Local theater companies kick-start their seasons
If you don't like the theater here, wait a few minutes. It'll change.
With all due respect to Mark Twain and his oft-quoted quip about New England weather, the adage also applies to our local scene, where as of press time, more than 90 productions are scheduled to open in the suburbs and Chicago before the end of the year.
Among the most-anticipated productions of the crowded fall season is Tommy Tune's new tuner premiering next month at Goodman Theatre. Local premieres of recent high-profile Broadway and off-Broadway hits are scheduled at Northlight, Remy Bumppo and Steppenwolf theaters as well.
In Arlington Heights, Metropolis Performing Arts Centre opens with its largest-ever musical production, while The Hypocrites take their first stab at the genre with Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's "The Threepenny Opera," a show especially suited to their aesthetic. The powerhouse duo of William Brown and Larry Yando conjure two of the 20th century's iconic political figures in Writers' Theatre's remount of "Nixon's Nixon." And William L. Petersen of TV's "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" returns to his home turf to play an alcoholic undertaker's assistant in Conor McPherson's "Dublin Carol" at Steppenwolf, which makes its first foray into Shakespeare this fall with "The Tempest."
In chronological order, here's a tip-of-the-iceberg look at what's on tap for fall.
On suburban stages
Extended before it opened, "Nixon's Nixon" promises to be one of the hottest suburban tickets this fall. Brown and Yando reprise their roles as Henry Kissinger and Richard Nixon, respectively, in Writers' revival of its Jeff Award-winning 2000 production of Russell Lees' satiric imagining of what happened in the White House the night before Nixon resigned. Now running at 664 Vernon Ave., Glencoe. (847) 242-6000 or writerstheatre.org.
The last few years, the Metropolis has catered to contemporary tastes with pop musicals such as "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change" and "High School Musical." This season, they delve a little deeper into the American canon with "Damn Yankees," the Richard Adler and Jerry Ross musical about a middle-aged Everyfan who sells his soul in return for his hapless Washington Senators winning the World Series. Begins previews Sept. 18 at 111 W. Campbell St., Arlington Heights. (847) 577-2121 or metropolisarts.com.
The recently rechristened First Folio Theatre opens its season on a scary, sexy note with "The Passion of Dracula," which ran for two years off-Broadway in the late 1970s opposite Broadway's "Dracula" starring Frank Langella. The play's co-author Bob Hall joins First Folio on opening night. Begins previews Oct. 1 at the Mayslake Peabody Estate, 1717 W. 31st St., Oakbrook. (630) 986-8067 or firstfolio.org.
Barbara Robertson takes on the titular role of Jerry Herman's endearing grande dame "Mame" in Drury Lane Theatre Oak Brook's production. Executive producer Kyle Desantis upped the stakes at Drury Lane this season with stellar "Sweet Charity" and a swingin' "The Boys From Syracuse." Look for the trend to continue with this tuner. Begins previews Oct. 9 at 11 Drury Lane, Oakbrook Terrace. (630) 530-0111 or drurylaneoakbrook.com.
Northlight Theatre artistic director BJ Jones was profoundly moved by the musical "Grey Gardens," the 2007 Tony Award winner about eccentric and indomitable Edith Bouvier Beale and her daughter Little Edie, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis' aunt and cousin, who over 30 years went from society mavens to recluses. Jones was so taken with the "edgy, risk-taking musical" that he secured for Northlight the rights to the show's Midwest premiere. The musical's second post-Broadway production (the first at San Francisco's TheatreWorks closes next month), Northlight's features a couple of first-rate actresses in Ann Whitney and Hollis Resnick. Previews begin Nov. 12 at North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie Blvd., Skokie. (847) 673-6300 or northlight.org.
Musicals
Director Charles Newell and music director Doug Peck, the duo behind Court Theatre's acclaimed "Carousel," reunite for the long-overdue Chicago premiere of Tony Kushner and Jeanine Tesori's "Caroline, or Change," Kushner's semi-autobiographical tale of the unlikely friendship between a black maid and a young, Jewish boy. The great E. Faye Butler, an actress on a roll, stars. Previews begin Sept. 11 at 5535 S. Ellis Ave., Chicago. (773) 753-4472 or courttheatre.org.
Broadway in Chicago presents the latest national tour of "MAMMA MIA!" starring Chicago veterans Susie McMonagle and Michael Aaron Lindner, who have the chops and charisma to overcome this jukebox tuner's contrivances. Opens Sept. 17 at the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University, 50 E. Congress Parkway, Chicago. (312) 902-1400 or broadwayinchicago.com.
Directed by nine-time Tony Award winner Tune, with a book by "Jersey Boys" duo Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, a score comprised of American standards and a cast that includes Jeff Daniels and Rachel York, Goodman's "Turn of the Century," about a lounge singer and her pianist transported back in time to the turn of the 20th century, makes the short list of one of the must-see shows for fall. Begins previews Sept. 19 at 170 N. Dearborn St., Chicago. (312) 443-3800 or goodmantheatre.org.
Cadillac Palace Theatre hosts the U.S. premiere of "Dirty Dancing - The Classic Story on Stage," adapted by the film's screenwriter Eleanor Bergstein. The show, which earned raves in London, begins its pre-Broadway tryout here, then moves to Boston and Los Angeles. Previews begin Sept. 28 at 151 W. Randolph St., Chicago. (312) 902-1400 or broadwayinchicago.com.
On the heels of its Seattle premiere, "Million Dollar Quartet," the new jukebox musical inspired by a storied 1956 jam session featuring Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley, comes to Chicago for a limited engagement at the Goodman. Eric Schaeffer, of Virginia's famed Signature Theatre, directs the production; Chicago's Brian McCaskill co-stars as Sam Phillips. Previews begin Sept. 26 at 170 N. Dearborn St., Chicago. (312) 443-2800 or goodmantheatre.org.
Plays
A change in leadership proved a shot in the arm for Chicago's American Theatre Company, which has been on a roll under new artistic director PJ Paparelli. The company opens its season with "The People's Temple," a piece of docu-theater in the tradition of "The Laramie Project" that examines the 1978 mass suicides by members of Jim Jones' religious cult in Jonestown, Guyana. Co-creator Leigh Fondakowski, "The Laramie Project" lead writer, directs. Previews begin Sept. 4 at 1909 W. Byron St., Chicago. (773) 409-4125 or atcweb.org.
Redmoon Theatre, which delivers some of the most arresting theater around, opens its season with "Dr. Egg and the Man With No Ear," a fable about genetic manipulation in which a scientist agrees to help a man regrow the ear he lost in a freak accident in exchange for a piece of the man's daughter. This Australian show incorporates puppetry and projected animation, two of Redmoon's specialties. Previews begin Sept. 4 at 1463 W. Hubbard St., Chicago. (312) 850-8440 or redmoon.org.
That Chicago's mid-size Remy Bumppo obtained the rights to "The Voysey Inheritance" testifies to artistic director James Bohnen's tenacity. Ask for something enough times and you finally get it, said Bohnen, who knew the 1905 play by Harley Granville-Barker, a contemporary of George Bernard Shaw, from an earlier adaptation. But he found David Mamet's savvy, streamlined, 2006 adaptation better suited to his ensemble. David Darlow, one of Chicago's finest, stars as the patriarch of a corrupt upper-crust British family whose wealth comes at the expense of the clients they've deceived. Previews begin Sept. 18 at Victory Gardens Greenhouse Theater, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. (773) 404-7336 or remybumppo.org.
Steppenwolf delivers a double shot of Irish playwright McPherson beginning with the melancholy "Dublin Carol." Ensemble member Amy Morton directs Petersen, who reprises his role from Trinity Rep's 2006 production, also directed by Morton. Begins previews Nov. 6 at 1650 N. Halsted St., Chicago. (312) 335-1650 or steppenwolf.org.
Set in a ramshackle Dublin house, "The Seafarer" centers around a boozy Christmas Eve poker game where the stakes are higher than any of the players realize. Ensemble members Francis Guinan, Tom Irwin, John Mahoney and Alan Wilder star in Steppenwolf's production, the first since the play closed on Broadway earlier this year. Begins previews Dec. 4 at 1650 N. Halsted St., Chicago. (312) 335-1650 or steppenwolf.org.
<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=230088">Must-see productions this fall <span class="date">[08/27/08]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>