'City of Angels' receives rare revival at Marriott

For musical theater afficionados, the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire's revival of “City of Angels” is a big deal. That's because this jazzy 1989 musical comedy about the making of a 1940s Hollywood detective film gets so rarely produced.

“It's incredibly challenging just to put it together. It's a daunting show,” said director Nick Bowling, musing on why “City of Angels” has largely fallen off the radar in terms of regional and community theater productions. “You have to create two full plays, really, and then interweave them together — that is a lot of the reason why people read the script and say, ‘I don't think we can make that work.'”

Bowling said the brilliant comedy writer Larry Gelbart (“Tootsie,” “M*A*S*H”) essentially wrote a stage screenplay with 25 different locations in 40 scenes. Gelbart further complicated things by calling for two worlds to be depicted on stage. First there's the “real” Hollywood studio system where a New York author named Stine (Rob Thomas) increasingly loses his integrity in adapting his detective novel for the big screen. Then there's the fictional black-and-white film noir world that is centered around Stine's hardened Los Angeles gumshoe known as Stone (Kevin Earley).

Costuming the cast also can be a logistical headache, one that has fallen in this case to longtime Marriott designer Nancy Missimi. The ensemble requires multiple outfits as they double up as colorful studio types in Hollywood and mysterious and suspicious characters all in silver screen shadings.

Another major challenge of “City of Angels” is its score, which features the atmospheric big band-sound by composer Cy Coleman (“Sweet Charity,” “On the 20th Century”) and the clever innuendo-filled lyrics of David Zippel.

“It's incredibly musically sophisticated,” said choreographer Tommy Rapley. “The vocal part-singing in it is just insane.”

“But for listeners, it doesn't sound difficult,” Bowling added. “It's this really great, kind of ‘feel-good' 1940s jazz, most of it is up-tempo and fun even though it's challenging to sing.”

When “City of Angels” originally burst onto Broadway, the critics sang its praises and the show went on to win six Tony Awards, including Best Musical. Trying to live up to memories of that original production is what is driving Bowling, Rapley and the rest of the Marriott Theatre cast and crew to deliver. And that includes the challenge of re-imagining “City of Angels” in the round, when it's difficult enough to produce in a traditional proscenium-style theater.

“Something that I think is so smart about Nick's direction about the scene work is to really make it small and intimate and feel like the camera is up close instead of going to big musical theater-land all the time,” Rapley said. “We have this sense of the audience leaning forward and really being engaged like the camera for these really filmic scenes.”

For actor and Mundelein native Kevin Earley, starring as either Stone or Stine in “City of Angels” was a major goal ever since he appeared in California productions of the show as big-band singer Jimmy Powers. He even got to work with both Coleman and Gelbart before they died respectively in 2004 and 2009.

But as one of three sons of former Marriott artistic director Dyanne Earley, who passed away last year, Kevin Earley finds his “City of Angels” appearance bittersweet.

“It is really nice to be ‘home' in a sense,” Earley said. “To do such a great production of ‘City of Angels' is something that I've really wanted to do in a really long time and to be able to do it here at the theater where my mom really kind of ‘built these four walls' is really a blessing. I'm always honored to come back and do shows here.”

“City of Angels”

<b>Location:</b> Marriott Theatre, 100 Marriott Drive, Lincolnshire, (847) 634-0200 or <a href="http://marriotttheatre.com">marriotttheatre.com</a>

<b>Showtimes:</b> 1 and 8 p.m. Wednesday, 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 4:30 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 1 and 5 p.m. Sunday; June 10 through Aug. 2

<b>Tickets:</b> $50-$55; dinner and theater packages also available Wednesday and Thursday evenings