Top 5 Shows

“Caroline, or Change,” Court Theatre

“A House with No Walls,” Timeline Theatre

“The Glass Menagerie,” Steppenwolf Theatre

“No Darkness Round My Stone,” Trap Door Theatre

“The Birthday Party,” Signal Theater

—Monica Westin

Top 5 Shows

“Jon,” Collaboraction

“A Very Merry Unauthorized Children’s Scientology Pageant,” A Red Orchid

“Be More Chill,” Griffin Theatre

“Men of Tortuga,” Profiles

“Picked Up,” Neo-Futurists

—Nina Metz

Top 5 Theatrical Experiences

“Caroline, or Change,” Court Theatre

“Columnibus,” Raven Theatre

“As You Like It,” Writers’ Theatre

“The Comedy of Errors,” Chicago Shakespeare Theater

“Romeo y Julieta” (Staged Reading), Chicago Shakespeare Theater/Shakespeare in Español

—Fabrizio O. Almeida

Top 5 Guilty Pleasures

“Jarred: A Hoodoo Comedy” by Tanya Saracho, Teatro Luna

“Speech and Debate” by Stephen Karam, ATC

“Dead Man’s Cell Phone” by Sarah Ruhl, Steppenwolf

“The Little Dog Laughed” by Douglas Carter Beane, About Face Theatre

“After Ashley” by Gina Gionfriddo, Stage Left Theatre

—Fabrizio O. Almeida

Top 5 New Plays

“Kita y Fernanda” by Tanya Saracho, 16^th Street Theater

“The U.N. Inspector” by David Farr and James Sherman, Next Theatre

“Dead Man’s Cell Phone” by Sarah Ruhl, Steppenwolf Theatre

“Our Enemies: Lively Scenes of Love and Combat” by Yussef El Guindi, Silk Road Theatre Project

“Superior Donuts” by Tracy Letts, Steppenwolf Theatre

—Fabrizio O. Almeida

 Top 5 Revivals

“The Maids,” Writers’ Theatre

“The Lion in Winter,” Writers’ Theatre

“Requiem for a Heavyweight,” Shattered Globe

“Plaza Suite,” Eclipse Theatre Company

“The Birthday Party,” Signal Ensemble Theatre

—Fabrizio O. Almeida

Top 5 Play Revivals

“Our Town,” Hypocrites

“The Lion in Winter,” Writers Theatre

“Requiem for a Heavyweight,” Shattered Globe

“Journey’s End,” Griffin

“M Butterfly,” BoHo

—Dennis Polkow

Top 5 Memorable Productions by a Smaller Theatre Troupe

“Multi-Purpose Doom,” Sandbox Theatre Project

“The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler,” Dog & Pony

“Termen Vox Machina,” Oracle Productions

“On My Parents’ 100^th Wedding Anniversary,” Side Project

“The Last Days of Judas Iscariot” (original mounting), Gift Theatre

—Fabrizio O. Almeida

Top 5 Directors

Ann Filmer for “Kita y Fernanda,” 16^th Street Theater

Charles Newell for “Caroline, or Change,” Court Theatre

Sean Graney for “Edward II,” Chicago Shakespeare Theater

William Brown for “As You Like It,” Writers’ Theatre

Greg Kolack for “Columbinus,” Raven Theatre

—Fabrizio O. Almeida

Top 5 Musicals

“Caroline, or Change,” Court Theatre

“Grey Gardens,” Northlight Theatre

“Tell Me On A Sunday,” Bailiwick Theater

“The Full Monty,” Marriott Lincolnshire Theatre

“All Shook Up,” Marriott Lincolnshire Theatre

—Fabrizio O. Almeida

Top 5 New Musicals

“Caroline, or Change,” Court Theatre

“Grey Gardens,” Northlight Theatre

“Songs for a New World,” Porchlight

“The Ballad of Emmett Till,” Goodman Theatre

“I Am Who I Am: The Story of Teddy Pendergrass,” Black Ensemble Theater

—Dennis Polkow

Top 5 Musical Revivals

“Tell Me on a Sunday,” Bailiwick Theater

“Sweet Charity,” Drury Lane Oakbrook

“1776,” Signal Ensemble

“Jacques Brel’s Lonesome Lovers of the Night,” Theo Ubique

“Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” Circle Theatre

—Dennis Polkow

Top 5 Worst Musicals

“Shout! The Mod Musical,” Drury Lane Water Tower

“Avenue Q,” Broadway in Chicago

“Dirty Dancing,” Broadway in Chicago

“Russian on the Side,” Royal George Theater

“Gutenberg! The Musical,” Royal George Theater

—Dennis Polkow

Top 5 Worst Musicals

“Dirty Dancing,” Broadway in Chicago

“The Kid from Brooklyn,” Mercury Theater

“Gutenberg! The Musical!,” Royal George Theatre

“Jekyll & Hyde—The Musical,” Bohemian Theatre Ensemble

“Sweeney Todd,” Broadway in Chicago

—Fabrizio O. Almeida

Top 5 Operas

“Manon,” Lyric Opera

“The Abduction From the Seraglio,” Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Ravinia

“Lulu,” Lyric Opera

“Porgy and Bess,” Lyric Opera (second cast)

“Don Giovanni,” Chicago Opera Theater

—Dennis Polkow

Top 5 Productions of Shakespeare

“As You Like It,” Writers Theatre

“Comedy of Errors,” Chicago Shakespeare

“Much Ado About Nothing,” First Folio

“Merchant of Venice,” Boho

“Twelfth Night,” City Lit

—Dennis Polkow

Top 5 Touring Shows

“Saint Joan,” Shaw Festival Canada, Chicago Shakespeare

“Cirque du Soleil: Kooza,” United Center

“The Drowsy Chaperone,” Broadway in Chicago

“My Fair Lady,” National Theatre London, Broadway in Chicago

“Jesus Christ Superstar,” Broadway in Chicago

—Dennis Polkow

Top 5 Holiday Shows

“The Christmas Schooner,” Bailiwick Theater

“A Dublin Carol,” Steppenwolf Theatre

“A Christmas Carol,” Writers Theatre

“Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular,” Rosemont Theatre

“The Seafarer,” Steppenwolf Theatre

—Dennis Polkow

Top 5 Comedy Shows

“Impress These Apes,” Blewt!

“Shatter,” Pat O’Brien’s solo show at Second City e.t.c.

“Steve and Jordan, Respectively” i.O. Theater

“Brother, Can You Spare Some Change?” Second City e.t.c.

“PennyBear: A Collection of Miniature Plays and Curious Diversions,” Apollo Theater Studio

—Nina Metz

Top 5 Female Performances

Janet Ulrich Brooks, “Golda’s Balcony,” Pegasus Players

Christina Anthony, “Brother, Can You Spare Some Change?” Second City e.t.c.

Erin Barlow, “Red Angel,” LiveWire

Sarah Goeden, “13 Dead Husbands,” Sansculottes Theater

Rachel Quinn, “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” Circle Theatre

—Nina Metz

Top 5 Male Performances

David Cromer, “Our Town,” The Hypocrites

Usman Ally, “Celebrity Row,” American Theater Company

Steve Wilson, “Red Angel,” LiveWire

Edward Thomas-Herrera, “The Last Days of Beast,” Live Bait’s Fillet of Solo Festival

Daniel Behrendt, “Beggars in the House of Plenty,” Mary-Arrchie

—Nina Metz

Top 5 Out-of-the-Box Performances

“Inner Space,” Joffrey Ballet’s American Moderns

“Walking Mad,” Hubbard Street Dance Winter Series

“The Young Ladies Of…,” About Face Theatre

“Dr. Egg and the Man With No Ear,” Redmoon Theater

“One on One,” Hubbard Street Dance Winter Series

—William Rogers

Top 5 Dance Shows by Chicago Companies

“The Sky Hangs Down Too Close,” Lucky Plush Productions

“Nuevo Folk,” Luna Negra Dance Theater

“De-Evolution of Mudwoman,” Breakbone DanceCo

“Vintage Modern,” Same Planet Different World Dance

“American Moderns,” Joffrey Ballet

—Sharon Hoyer

Top 5 Overrated Productions

“Dave DaVinci Saves the Universe,” House Theatre

“Dirty Dancing,” Broadway in Chicago

“Shining City,” Goodman Theatre

“The Glass Menagerie,” Shattered Globe Theatre

“Scenes from the Big Picture,” Seanachai Theatre

—Fabrizio O. Almeida

Top 5 Theatrical Disappointments

“Dirty Dancing,” Broadway in Chicago

“Les Miserables,” Marriott Lincolnshire Theatre

“Yohen,” Silk Road Theatre Project

“Richard III,” Strawdog Theatre

“Macbeth,” Greasy Joan & Co.

—Fabrizio O. Almeida

 

By Fabrizio O. Almeida

It was one of the most-anticipated pre-Broadway openings in recent memory, and I had informed friends and colleagues all week long leading to the premiere of “Dirty Dancing—The Classic Story on Stage” that I was genuinely bubbly for what would hopefully amount to—at the very least—a feel-good toe-tapping dance show. But this show didn’t make me tap my toes. And it certainly didn’t make me feel good.

This stage version, at Chicago’s Cadillac Palace before traveling to Boston, Los Angeles and finally to the Great White Way, is of course based on the 1987 sleeper-hit film of the same name. It chronicles the coming-of-age story of Frances “Baby” Houseman, an idealistic teenage girl hungry to change the world, but for the moment enjoying the last wisps of innocence with her family at a holiday resort in the summer of 1963. An unlikely romance blooms with the camp’s sexy dance instructor, Johnny, and dance lessons lead to Baby’s mental and physical transition into womanhood. The film was blessed with the great chemistry between stars Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze, a strong supporting cast who delivered writer Eleanor Bergstein’s wooden dialogue with charming aplomb, and two killer soundtrack albums’ worth of music that went multi-platinum on their own. The stage show is not as lucky. There is no chemistry between stage leads Josef Brown (Johnny) and Amanda Leigh Cobb (Baby), the supporting players are unmemorable, the musical numbers are cruise-ship quality at best, and the entire experience is dramatically inert.

I don’t know director James Powell’s body of work but my hunch is that he’s never been at the helm of a major musical before. His work here is as clumsy and awkward as Baby’s initial dance steps. He shows little understanding for the synergy between music and drama, and cannot transition nor focus a scene to save his life. Worse, he’s been given every theatrical tinker toy with which to create—turntables, panels, levitating platforms, concert lights, a half-oval-shaped IMAX-type screen on which to project dazzling video—and yet is simply content to show them off rather then use them to effectively tell a story. Scenes fizzle out instead of melding into one another. A clump of dancers oftentimes fade into a visual monotony. And like a loud radio that someone’s forgotten to turn off, there is a continuous stream of music (dozens of songs, period instrumentals and full-blown numbers make up the evening) that ultimately blends into a two-hour bombastic wall of sound. Powell is incapable of manipulating a successful applause button for some numbers (which must be maddening to his hard-working ensemble) and for a show with “dancing” in its title, there’s far too little dance to enjoy, let alone to assess—co-choreographers Kate Champion and Craig Wilson’s work here limited to some sensual but rarely sizzling Latin ballroom routines, the showcasing of their female dancers’ amazing 180-degree leg extensions and battements, and some high-energy hoofing. As for Bergstein’s book, it is needlessly over-bloated with scenes that could have been cut or re-imagined for the stage. Instead, this show painstakingly goes through the burden of re-creating each and every moment from the movie, down to the last persnickety detail. If the creators wanted the movie on stage, they accomplished this. But since the lackluster performances and dancing never erase the memory of the film, it becomes boring to sit through. When the author does attempt to inject social consciousness into this piece of fluff—perfunctory references to Vietnam; “We Shall Overcome” sung by busboys turned Civil Rights activists—the results are tacky at best, transparently tasteless at worst. If you really care about supporting theater that has something to say about America on the eve of social change you have one final week to catch Court Theatre and director Charles Newell’s exceptional production of Tony Kushner and Jeanine Tesori’s “Caroline, or Change,” a musical also incidentally also set in 1963.

At the end of the day there is simply no point for this stage show to exist other than to milk the “Dirty Dancing” franchise dry, exploit the eighties nostalgia craze and get those people who saw the movie in the theaters twenty years ago—now grown up with jobs—to pay ten times as much to see it in a theater “enacted by meat puppets”, as Financial Times drama critic Ian Shuttleworth so memorably phrased in his review of the original London show. Look, I have nothing against creating a show around a group’s song canon or, as in this case, two best-selling soundtrack albums and a movie. I thought the creativity displayed in “Mamma Mia!” made it one of the best musicals of this decade, and I thoroughly enjoyed the stage version of “Saturday Night Fever” on Broadway. But the creators entrusted with those musical properties at least tried to do something theatrical with the wealth of musical material they had inherited, be it the creation of a wonderfully self-ironic book with which to link ABBA songs (as in the case of the former), or (as in the latter) the transformation of Bee Gees songs from disco kitsch into genuine show tunes belted out by real characters on stage. And although the majority of songs in “Dirty Dancing” are indeed never performed by any important characters in the play, and simply exist as background music playing on a radio, you can still have had drama through dance. Anyone remember Susan Stroman and John Wiedman’s 2000 Tony Award-winning best musical “Contact,” that used pre-recorded music and no singing to tell three dance plays? If not, Google “Contact musical Broadway” and check out how a recording of Robert Palmer’s “Simply Irresistible” is used, along with some inventive swing choreography, to convey a poignant story about the liberating, sensual and redemptive powers of dance, without one single word of dialogue uttered. Drama doesn’t come automatically just because you perform something in a theater, and it’s disconcerting to think that Eleanor Bergstein, James Powell et al believe they have made “theater” with “Dirty Dancing,” or anything approximating something like the aforementioned shows in terms of artistry, emotion or theatricality.

“Dirty Dancing—The Classic Story on Stage” is quite simply one of the laziest pieces of theater-making that I have ever witnessed, seemingly devoid of any imagination or ambition other than to quite literally throw the movie on stage, which it does with all the thoughtfulness and clumsiness of a toddler flinging his food-filled plate against a wall. Indeed, a more appropriate tag line for this show would have been “The Classic Story Shoved on Stage.” This may be acceptable for some—the largest advance sale in London West End theater history; record-breaking productions around the globe suggests as much—but in light of the economy and with the show’s tickets ranging in price from $35 to a staggering $155 for “premium” seats, audiences need to demand more than an overpriced ultimate DVD-extra served up as ersatz drama.

Given that the jury is still out on the Broadway-bound stage version of “9 to 5,” that “Cry-Baby” has flopped and closed in New York and that Broadway insiders have been buzzing about the well-known director/choreographer flown out to Seattle to doctor the ailing “Shrek” musical, maybe they finally are.

“Dirty Dancing—The Classic Story on Stage” plays the Cadillac Palace Theatre through January 17, 2009. Performance dates and times vary. (312)977-1710 for tickets.

RECOMMENDED

“Mamma Mia!” has landed in Chicago once again for the, count it, fifth time to spend a limited engagement at the Auditorium Theatre.  If you are not one of the 30 million people who have seen the show, it goes a little something like this: a single mother owns a small hotel on a Greek island.  Her daughter is getting married and secretly invites the three men that may be her father.  The mother does not know. She finds out and crazy shenanigans ensue. All of this is set to the music of ABBA, that 1970s Swedish pop sensation.  If it all sounds a little contrived…well it is.  The story is forced to fit the music and often left me forgetting what they were even singing about when performers got lost in catchy, repetitious melodies.  The music, however, is also the great part.  Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus’ songs cry out for theatrical staging and the cast of “Mamma Mia!” deliver vocal chops that sound great on the material.  The theater snob in me says, “Why can’t they just lose the horrible story and sing the songs?”  The rest of me agrees with the smiling audience that filled the theater.  “Mamma Mia!” is big-budget, toe-tapping, cheesy musical theater fun. (William Scott)

At the Auditorium Theatre, 50 E Congress Pkwy, (312)902-1400. Through Sept. 28.

As a onetime summer camp counselor, my father frequently referenced the “lake rule,” which is to say, if a camper told a joke that was more fumy than vulgar, fair enough. But if the joke was more vulgar than funny—and the campers were the ones that would decide—then the joke-teller would be thrown in the lake. By this rule, the entire Cadillac Palace Theatre would be fully underwater by the end of one performance of the national touring production of “Avenue Q,” two of the most vacuous hours I can recall ever having spent in a theater. This Generation X-targeted and conceived —and believe it or not, triple Tony Award-winning—musical attempts to satirize “Sesame Street”-type children’s shows with Jim Henson-like puppets in a manner so mean-spirited, cynical, narcissistic, sophomoric and yes, even pornographic (ranging from constant obscenities for their own sake to puppets copulating) with a score so trite that the children’s music it derides sounds like high art by comparison. This is no clever send-up, say, the way Eddie Murphy used to hysterically parody Mr. Rogers on “Saturday Night Live,” nor the way “The Simpsons” or “South Park” cleverly lampoon cheesy animation: this is puerile puppetry that forgets that the satirer has to have at least as much imagination as the satiree for parody to be effectual. When a female impersonation of former child actor Gary Coleman, for instance, is revealed as the person who outdraws all of the other characters in “It Sucks to Be Me” by sucking the most, the irony is that putting up with a tired rerun of “Diff ’rent Strokes” would seem like high comedy next to this show. And to have a cheongsam-attired Asian-American actress sing every “l” as an “r” so that “love” becomes “ruv” achieves as indelicate an effect as if an African-American performer had been asked to sing in blackface. (Dennis Polkow)

At the Cadillac Palace Theatre, 151 W. Randolph, (312)902-1400. This production is now closed.

For those who wondered what all of that singing was doing interrupting the graphic murders in Tim Burton’s grisly and humorless slasher film “Sweeney Todd,” Stephen Sondheim’s original work is back in town complete with all of the music and humor that was cut from the film with as much tact as if old Sweeney himself had been doing the chopping. No, this isn’t the full boat version served up with full chorus and orchestra as done here by the Chicago Symphony at Ravinia and at Lyric Opera, this is the scaled-down Broadway chamber music version on a national tour where a talented cast of nine sings each role and plays the musical accompaniment on stage along with themselves. It’s a considerable feat, the kind of concept that would be perfect for a more intimate theater but which becomes somewhat lost in the wings of a cavernous house such as the Cadillac Palace. For those who know and love the work, this virtually cabaret-like treatment will be a treat and a meaningful, even if a stiff and concert-like rendering of what is arguably Sondheim’s greatest work. But for those new to the story and the work, the entire cast remaining on stage for the entire show and playing instruments even after a said character has already been, say, killed off, will be a dramaturgical disaster for keeping track of who’s who and what’s what. But if the Demon Barber of Fleet Street can survive undubbed movie stars hacking their way through a truncated score, this approach is a long way up from such cut-throat treatment. (Dennis Polkow)

At Cadillac Palace, 151 W. Randolph, (312)902-1400. This production is now closed.

RECOMMENDED

It begins so unassumingly: “Man in Chair” chats informally with the audience about what theater means to him the way many of us do at home and office. The references are specific and real, often biting (“How long, Elton John, can we continue the charade?”), until we hear about an unlikely 1928 show called “The Drowsy Chaperone,” a faux musical, of course, that we begin to hear through the static of an old LP—nevermind that 78s ruled the day and LPs didn’t exist until twenty years later—before the show in his mind’s eye comes vividly and colorfully to life as a remarkable send-up of those exuberant musicals of the 1920s. Musical-theater people will love how accurate and detailed the satire actually is, accurate enough that I overheard audience members actually arguing about whether or not the show within a show was actually a musical from the 1920s or not: how much higher of a compliment could you get? These zany, overdone characters and situations are a riot, but stealing the show is the way that “Man in Chair” introduces them to us, the way he watches and interacts with them, the way he deals with interruptions of his mundane life such as ringing phones and power outages—and even scratches and skips of the LP itself—uncomfortably encroaching upon his own imagination, a world that is ultimately far more “real” than the bland reality of his, or our, own world. (Dennis Polkow)

At the Cadillac Palace Theatre, 151 W. Randolph, (312)902-1400. This production is now closed.

How long has Ted Neeley, the star of the 1973 motion picture “Jesus Christ Superstar,” actually been playing Jesus? Even a cursory counting would suggest at least as long as the real Jesus Christ lived. “Actually, if the truth be told,” admits Neeley, “slightly over 2007 years, but you know what? The donkey still works, but he doesn’t like the cold weather very much.”

A soft-spoken and gentle native Texan who was raised a Southern Baptist and even offstage still looks remarkably like a middle-aged version of the stereotypical image of Jesus—complete with his own below collar-length-hair and his trademark “unique scrawny beard”—Neeley maintains a refreshing sense of humor about playing Jesus for so long: “When it comes to this role, I borrow Jack Benny’s line, except that instead of 39, I will always be 33. But there’s plenty of parts out there for a guy with this look—Jesse James, General Custer, and the one they’re thinking about giving me now is Dorian Gray.”

Neeley has been associated with stage versions of “rock musicals” since the phrase was first coined in the late 1960s. In addition to starring in the original Los Angeles productions of “Hair” and “Superstar” and going on to do both on Broadway, Neeley also performed the lead in the first fully staged version of “Tommy” under the auspices of The Who as well as the Broadway version of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band,” where he had to audition for John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

As for “Superstar,” Neeley originally tried out for the role of Judas and “sang my heart out” for the audition, only to have the director come and put his arms around him and say, “That was great. Could we hear you as ‘the other guy?’” “I had done ‘Hair,’ which I used to say was actually Jesus, Judas and Mary Magdeline in Haight-Ashbury,” says Neeley. “Claude was kind of a messianic-like figure to the ‘turn out, tune in and drop out’ generation, who then dies.”

Playing Jesus really begin to click for Neeley when Carl Anderson was engaged to play Judas, the two having an instant chemistry and intensity together that even Neeley concedes “defies understanding.” “We were the yin and the yang of the project, and it just really worked somehow.” So much so, that when Norman Jewison was making the film version of “Superstar,” he had already cast his leads but paid them off and brought in Neeley and Anderson to make the film after screen-testing the pair “as blocking figures for the real cast,” says Neeley.

Neeley’s life beyond “Superstar” has been that of a composer and musician as well as an actor, having written and performed the music for Michael Landon’s long-running “Highway to Heaven” television series, as well as scoring—and appearing in—such films as Robert Altman’s “A Perfect Couple,” “A Touch of Gold” and “Blame it on the Night,” among others, as well as a Broadway-bound musical, “Pandemonium.” He also sang the title role of “Rasputin” for a concept album and appeared in “Waiting for Gigot.”

But somehow, “Superstar” has interceded along the way, first in 1992, when Neeley and Anderson were reunited for the first time since the film with an all-star cast that included Irene Cara as Mary Magdelene and Chicago native Dennis DeYoung of Styx as Pontius Pilate, a three-month tour that kept on extending for five straight years and even ended up on Broadway. “My thought at the time,” says Neeley, “was we were getting on in years, but if Carl would do it, I would do it.” Sadly, Anderson was preparing to be part of the current “Superstar” tour before he was diagnosed with leukemia and passed away in early 2004. “It was, and remains, devastating,” says Neeley. “Besides losing my best friend, I took it as a sign that it might be time to stop, but the fan base for this show is so amazing and persistent, and we forged on, at first trying to ‘replace’ Carl, which after a year and a half of searching, we realized was not possible. We found a lot of great singers who couldn’t act, and a lot of great actors who couldn’t sing.” Corey Glover of Living Colour finally ended up landing the part. “Like Carl and I,” explains Neeley, “Corey has rock ‘n’ roll roots and is an uncontained energy source and a wild beast roaming around that stage. He had an instant presence and a strength and confidence, because you have to be able to go head to head with Jesus. Audiences love what he does and he has made the role his own.”

Neeley continues, “People are still profoundly moved by this piece and are willing to accept me in the role even at this stage of my life, which surprises me more than anyone, although you do get a certain wisdom and deeper appreciation of what you’re doing as time goes on. And as long as they still accept me, I’m having a ball. If I were a beer-belly Jesus up there on the cross, that would be one thing, but my wife is a ballet dancer and cracks the whip so I eat well, and I have never been a smoker nor overindulged in alcohol, and have never stopped singing all these years.” Neeley admits, though, that being crucified eight times a week “takes a certain toll, to say nothing of the thirty-nine lashes.

“The star of this show is the music, that’s for sure,” he continues, “and we never forget that,” with Neeley’s favorite part of the evening occurring after the show when people come backstage and share their personal stories of how the piece has affected them over the years, a process that can last well into the wee hours. “It sounds so egotistical, but generations of folks have now told me, ‘You are my image of Jesus,’ because the humanity of the piece really speaks to them and so many tell me how they found their spirituality through this piece rather than through the dogmatic approach of the pulpit. It’s not about religion in an organized sense but about universal spirituality and the deep connection between all of us as human beings.”

“Jesus Christ Superstar” at the Cadillac Palace Theatre, 151 West Randolph, (312)902-1400. This production is now closed.

After more than twelve years, “Rent” is finally becoming overdue on Broadway with the recent announcement that the show will officially close on June 1, but the national touring version shows no signs of slowing down and has committed dates through 2009 at this point. “Rentheads” continue to congregate wherever “Rent” is running, despite the fact that original cast members have long since departed any version of the show (though in fairness, most were getting too old anyway) and even though a movie version with most of that cast is widely available.

Still, there is nothing like seeing this show live, but the high energy and tight family-like ensemble has been a challenge for the show’s producers to sustain in terms of keeping the show fresh and at its best. The last time “Rent” came to town nearly two years ago, a non-equity cast was brought in, giving us a sense of what to expect when the show is finally allowed to be done by regional theaters and high schools and colleges. This time around, in what could be the final time that the original production may play in Chicago, the producers have stocked the cast with young, first-class singers, two of them “Idol” winners: Heinz Winckler, who plays Roger, was the winner of the first “South African Idol” in 2002 and who also placed fourth in the 2003 inaugural “World Idol” competition, and Anwar Robinson, who plays Tom Collins and was the charismatic music teacher who captured the nation’s attention with his outgoing personality and extraordinary vocal range on the fourth season of “American Idol.”

“It was done on a dare,” says Robinson, who has been singing since he joined a New Jersey choir as a child. “Your voice is an instrument like no other, accessed through muscle and breath control to make the best sound that you can.” Like the characters in “Rent” that live only for their art, moment by moment on a wing and a prayer, Robinson admits that he lived in a van while he went to the “Idol” audition, “laying down on an air mattress under blankets in the back to incubate my vocal chords.”

Now 29, Robinson says that he “never imagined” playing in something “that came out during—and defined—my generation,” though he admits as a songwriter and singer that he also hopes that “Rent” will help draw attention to his other talents. “We live part of our lives on that stage,” he says, noting that one of the characters is even a songwriter struggling to express himself. “We bring a lot of who we are to our roles.” Is part of who Robinson is someone who ever imagined himself falling in love with a cross-dresser, as his character does? “Angel only cross-dresses on holidays,” corrects Robinson, “and even Angel gets a laugh and a kick out of it.” (Dennis Polkow)

“Rent” at the Cadillac Palace Theatre, 151 West Randolph, (312)902-1400. This production is now closed.

RECOMMENDED

Despite the fact that Lerner and Loewe’s “My Fair Lady” was an adaptation of George Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion,” the work was ultimately a view of British culture through a decidedly American filter. The 1956 show was the first Broadway production to make a wholesale transfer to London’s West End with its original cast in tact (making it the only show to have two separate cast albums with the same cast, the later British one recorded in stereo), and was every bit as popular in London as it remained on Broadway. In the same way that Americans loved having American blues and rock sold back to itself via the British Invasion of the 1960s, the British public has always loved this uniquely American take on the English ethos. There have actually been more major British revivals of this show than there have been Broadway revivals, none more lavish than the 2001 National Theater revival produced by Cameron Macintosh and directed by Trevor Nunn that ran for years in England and is still touring, currently running for a short stint in Chicago. How British is this production? So British, that some of the accents and dialects are authentic enough to be unintelligible at times, none of which is helped by tinny amplification. Christopher Cazenove’s appearance as Henry Higgins recalls Rex Harrison, but his elocution, diction and rhythm are unfocused and mushy, ironic for a professor of phonetics. Lisa O’Hare, who originated the role of “Mary Poppins” in the musical stage version—the role that, ironically, the original Eliza Doolittle Julie Andrews won an Oscar for over Audrey Hepburn after Hollywood had bypassed Andrews in favor of Hepburn for the film version of “My Fair Lady”—makes a charming Eliza, but is missing the clarion top notes needed for the climactic songs. The nature of the relationship between Eliza and Higgins was at best, ambiguous in the original staging and film, but not here: the chemistry between the two is unmistakably romantic, made all the more obvious by a re-staged ending scene and a boyfriend for Eliza that is never the slightest competition for Higgins and who squanders the most melodic moment of the show (“On the Street Where You Live”) by just barely carrying the tune. But these are Nunn trademarks, as are the elaborate sets and the virtually cinematic scene transitions as songs are in progress and reduced orchestrations, and you either find such an approach “loverly” or just a “fair” lady. Perhaps the biggest irony here is having Marni Nixon, the superb singer who dubbed Audrey Hepburn’s singing voice in the film version and who is still singing, appear in a non-singing role as Mrs. Higgins. (Dennis Polkow)

At the Cadillac Palace Theatre, 151 W. Randolph, (312)902-1400. This production is now closed.

RECOMMENDED

“Come for the scenery, stay for the show” could well have been the motto for the era of theater that Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “The Phantom of the Opera” inaugurated more than twenty years ago, taking the theater world by storm like nothing else before or since. And while its many imitators have not held up particularly well, it is fascinating to behold how fresh of a show this still can be after so many years, at least when all of its original attention to detail are as meticulously in place as they are at its current revival at the Cadillac Palace Theatre. This is not one of those scaled-down incarnations that used to fly by during the height of Phantommania, this lavish remount restores every detail and nuance of the original Hal Prince staging and the late Maria Björnson’s miraculous designs and costumes and has a first-rate cast not only for the principal roles, but even for the smallest bit parts. Yet for all of its Goth and grandeur, “Phantom” is at its heart a “Beauty and the Beast” love story unspooled in unabashedly Romantic fashion via Lloyd Webber’s lush, aria-laden score that remains the star, even if the show’s mundane lyrics and recitative sections have not aged as well. How sad to think that this show, when it is finally retired in its glorious form, will be forever lost to posterity in favor of the really bland and boring film version even though it will be interesting to see what kind of life it will have when regional theaters do finally, at long last, get a hold of it, reimagining its every detail. But for those who want to relive all of the show’s original opulence or who were not around to have experienced this really unique theatrical experience, be sure not to miss what may be the last call for an often imitated, never duplicated, one-of-a-kind show. (Dennis Polkow)

At the Cadillac Palace Theatre, 151 W. Randolph, (312)902-1400. This production is now closed.