Broadway In Chicago, in partnership with the City of Chicago, will present the annual BROADWAY IN CHICAGO CONCERT AT TASTE OF CHICAGO, hosted by ABC/7 Janet Davis on Monday, June 28 at 6:00 pm @ the Petrillo Music Shell in Grant Park (235 S. Columbus Drive).  The concert will features some of Broadway’s hottest shows during the festival and continues the celebration of Broadway In Chicago ’s 10 Year Anniversary.

This year’s concert includes an extraordinary lineup of special performances, from Billy Elliot, Shrek, Rock of Ages, The Lion King, Traces, Wicked, Hair and Million Dollar Quartet.  Audiences will also catch an exclusive first look at the newly imagined Stephen Schwartz musical Working, premiering next year at the new Broadway Playhouse, and Not Wanted On, the American Music Theatre Project’s newest undertaking, performing this summer at Northwestern University. Nowhere else in the world is this kind of entertainment available for free to an audience of over 10,000.

A special appearance by the 2010 NHL Champion Chicago Blackhawks, winners of the Stanley Cup will be the core of the concert as Chicago continues to celebrate the win.

For more information about the concert visit www.BroadwayInChicago.com.

by Rhonda Walker

Alice’s fall down the rabbit hole has never been quite as enticing!  This adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass will equally delight fans of the books and those unfamiliar.   After her tumble, the production finds Alice stepping from chess square to chess square, encountering beloved characters from the books at each move in her quest to grow up and become a queen.

The production is a return to the company’s circus inspired theatre and finds Alice’s story taking a gymnastic turn as she flies through the air, falls from the sky and seemingly defies gravity, all the while delighting the audience with moments of absolute hilarity and stunning beauty as she encounters the likes of the Red Queen, Humpty Dumpty and the Mad Hatter.  Molly Brennan is fabulous as the Red Queen.  This character defines the word mercurial and Ms. Brennan is able to convey it all with the slightest expression.

The staging is compelling and the music simply lovely.  While the environment itself is spare, this allows for emphasis on creative and clever ways to bring the fairy tale to life including a magical interlude wherein the Red Queen is blown out to sea on a red umbrella.

The material is that rare commodity that appeals to all ages on different levels.  In its fourth year, this production is no less magical then any of its prior stagings.  With each year, the company finds new depth and interest in the material rendering a production sure to appeal to all kids, whether 8 or 80.  The theatre’s home is in the Water Tower.  Water Works at 821 N. Michigan Avenue, making this perfect for a lovely evening in a historic building and perhaps a quick trip to Ghiradelli or Bistro 110, both of which are just across the street.

Through August 1, 2010. For more information visit www.lookingglasstheatre.org.

by Rhonda Walker

Mississippi Charles Bevel, Felicia Fields, Gregory Porter and Sandra Reaves-Phillips shine in Northlight’s production of Low Down Dirty Blues. Set in a blues nightclub, the artists weave commentary with blues numbers in superb fashion. With an emphasis on the dirty, the chosen songs are bawdy, delivered with just the right note of double entendre that keeps the audience deliciously amused.

The performance is heavy on music. While light on commentary, any that is made is on-point. When Charles Bevel’s character comments on the tourist call for the same songs over and over, which he has come to think of as the seven minutes of hell, blues lovers can all relate.  Those numbers are thankfully absent

While some great blues standards such as Booker Jones’ Born under a Bad Sign and the perennial blues classic popularized by Muddy Waters, Got my Mojo Working, are weaved into the performance, the repertoire is heavy on songs not performed as often as they should be.  Felicia Fields delivers a sublime performance of Good Morning Heartache. Billie Holiday is a hard act to follow, but Ms. Fields makes this song her own, delivering a lovely and touching performance of it.  Charles Bevel’s performance of Grapes of Wrath is simply mesmerizing. Ending the night with gospel standards, including Lord I Tried, is just the right note, with the performers’ rich voices joined in an unforgettable chorus.

Looking at the biographies of the actors, it becomes understandable why the performance feels so authentic.  These are four music and stage industry veterans with stellar credentials and experience with the repertoire. The history of the blues is so intertwined with Chicago that anyone living here should know some of its history. This performance is a slice that alludes to the early history of the blues, one that is largely gone with the death of many of the early performers.

Music fans will delight. Through July 3, 2010 at Northlight Theatre in Skokie, Illinois.  Go to www.northshorecenter.org for ticket information.

by David Cohen

From the creators of the original Broadway hit sensation Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy comes a new journey of nighttime dreamers whose imaginations are ignited within a landscape of towering buildings and infinite possibilities.

Created and directed by Neil Goldberg, Cirque Dreams ILLUMINATION is simply dazzling and electrifying! I warn you guys, you will be drooling over and over again looking at these incredible bodies doing the impossible.

Under the law of physics, these body movements are simply impossible and way too risky. This is for sure a good reason for anybody to stand up and cheer for all the talent on stage.

This international cast of world-class acrobats, athletes, musicians and dancers are bringing to the stage an original music score with great tempo, many inventive costumes and breathe taking magical acrobatic moves that transform the landscape of a city into thrills and disbelief.

Illumination is an excellent choice for any age. It is a journey to the impossible and you will witness what the human body can do with balance, energy and how it can redefine the risks of flight in an array of astounding occurrences that transform the ordinary into extraordinary. This show is simply outstanding. Bravo!!!

June 2-6, 2010 at the Bank of America Theatre, 18 w. Monroe. Tickets from $25-$75, For more information visit www.BroadwayInChicago.com

by Rhonda Walker

Court Theatre concludes a Chicago celebration of Athol Fugard and its own season with Sizwe Banzi is Dead.  Set in South Africa, the play originally premiered in 1972, but remains politically relevant today in exploring universal themes of self-respect, identity and freedom.  The story initially takes place in the photographic studio of Styles, a self-made man whose running commentary on newspaper headlines, his patrons and their lives, in the context of apartheid South Africa,  is warm, funny and at times, painfully observant.  The last client who presents himself at the shop, Robert Zwelinzima, seems almost uncomfortable in his own skin.  As the play progresses, and the scene shifts to the tale of Sizwi Banzi, we learn that he and Zwelinzima are one in the same and learn of the torturous impositions that have led to this forced transformation.

As it becomes apparent that the only way Banzi can keep he and his family alive is to, in effect, die and assume another’s identity, the intimate details of apartheid become very real. This is a world in which you are required to have a native identity book assigned to you and the stamps in that book inform where you can live and work. The fact of starvation in the absence of jobs in your assigned area is of no consequence.

Fugard collaborated on the play with  actors John Kani and Winston Ntshona who had  become domestic servants for him after quitting their jobs to become full-time actors.  Otherwise,  because the South African government did not recognize acting as a legal profession for blacks, they would have been relocated.   In a true case of art imitating life, the play rings a visceral chord.   Despite the elegant, humorous writing, there is no denying the palpable desperation prompting Sizwe’s decisions and the uncertainty of his future.

Through June 13, 2010 at Court Theatre, 5535 W. Ellis Avenue, Chicago.  Go to www.CourtTheatre.org for details.

by Rhonda Walker

Profiles concludes its 21^st season with the Midwest premiere of Body Awareness by Annie Baker.  Set in a Vermont town on a small liberal arts college campus, it is Body Awareness Week and the college has scheduled various events on the topic.  Coordinating these efforts is Phyllis, a psychology professor who with her partner, Joyce, host a guest artist in their home.  Their guest, Frank, is a photographer who specializes in portraits of nude women of all ages and body type.  Rounding out the cast is Jared, Joyce’ son who obsesses over the Oxford English Dictionary, works at McDonalds, has no friends and more than his share of body dysmorphia.

Over the course of the week, Phyllis, allegedly offended by Frank’s portraits and more likely,  by Joyce’s open-minded reaction to them, is shown in sharp contrast:  by day an open-minded liberal and by night,  dogmatic and reactionary with her reactions to Frank both as a man and an artist, highlighting her prejudices. Her reactions to Jared, in labeling him as suffering from Aspergers Syndrome  are contrasted with Joyce’s non-commital attitude on the subject and Frank’s dismissive one, insisting that Jared just needs male guidance. The result is a quirky, slice of life play which is heart-felt.  The ensemble is terrific with kudos to Eric Burgher for his incredibly convincing and heartbreaking performance as Jared. While Ms. Baker’s characters sometimes lack a certain nuance that makes some reactions seem without basis, the overall collision of the themes presented,  result in a play that is funny, sometimes sad and quite thought provoking.

Through June 27, 2010 at Profiles Theatre, 4147 N. Broadway, Chicago.  Go to www.profilestheatre.org for more details.

by Rhonda Walker

Fuerza Bruta brings its dynamic performance art to the Auditorium Theatre from Argentina by way of a world tour.  The mood is set the minute you walk in the door.  The lobby, opened one hour before the performance, has been transformed into a lounge with modern, low slung furniture, mood lighting and club music with the bar serving cocktails and truly delicious empanadas.

This mood continues as you walk into the theater and up the stairs to the stage.  Enter the curtain and you are enveloped by fog and music.  The performance has no story line.  As you stand on the stage, you are immersed in visual art as various scenes are performed in, around and above the audience.  Platforms with performers periodically move through with a D.J. in the corner choreographing the music, lighting and effects. A water filled platform above the stage is used to great effect with the performers sliding through the water on see through vinyl and at times, using the water itself to create interesting visual patterns.  This platform is suspended high over the stage and is gradually lowered to within touching distance. One of the more sublime pieces of the evening involves the use of a mylar-type curtain stretched across the width of the stage and against which two performers on wires tumble back and forth in front of the curtain.

This is participatory theater. Water is sprayed, horns blare, strobes flash and the fog rolls.  The original music is fabulous, alternating between throbbing dance selections, and sublime chill music which is slightly tribal.  You can’t help but move and want to be a part of the art, all of which is encouraged.

Artistic Director, Diqui James describes the concept, in part,  as brutally happy.  This is an apt description.  Think about your best, sweaty club night, but G rated- in all your clothes- and with great, abstract performance art.  Perfect for a summer evening, get your groove on and get primed for a night of club hopping with a stop at the Auditorium to see Look Up.

Through July 25, 2010 at the Auditorium Theatre.  go to www.fuerzabruta.net or www.BroadwayInChicago.com for more information.

Via press release • Photo by KC Perry

Conan O’Brien. Pearl Jam. Courtney Love. Ryan O’Connor.  This summer, the concert tour lineup gets even bigger when actor, singer, comedian, vlogger and YouTube sensation Ryan O’Connor (“How I Met Your Mother,” “School of Rock,” “American Dad”) hits the road on June 7th and takes his one-man show “Ryan O’Connor Eats His Feelings” to a US city near you.

A musical theatre aficionado and performer, O’Connor’s critically acclaimed cabaret thrill ride broke records at Hollywood’s Celebration Theatre this past February and received a back-by-popular-demand second run and accolades from Broadway luminaries and press alike.

Self-described as a “big gay singing Kathy Griffin,” O’Connor’s dynamic, hilarious and oddly touching musical journey told through song and story candidly shares his life: his childhood and adolescence in conservative Arizona and trial and tribulations as an actor in New York City and Hollywood; his loves: his relationship with his boyfriend, a Mormon, ex-college football star from Salt Lake City and self-proclaimed, proud “chubby chaser;” and his lusts: for everything theater and food, candidly revealing his struggles as a compulsive overeater.

Also along for the ride, is his best friend Lucas Coatney, who plays back-up singer and on-stage sidekick to O’Connor.  In addition to having toured nationally with various theatre groups, Lucas also appeared on the third season of “American Idol.”

The show plans to feature surprise guests and celebrities from the worlds of theater and entertainment in each city stop. Joining him at San Francisco ’s The Rrazz Room will be Deedee Magno Hall (first national tour of “Wicked”) and singer/songwriter Shelly Bort.

His road trip adventures accompanied by his boyfriend Graham LaBass, Lucas and dog Macy in a mini-van, encounters with townspeople and audiences’ reactions and observations about his no-holds-barred show will be documented and chronicled on his hit YouTube show “The Ryan O’Connor Show.”

“As a theater crazed kid growing up in the Broadway deprived desert of Arizona , it’s always been my personal dream to bring musical theatre to places where people don’t have the chance or opportunity to go to Broadway shows,” O’Connor said. “I can’t wait to travel across our beautiful country and connect with these audiences. And to culminate the tour in New York and perform on stage there where I lived and studied will be a very exciting come ‘full circle’ moment for me.”

“Ryan O’Connor Eats His Feelings” is written by and stars Ryan O’Connor along with Lucas Coatney. Songs are by William Finn, Ani DiFranco, Katie Thompson, Scott Alan and Randy Blair. Musical direction is by Gregory Nabours.

June 7th – San Francisco June 9th – Seattle   June 13th Las Vegas  June 18th – Phoenix  June 20th – Denver  June 23rd & 25th – Dallas June 28th – New Orleans  July 3rd – Nashville July 7th & 8th – Chicago July 19th – New York City

Although we lost the multi-talented Beatrice Arthur just one  year ago, she is not forgotten.  Arthur will be remembered again in Queen Bea—A Tribute To Beatrice Arthur.

Beatrice Arthur was the larger-than-life actress who delighted Broadway audiences as the original matchmaker in Fiddler on the Roof and the hard-drinking actress in Mame before she went on to star in the groundbreaking ’70s TV series Maude and, in the ’80s, the beloved sitcom The Golden Girls.  While many know of Arthur’s television successes and Emmy awards, fairly few know that early in her career, Arthur tasted success on Broadway and on the big screen, even winning a Tony Award for her role as Vera Charles, the feisty pal of Angela Lansbury’s title character in Mame. She would go on to play the same role in the musical’s big-screen adaptation; then opposite Lucille Ball.  In her later years, Arthur performed her one woman cabaret show, Just Between Friends both on Broadway and in 2001 at the Park West Theater in Chicago.

Fellow silver-haired cabaret chanteuse, Chicago based Carla Gordon along with musical director, Beckie Menzie will be performing the salute. Gordon was a guest of Arthur’s director at the Bea Arthur Memorial Celebration hosted by Angela Lansbury. “I learned so much that day about why everyone loved Bea.”  Gordon shares, “Not only was she a remarkably talented woman, she was also a remarkable citizen, raising many thousands of dollars for homeless gay youth and for PETA and other animal rights organizations.  And she was funny as anything. It is such an honor to be saluting this Queen Bea!”

May 16, at 2:00 PM at The Skokie Theater located at 7924 Lincoln Avenue in Skokie,

(847) 677-7761

www.skokietheatre.com.

Every Friday  PINK will be raffling  a pair of tickets. To win  please e-mail your name, phone/cell, city to:  giveaways[at]pinkmag.com

May 16 – Fifth of July, Lanford Wilson’s drama from 1978. Directed by Patrick Walsh, hosted by Misha Davenport from the Chicago Sun-Times;

May 23 -As Is by William M. Hoffman, which opened on Broadway in 1985. Directed by Steve Scott, Hosted by Emmy Nominee Alexandra Siletz from WTTW;

June 6-Beautiful Thing, Jonathan Harvey’s British love story from 1993, Directed by John Nasca, hosted by Tom Chiola;

June 20 -Take Me Out, Richard Greenberg’s Broadway smash from 2003, Directed by David Zak.

The readings are on Sunday nights at 7 p.m, at Theatre Building, 1225 West Belmont. All tickets are $10 and may be reserved by calling 773-250-3112 or 1-800-838-3006.