CHICAGO – Founding Artistic Director Fred Anzevino today announced a partial lineup of musicals for the company’s second year in residence at the Howard Street Theatre, the venue developed by the City of Evanston specifically for the company. As it had in most seasons prior to the company’s move from the No Exit Café in Rogers Park, Theo Ubique will produce a season of four musical productions. Anzevino, who just scored his fifth Jeff Award for direction of a musical with this past spring’s THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY, is planning to personally direct one of the four shows, with guest directors helming the remaining three shows. Resident Music Director Jeremy Ramey, who recently notched his fourth consecutive and sixth total Jeff Award for Music Direction with THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY, will be Music Director for the entire season.
Theo Ubique’s sophomore season on Howard Street will open with Michael John La Chiusa’s HELLO AGAIN, playing September 13 – November 3, 2019. It will be directed and choreographed by Brenda Didier, winner of 12 Jeff Awards for direction or choreography (seven of them at Theo Ubique). Didier most recently directed A CHORUS LINE for Porchlight Music Theatre. HELLO AGAIN, which premiered at New York’s Lincoln Center in 1993, is suggested by the 1897 play LA RONDE by Arthur Schnitzler. Like Schnitzler’s play, LaChuisa’s musical details a daisy chain of sexual encounters and love affairs among ten characters in ten scenes, but LaChiusa takes dramatic license by setting each scene of the musical in a different decade of the 20th century and in a non-chronological order. Time marches on, but the characters don’t age. LaChiusa’s ingenious and sung-through score is composed in a variety of musical styles ranging from opera to 1970s disco while simultaneously introducing musical and lyrical echoes throughout to tie all the characters and their experiences together.
Similarly eclectic, but otherwise vastly different. will be the season’s second musical, WORKING, a musical based on Stud Terkel’s landmark book in which he interviewed Chicagoans about their feelings toward their jobs. The musical, which opened on Broadway in 1978 and has since been revised to include jobs that didn’t exist in 1978, was originally directed by Stephen Schwartz, (the composer/lyricist of GODSPELL, PIPPIN and WICKED) and included songs by Schwartz as well as by James Taylor, Mary Rodgers, Craig Carnelia, and Micki Grant. The updated version to be performed at Theo Ubique includes most of the original score plus new songs by HAMILTON’s Lin-Manuel Miranda. The use of such a varied group of songwriters enables the score to reflect the diversity and individuality of its characters, who range from a waitress to a corporate executive, as well as a housewife and retiree.
WORKING will be directed and choreographed by Christopher Chase Carter, who most recently choreographed Brenda Didier’s acclaimed production of A CHORUS LINE for Porchlight Music Theatre. Carter has choreographed many of the top musical theater productions in Chicago over recent years, including Porchlight mainstage shows GYPSY, MEMPHIS, DREAMGIRLS, and IN THE HEIGHTS; and “Porchlight Revisits” performances of THEY’RE PLAYING OUR SONG and CHESS; as well as FIVE GUYS NAMED MOE at Court Theater. WORKING will play from December 6, 2019 through January 26, 2020.
Artistic Director Fred Anzevino will direct the spring musical, GREY GARDENS, by Doug Wright, Scott Frankel, and Michael Korie (the team responsible for the musical WAR PAINT that tried out at the Goodman prior to its Broadway engagement). GREY GARDENS, to be performed March 6 – April 26, 2020, is based on the documentary film by David and Albert Maysles about Edith Bouvier Beale (“Big Edie”) and her daughter Edith Bouvier Beale (“Little Edie”), the reclusive aunt and cousin of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. The story begins in 1941, when the older Edie is in a troubled marriage and the younger Edie has hopes of marrying Joseph Kennedy Jr., brother of the future U.S. President. The second act takes place in 1973, when the 79-year-old divorced Big Edie and the never-married 56-year-old Little Edie are living alone together in their decaying Long Island estate of Grey Gardens. The 2006 Broadway production won Tony Awards for Christine Ebersole, who played both the Big Edie of 1941 and the Little Edie of 1973; and for Mary Louise Wilson, who played Big Edie at age 79.
The season will conclude in the summer of 2020 with a fourth production whose title, cast and director will be named shortly.
Season packages for all four shows are $99 for previews, $129 for Thursdays and Sundays, and $149 for Fridays and Saturdays. Optional three course prix fixe dinners, served by cast members before the performances, are available for an additional $100.00 per subscription; or for $29.00 on a per-show basis. Season packages will be on sale soon at www.theo-u.com.
All performances will be staged in the Howard Street Theatre, 721 Howard Street, Evanston.
HELLO AGAIN
Music, lyrics and book by Michael John LaChiusa
Suggested by the play LA RONDE, by Arthur Schnitzler
Directed and Choreographed by Brenda Didier
Music Direction by Jeremy Ramey
September 13-November 3, 2019
Press Opening Monday September 23, 2019 at 7:30 pm
Ticket prices previews (Fridays – Sundays September 13 – 22): $25.00 – $30.00
Ticket prices regular run (Thursdays – Sundays September 26 – November 3): $34.00 – $59.00
Dinner (optional) is $29.00. Advance reservations required
Curtain Times: Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm; Sundays at 7:00 pm.
All performances will be held at the Howard Street Theatre, 721 Howard Street, Evanston
More information at www.theo-u.com or by phone at 773-347-1109 weekdays.
Student/Industry Rush All Season Long!
(Starting 15 minutes before curtain, all unsold seats will be released for $20 for those with a valid student ID or for industry with biz card or headshot.)
An adult musical fantasy suggested by Arthur Schnitzler’s LA RONDE. A series of love affairs among ten characters during the ten different decades of the 20th Century as though seen through the lens of a combination time machine and bawdy, old-time kinescope. HELLO AGAIN crisscrosses beds and jumps from decade to decade, intimately examining the painful secrets that drive characters into each other’s arms and towards the bruising effects of reckless passion. “Mr. LaChiusa’s smart, beguilingly world-weary work was the best original musical of the season…” —NY Times
WORKING
based on the book by Studs Terkel
Book by Stephen Schwartz and Nina Faso
Music and lyrics by Schwartz and others, including James Taylor and Lin-Manuel Miranda
Directed and Choreographed by Christopher Chase Carter
Music Direction by Jeremy Ramey
December 6, 2019-January 26, 2020
Press Opening Monday December 16, 2019 at 7:30 pm
Ticket prices previews (Fridays – Sundays December 6 – 15): $25.00 – $30.00
Ticket prices regular run (Thursdays – Sundays December 19 – January 26): $34.00 – $59.00
Dinner (optional) is $29.00. Advance reservations required
Curtain Times: Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm; Sundays at 7:00 pm.
All performances will be held at the Howard Street Theatre, 721 Howard Street, Evanston
More information at www.theo-u.com or by phone at 773-347-1109 weekdays.
Student/Industry Rush All Season Long!
(Starting 15 minutes before curtain, all unsold seats will be released for $20 for those with a valid student ID or for industry with biz card or headshot.)
Based on Studs Terkel’s best-selling book of interviews with American workers, WORKING paints a vivid portrait of the working men and women that the world so often takes for granted. Nominated for six Tony Awards, this classic has been updated for a modern age, featuring new songs by Tony Award-winning Lin-Manuel Miranda, as well as favorites by Stephen Schwartz, Craig Carnelia, Mary Rodgers, Micki Grant and James Taylor.
GREY GARDENS
Book by Doug Wright, Music by Scott Frankel, Lyrics by Michael Korie
Directed by Fred Anzevino
Music Direction by Jeremy Ramey
March 6 – April 26, 2020
Press Opening Monday March 16, 2020 at 7:30 pm
Ticket prices previews (Fridays – Sundays March 6 – 15): $25.00 – $30.00
Ticket prices regular run (Thursdays – Sundays March 19 – April 26): $34.00 – $59.00
Dinner (optional) is $29.00. Advance reservations required
Curtain Times: Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm; Sundays at 7:00 pm.
All performances will be held at the Howard Street Theatre, 721 Howard Street, Evanston
More information at www.theo-u.com or by phone at 773-347-1109 weekdays.
Student/Industry Rush All Season Long!
(Starting 15 minutes before curtain, all unsold seats will be released for $20 for those with a valid student ID or for industry with biz card or headshot.)
The hilarious and heartbreaking story of “Big Edie” and “Little Edie” Bouvier Beale, the eccentric aunt and cousin of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. The two were once bright names on the social register of Long Island society but became East Hampton’s most notorious recluses.
FOURTH SHOW TO BE ANNOUNCED
Director to be announced
Music Direction by Jeremy Ramey
June 5 – July 26, 2020
Press Opening Monday June 15, 2020 at 7:30 pm
Ticket prices previews (Fridays through Sundays June 5 – 14) $25.00 – $30.00
Ticket prices regular run (Thursdays through Sundays June 18 – July 26): $34.00 – $59.00
Dinner (optional) is $29.00. Advance reservations required.
Curtain Times: Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm; Sundays at 7:00 pm.
All performances will be held at the Howard Street Theatre, 721 Howard Street, Evanston
More information at www.theo-u.com or by phone at 773-347-1109 weekdays.
Student/Industry Rush All Season Long!
(Starting 15 minutes before curtain, all unsold seats will be released for $20 for those with a valid student ID or for industry with biz card or headshot.)
DIRECTOR BIOS
Brenda Didier (Director and Choreographer, HELLO AGAIN) has received Jeff Awards in both direction and choreography, After Dark Awards, the National Youth Theatre Award, Chicago Broadway World Awards and the Guy Adkins Award for the advancement of musical theatre in Chicago. Credits include work with Paramount, Goodman, Chicago Shakespeare, Porchlight Music Theatre, Mercury Theater Chicago, Second City (Mainstage and Etc.), BoHo, Kokandy, Cirque Shanghai at Navy Pier’s Skyline Stage, Busch Gardens, Six Flags, T-Mobile’s national commercial “Home for the Holidays,” as well as numerous industrials and special events. Ms. Didier is the owner/ artistic director of the Lincolnshire Academy of Dance, now in its 22nd season. She is most proud of the LAD scholarship program to keep children in the arts and LAD’s ongoing charity efforts.
Christopher Chase Carter (Director and Choreographer, WORKING) is a Liberal Arts Graduate from Grand Valley State University. Carter has traveled extensively performing, directing and choreographing. Some of his credits include A CHORUS LINE, GYPSY, MEMPHIS (Jeff Nomination and BTAA Recipient), DREAMGIRLS, IN THE HEIGHTS (Broadway World Award), Porchlight Revisits THEY’RE PLAYING OUR SONG and CHESS at Porchlight Music Theatre; FIVE GUYS NAMED MOE (Jeff Nomination, Court Theater); LITTLE SHOP, HAIR (Mercury Theater); THE LEGEND OF GEORGIA MCBRIDE (Northlight Theater); SHOW BOAT and OKLAHOMA! (Lyric Opera Chicago); SHOW BOAT (San Francisco and Houston Grand Opera); HAIRSPRAY (Drury Lane Oakbrook), JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT (Paramount Theater); Duke Ellington’s Queenie Pie (Chicago Opera Theater); as well as LEGALLY BLONDE (Northwestern) WONDERFUL TOWN, SWEENEY TODD (Grand Award), GODSPELL (Grand Valley State University); OLIVER!, CAROUSEL, and BRIGADOON (Light Opera Works); THE WIZ, 42ND STREET, and GUYS AND DOLLS (Theatre at the Center); THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS (Director of the MTI National High School Pilot). A former scholarship student of Debbie Allen Dance Academy. Carter has been the Director/choreographer for the Grand Rapids Civic Theatre’s Summer Repertory Theatre Intensive for the past six years.
Fred Anzevino (Co-founder/Artistic Director, Director, GREY GARDENS) has dedicated most of his life to the theatre. A native Rhode Islander, Fred attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts (NYC), RI College and the George Washington University MFA program. As an actor he toured in a National Tour of Roger Miller’s Tony Award Winning Musical BIG RIVER. In the late 80’s Fred moved to the Windy City with a collaborative production from the DC Cabaret Company called A Dance Against Darkness: Living with AIDS (nominated for several DC Helen Hayes awards (1989). Since then he co-founded Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre, serving as Artistic Director and producing over 60 productions – most notably at the No Exit Cafe in Rogers Park. With his 2019 award for THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY, Fred is now a five-time Jeff Award winner for Best Direction of a Musical. Fred is proud to have mentored several of Chicago’s best and brightest young musical theatre talent.
Jeremy Ramey (Resident Music Director) is a concert pianist, conductor and music director based in Chicago. This year, Jeremy received his tenth Jeff nomination and sixth Jeff Award for his work on THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY. He had previously received Jeff awards for THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA, SMOKEY JOE’S CAFE, RENT, and THE MOST HAPPY FELLA all with Theo Ubique. In 2016, he won his second Broadway World Award for Music Direction for his work on BETTE, LIVE AT THE CONTINENTAL BATHS with the production company Hell in a Handbag. He received his training in piano performance and music at Rhodes College, Northwestern University and The Juilliard School of Music.
ABOUT THEO UBIQUE
Theo Ubique was founded in 1997 by artistic director Fred Anzevino. Productions were first staged at the Heartland Studio Theatre, and from 2004 to May 2018, at No Exit Café, where the company began focusing on musicals and revues, reigniting the cabaret theatre trend in Chicago. The company moved to the Howard Street Theatre, a venue owned and developed for Theo Ubique by the City of Evanston, in fall of 2018. Theo Ubique has produced more than 60 shows and won more than 60 Jeff Awards, having received nearly 150 nominations. The company also earned three After Dark Awards.
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