Blues Brothers tribute heads to sweet home Chicago
An iconic Chicago theater next month welcomes an iconic Chicago show when “The All New Original Tribute to the Blues Brothers” makes its U.S. debut at the Auditorium Theatre.
And the show, featuring cast members from the original London run, isn't without suburban ties either. Original Blues Brother John Belushi was a native of Wheaton, while the Auditorium's executive director, Brett Batterson, calls Aurora home.
“There have been hundreds of Blues Brothers tribute shows, some of them pretty good, and some of them pretty bad.” Batterson says. “But ‘The All New Original Tribute to the Blues Brothers' has been playing in the U.K. and Europe for 20 years. It has a full band and back up singers and it has a full stage production.”
The Auditorium's stage embraces a range of productions. That's why it can be both the home base of the world-class Joffrey Ballet and play host to the Blues Brothers revival.
Batterson's career has been equally wide-ranging.
“I grew up in the Quad cities,” he says. “My parents were puppeteers. I took acting lessons from the time I was 5.”
He continued to study acting at Augsburg College in Minneapolis, until a professor convinced Batterson to switch his concentration to set design. After getting a master's degree in set design from Tulane University, he worked in the field — first with a large community theater in Midland, Texas, and later at the Chattanooga Theatre before doing cable TV sets for the Nashville Network.
That was a fine life for a while, but Batterson wanted to make a change. He was given the opportunity in Detroit to transform an old movie palace into a state-of-the-art live performance theater, the Detroit Opera House.
“When the opera house opened,” Batterson explains, “they asked me to run the opera company.”
Batterson was working as the chief operating officer of the Michigan Opera Theatre when a search firm identified him as a great candidate for the position of executive director at the Auditorium. He stepped into the role in June 2004, ending one leg of a career journey that began when he changed majors from acting to set design.
Batterson's experiences, however, have served him well. Batterson is comfortable with, and has worked in, many types of performance, from opera to dance to country western concerts.
“I appreciate the architecture,” Batterson says of the Auditorium, designed by famed Chicago architect Louis Sullivan. “But my first mission is to make sure the Auditorium is welcoming to everyone. I want to make sure we have high quality programming that reaches all the many communities in Chicago.
“We try to do world-class dance programming.” Batterson continues. “We try to do music that is high quality, but unique. I want to make sure everyone feels welcome, and want to make sure everyone can see themselves on the stage.”
Thus the Blues Brothers, originally created by the late John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd.
Their portrayal of Jake and Elwood Blues both on “Saturday Night Live” and in the 1980 movie had roots in the comedians' time at Second City and their love of Chicago-style blues.
“The Blues Brothers are iconic for Chicago,” Batterson says.
“The All New Original Tribute to the Blues Brothers”
<b>Location: </b>Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University, 50 E. Congress Parkway, Chicago
<b>Showtimes: </b>7:30 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday July 6-24
<b>Tickets: </b>$25-$55; available at the Auditorium box office, by phone at (800) 982-2787 or online at ticketmaster.com