Those Drifting Theatergoers: Will the Bible Get Them Back?
Following almost nine months of relentless hype, the Live Entertainment Corporation of Canada opens its cleverly updated revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat Sunday at the Chicago Theatre. With its lavish production values and surprisingly witty biblical story line, the show may just enjoy the long run its producers are banking on. Slick musicals are nothing new to Loop theaters, but none in recent memory has catered to families as shrewdly as this one, with its melodic score, amusing scene design, locally cast chorus of 50 children, and flashy finale with light show and up-to-the-minute dance music and costumes. Spokesman Norman Zagier aptly compares the show to Disney’s animated Aladdin, a sophisticated, upbeat, modern entertainment that managed to engage both adults and children. That breadth of appeal could be what puts this production in a separate league: no other recent Loop attraction, from Miss Saigon to The Will Rogers Follies, Camelot to The Goodbye Girl, has been able to draw those multiple-ticket-buying families on a scale of any consequence.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
How About New Blood?
Aneed to diversify prompted the Steppenwolf Theatre Company to boost its ensemble to 30 from 23 members early this week. “We wanted to get a better balance of female to male voices in the company,” says artistic director Randall Arney. Adds managing director Stephen Eich, “All of our women were well into their 30s or beyond.” Before the additions the ensemble included only six women. Of the seven new members, five are women and two are twentysomethings. Steppenwolf finally got around to recruiting a black voice as well, with the addition of K. Todd Freeman. Ensemble members nominated the candidates and voted by mail. The final choices were “coordinated” by Arney, with further input from the ensemble. The new women are Mariann Mayberry, Martha Lavey, Lois Smith, Kathryn Erbe, and Sally Murphy. The new men are Freeman and Eric Simonson.
