made into musical, Finn as composer
Yet another movie-turned-musical (e.g., The Producers, Shrek, The Wedding Singer, Billy Elliot, Hairspray, Legally Blonde, 9 to 5, etc.) to be added to the list: Little Miss Sunshine.
This in-the-works musical will make it’s debut next winter at the La Jolla Playhouse. The 2006 Oscar-nominated, Sundance hit about a lovably dysfunctional family has signed up composer/lyricist William Finn (25th Annual Spelling Bee, Falsettos, New Brain) and book-writer James Lapine (Into the Woods, Sunday in the Park with George, Passion).
With such proven talent, this has the making of a hugely-popular hit. True, the movie’s dark humor can be quite outrageous, but Finn thrives on such edginess. And Lapine and Finn have shown that they can play-well-with-each-other through their award-winning collaboration – The 25th-Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.
Truth be told, with Chicago’s known affinity for new plays, we seem like a much better fit for just such a debut. But being that Lapine has worked with La Jolla on previous premiers, it makes sense that they landed the gig.
Addams Family set to go through Revisions
“Revisions” for ‘Addams Family’ before Broadway run
The producers of Addams Family, set for a spring Broadway opening, have hired the Tony Award-winning director Jerry Zaks as a consultant for the $16.5 million production, attempting to revive the musical from its less-than-glowing reviews.
perhaps we were taking a little too much for granted assuming that the audience walks in with the relationship with the Addams family fully intact, and we didn’t appropriately reconnect the audience to the family members,” said producer Stuart Oken.
No one on the creative team has left the show or been fired, Mr. Oken said, with Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch still listed as the directors and production designers, and Mr. Zaks billed as creative consultant.
Mr. Zaks is close to Mr. Lane, having directed him in the long-running Broadway musical revivals of Guys and Dolls in 1992 and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum in 1996, for which Mr. Lane won the Tony Award for best actor in a musical.
The musical’s lead producers, Stuart Oken and Roy Furman have admitted that the plot needed to focus more tightly on the Addams family members and that all roles, starting with Gomez (Nathan Lane) and Morticia (Bebe Neuwirth), needed their eccentric and subversive personalities clearly established in dialogue and song before the main action of the plot begins.
The Addams Family: Lawry’s Spooky-themed dinner special
The perfect Chicago-themed holiday stocking stuffer?
Acclaimed Chicago restaurant Lawry’s Prime Rib, located in the historic McCormick Mansion, has created, just for Addams Family the Musical, a Creepy and Kooky, Mysterious and Spooky themed dinner.
What does this Addams Family Dinner/Theatre package include?
- Starters: Eye of Newt Shooter, Green Pimento Olive Suspended in Citrus Jello, Served with a small wedge of Munsters’ Cheese; The Aristotle Salad, Hearts of Romaine Salad, Cucumbers, Green Onions, Lemon Vinaigrette topped with Grilled Octopus; Mon Cherie, Cara Mia Intermezzo, Cherry Sorbetto.
- The entrée includes Lawry’s Prime Ribs of Beef (8 oz. cut), Au Jus, Yorkshire Pudding, Creamed Spinach a la “Cleopatra,” Mashed Potatoes. Optional entrees include Fresh Grilled Salmon, Vegetarian Pasta.
- Finish with Thing’s Dessert, Lady Finger Trifle.
A perfect holiday stocking stuffer, the dinner-theatre package includes a “snappy” 2 p.m. matinee performance at the theatre, followed by a 5 p.m. dinner at Lawry’s and is priced at $165 for adults, $140 for children ages 11 and under (plus tax and gratuity).
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For more information, and to order the Addams Family Dinner-Theatre Package, call Lawry’s at (312) 787-5000 ext. 25.
REVIEW: Cirque du Soleil’s “Banana Shpeel”
Yes! We have no bananas
Cirque du Soleil presents:
Banana Shpeel
written and directed by David Shiner
at the Chicago Theatre
Through Jan. 3 (ticket info)
reviewed by Leah A. Zeldes
When I mentioned to another critic that I planned to rank Banana Shpeel by scoring each of the acts separately and averaging the results, she asked, "Can you use negative stars?"
Yes, parts of Cirque du Soleil‘s new stage show are that bad.
Although a few elements of this remarkably uneven spectacle are terrific, it all adds up to a disappointing and chaotic whole. If you’re too impatient to sift through the details, the short version is that Cirque du Soleil’s effort to re-imagine the vaudeville variety show succeeds in the circus acts for which the company has become famous and fails in nearly all of its efforts to be vaudevillian and, notably, the comedy.
The humor of vaudeville was broad and slapstick – think the Marx Brothers, Laurel and Hardy and The Three Stooges – often bawdy and coarse. While some of that era’s gags remain timeless, others have become unfunny through overexposure or because modern audiences have finer sensibilities than those of the minstrel era.
Banana Shpeel groans under the weight of hoary old bits that went dull before Groucho Marx was born and ragging jokes that most of us no longer laugh at. Cirque steers away from vaudeville’s most commonplace slurs and stereotypes, but still, within the first 15 minutes, Banana Shpeel pokes fun at old people and deaf people, uses a filthy Yiddish word in reference to an apparently Jewish character and tops it off with a pair of African-American tap dancers.
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The lineup:
Auditions. The show begins with an utterly lame, overlong act that introduces cigar-chomping impresario Marty Schmelky of "Schmelky’s Schmelktacular" (Jerry Kernion); his two would-be comic sidekicks, Daniel (Daniel Passer) and Wayne (Wayne Wilson); and three other clownish characters who are supposedly auditioning: Claudio Carneiro, a lame Brazilian impersonator of "ordinary people with knee problems"; Patrick de Valette, an exhibitionist modern dancer; and Gordon White, "The Oldest Mime in the World." Despite discouragement by Schmelky and company, this trio shows up again and again in different guises, the running gag of the show. This bunch of second bananas apparently inspired the name. No actual bananas were harmed in the making of the show. zero stars
Welcome to Schmelky Spectacular. Next, we get a not especially spectacular opening dance number, featuring lots of flappers and feathers and highlighting siblings Joseph and Josette Wiggan, two talented tappers who deserve better than to be exhibited like a revival of the vaudevillian "two-colored" rule. ★★
Juggler. In this more traditional Cirque act, Tuan Le adeptly juggles hats – getting up to six – using his hands, feet and head. ★★★
Eccentric dance. An ensemble dance number more remarkable for its fluorescent costumes and effective use of blacklight than for its choreography. ★★½
Duo hand to hand. Strongman Jeff Retzlanff and lithe Kelsey Wiens perform a pas de deux of acrobatic maneuvers that climax with her standing on his head on one foot. ★★★½
Clown restaurant. A long, painful episode involving all five clowns, an apparently well-coached audience member and some trite routines so antique they’ve fossilized. ★
Act II Clowns. More of the same. zero stars
Foot juggler. A hypnotic act in which dexterous, scantily clad Vanessa Alvarez spins mats with her feet while, among other things, standing on her head. In the background, three other young ladies pose with giant fans. ★★★
Magic dance. There’s nothing especially magical about this dance number. ★★
Magic. A stylized, slapstick magic act, set to music, disjointed and dumb. ★
Hand balancing. An awesome performance by Russian strongman and contortionist Dima Shine, a beautiful young man doing beautiful, sinuous, graceful, almost impossible things with his body on a lighted pole. ★★★★
Tap dance. If you thrill to the tap spectacles in old movies, this one will wow you. It starts off a bit slowly, but perks up fast. The Wiggans do some fine work here, as do the whole ensemble. This may be the one act that really justifies the "new twist on vaudeville" label, and would have made a much better opening act than those excruciating clowns. ★★★½
Charivari and finale. The lady from the audience is pulled back on stage for a tender scene with Daniel, while White clowns at one side. Surprise – there are actually a few laughs here! Then another chaotic crowd sequence brings the two-hour show to a merciful end. ★★½
Set and lighting. Set Designer Patricia Ruel and Lighting Designer Bruno Rafie did a noticeably impressive job. The shifting, colorful backdrop made from a huge, lightbox screen and a glossy, lighted, moving floor add real impact, especially to the dance numbers. ★★★★
Costumes. Costume Designer Dominique Lemieux evokes flamboyant vaudeville style with glittering, shimmering, iridescent and phosphorescent fabrics. ★★★
Music. Composer and Musical Director Scott Price has put together a good live band, but nothing in his score will leave you humming. ★★½
So, let’s do the math: 37½ points, divided by 16 items, equals 2.34. Do we average up to 2.5 stars or down to 2?
Given the incredible pre-show hype, which included spammers posting to local blogs, and the price of decent seats, I’m inclined to average down. Cirque fans who need a fix are advised to skip this and wait till March, when the perennially touring Alegria will play in Hoffman Estates.
Rating: ★★
“Addams Family – the Musical” opens this weekend!!
UPDATE: Read our review – 3 stars!! click here
After months of anticipation, The Addams Family (with music/lyrics by Andrew Lippa), finally begins previews this weekend, starting November 13, 2009 at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts, Oriental Theatre. Starring two-time Tony Award winners Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth as Gomez and Morticia, The Addams Family will make its world premiere on Wednesday, December 9. Official website.
Some of the Addams Family famous cast:
| Nathan Lane as “Gomez” | Bebe Neuwirth as “Mortisha” |
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| Adam Riegler as “Pugsley” | Terrence Mann as “Mal Beineke” |
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| Krysta Rodriguez as “Wednesday” | Kevin Chamberlain as “Uncle Fester” |
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| Wesley Taylor as Lucas Beineke | Zachary James as “Lurch” |
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3-Day New York theatre trip offered by Heron PR
Noreen Heron & Associates has announced that they are offering their first ever Broadway tour of New York Oct 15 – 18 (3 nights.) From the scheduled shows, it looks like a great time will be had by all:
1. First off, they were able to score 40 tickets to THE hottest show on Broadway, A STEADY RAIN starring Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig, and one of the producers, Ray Gaspard, is kind enough to share his time for a talk back session.
2. You’ll then see the wildly popular musical BILLY ELLIOT, with a score by Elton John sweeping last year’s Tony Awards.
The package will also include dinner at Tavern on the Green, transportation between the airport, hotel, and restaurant, admission to a choice of six tourist attractions including the Empire State Building Observatory, Museum of the City of New York, the New York Water Taxi Statue of Liberty Express Cruise, Metropolitan Museum of Art, the American Museum of Natural History or the top of the Rock Observation Deck. Shopping discounts and vouchers for coupon books are also included.
Rates for the Heron PR Broadway Tour are as follows: $1,999.00 for single occupancy, $1,799.00 for double occupancy, $1,599.00 for triple occupancy and $1,399.00 for quadruple occupancy. Mention the code APPLE and save $100 when booking by August 30. For more information on this exclusive tour or to book your trip today, please contact Noreen Heron & Associates, Inc. at 773.969.5200.
Think Fast: “High Fidelity”, Jude Law in “Hamlet”, oyster-eating at the theatre, “Spiderman” schadenfreude, etc.
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