'American Girl Live' musical sets up camp for Chicago run
"American Girl Live" writer/lyricist Sandy Rustin understands if local fans of the popular doll line might have expectations about the show. After all, the previous Chicago location of American Girl Place hosted its own long-running musical revues until the store moved to Water Tower Place in 2008.
The "American Girl Live" tour coming to Chicago's Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place on Tuesday, April 30, is new, said Rustin, a Glenview native and Northwestern University alumna.
"It was a different goal in mind when creating this show," said Rustin, a playwright and actress now based in the New York tri-state area. "We were aiming to create more of a Broadway-style two-act musical as opposed to the one-act, sit-down musical that played at the store."
Thus, "American Girl Live" charts new territory.
"We have six original girls who were created for the show, and who are attending 'Camp American Girl,'" Rustin said. "They each bring with them one of six American Girl dolls, and over the course of our musical, the dolls come to life to impart their historical wisdom to the campers."
Rustin said the six dolls were selected from an initial list of 14. They were specially chosen not only for their back stories, but also for their historical era to influence the show's eclectic musical score by composers Emily Chiu and Meg Zervoulis.
"The entire team that created the show, we're all women. Everybody from the creative team to the designers to the cast," Rustin said. "This show is absolutely committed to and steeped in the idea of girl empowerment."
Rustin and her collaborators also wanted to create a story where the kids learn to navigate and maneuver through their world without pressure from adults. The only character that comes close is a camp counselor, who is a teenager herself.
But instead of using kid performers, the tour cast adults (each under 5'2") to be the show's 4th and 5th graders. As an actress herself, Rustin says the adults are very convincing as kids.
She still works as an actress (she starred in "Overbooked" for Nickelodeon). But after becoming a parent, Rustin focused her career more on writing.
Rustin's credits include the 2012 off-Broadway musical "Rated P ... For Parenthood." Her future stage projects include adaptations of the "Bad Moms" film franchise and the 1985 cult hit "Clue."
Rustin won't be able to attend the Chicago run of "American Girl Live" because of "Clue" workshops. But she still has a great love for the Chicago-area theater scene, especially since it inspired her to seek out a career in the arts.
"I studied at Piven Theatre Workshop in Evanston pretty much throughout my entire youth. And I saw everything there was to see at the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire," Rustin said. "Chicago theater is so exciting and I hope to get to work in the Chicago scene for the rest of my career."
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"American Girl Live"
Location: Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place, 175 E. Chestnut St., Chicago, (800) 775-2000 or broadwayinchicago.com
Showtimes: 7 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 1 and 6 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. Wednesday and Sunday; April 30 through May 12
Tickets: $25.50-$75.50; $106.50 meet-and-greet