So much theater is being performed in the
region right now, it’s impossible to see it all. Fortunately,
I was able to enjoy three excellent productions last week that
prove central Illinois a great theater center: Beauty & the Beast in
Sullivan, Shakespeare’s Twelfth
Night in Bloomington, and Broadway, a delightful
relic of the Roaring ’20s, in Urbana.
Because the Muni is staging Beauty & the Beast
on the big outdoor stage in August, I decided to see a smaller
version of the musical at the Little Theatre on the Square. As
usual, the directing and design team configured a big musical to
fit a small stage — and the intimacy actually works for this
show. Strong performances here more than make up for the lack of a
large cast. Among the highlights are Ann Borders as Mrs. Potts,
especially in her rendition of the title song; Whit Reichert as
Clogsdale; Michael Haws as Maurice; and Kristen Smith as Belle.
Haws’ character, the heroine’s father, brings to mind
Christopher Lloyd’s Doc in the Back
to the Future films. Reichert’s
comedic skills are always on target, and his characterization of
the clock is hilarious. Strong performances are delivered by Aaron
Lake as the Beast and Luke Mills as LeFou. The show runs through
July 17; Fiddler on the Roof begins July 20. For info and tickets, call
217-728-7375 or visit www.thelittletheatre.org.
The Illinois Shakespeare Festival’s
summer season includes Macbeth, Henry VIII, and Twelfth Night, which I saw Sunday night at Ewing Manor, a gem of
an outdoor theater. Joel Fink of Chicago’s Roosevelt
University directs Twelfth Night, setting it in the Victorian era. As is usual with
this theater company, the blending of professionals with student
actors works well, and the cast boasts some exceptional actors,
especially David Kortemeier as Sir Andrew, in a riotous
performance, as well as festival artistic director Calvin MacLean,
who portrays Malvolio.
The festival’s Green Show (an always-fun
preshow performance beginning at 7 p.m. in the courtyard), titled
“What You Will,” and is presented in a hilarious game-show
format. The festival runs in repertory through Aug. 13. Call
309-438-8110 for tickets or visit the festival’s Web site,
www.thefestival.org.
My favorite show is an old chestnut of a play
being given a stunning performance at the Studio Theatre at the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Sue Lawless directs Broadway, a
seldom-produced play by George Abbott and Philip Dunning. (Lawless
directed a 1920s musical, The Five
O’Clock Girl, that I saw on
Broadway in the early 1980s, and she has a strong feel for period
pieces such as this one.) Lawless brings a museum piece to life and
has a perfect cast that’s up to the task.
A hit when it opened in 1926, Broadway influenced
many later shows and movies. Its story, that of a chorus girl and
song-and-dance man trying to make it in showbiz, and its characters
— gangsters, a Times Square cop, a chanteuse, a nightclub
owner, and other denizens of the theaters — should be
familiar to audiences. If you want to see something fun and
top-drawer, this is the show. Broadway runs through July 31 (in repertory with My Three Angels and Last of the Red Hot Lovers). For info and tickets, call the box office at
217-333-6280 or visit krannertcenter.com.
The Muni’s production of Irving
Berlin’s Annie Get Your Gun, starring Mary Myers as Annie Oakley and John
O’Connor as Frank Butler, opens this weekend. Chuck Hoots
directs the show, which enjoyed a recent revival on Broadway in a
reworked version.
Mary Myers has climbed from the orchestra
pit, where she is usually conducting or playing percussion, to take
the star spot onstage, and it’s about time. Myers has thrown
herself and her strong voice into the role, and the audience will
embrace her in a part that has been played by Ethel Merman, Mary
Martin, and Bernadette Peters. The show runs July 15-17 and 20-24.
Call 217-793-MUNI for tickets; more info is available at
www.themuni.org.
Last week the Springfield community
lost another longtime member, Virginia O’Brien.
O’Brien, who died July 5, had been involved in local theater
for many years, working on and performing in shows at the Muni and
the old Springfield Theatre Guild. She played Madame Armfeldt in A Little Night Music
and Fraulein Schneider in Cabaret and appeared in many other musicals, including Carousel, Irene, Gigi, Tenderloin, The Music Man, and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. She also enjoyed working in smaller alternative
theater, such as plays directed by Guy Romans in the 1970s and
productions of the Mid-America Playwrights Theatre. I got the
chance to work with her when she played a character in a Sangamon
Valley Historical Society cemetery walk at Oak Ridge Cemetery.
Virginia was of the old school, definitely a “There’s
No Business Like Show Business” trouper.
This article appears in Jul 14-20, 2005.
