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Mar. 10--In the spring of 2007, the Broadway musical version of "The Color Purple" will join "Wicked" as a long-running sit-down production in the Loop. Assuming William Finn's "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" is still running then (and my money says it will be), that will make three dedicated Chicago versions of current Broadway shows.
New York can keep the flops. We'll take the hits. Is this a great time here for lovers of Broadway musicals, or what?
Then there are the rumors. "Avenue Q," eager for a Chicago production but bereft of a downtown theater, is said to be looking closely at the Mercury Theatre on Southport Street--a theater you'd think was far too small, but then again, if you want to be in Chicago badly enough. ... And there already are rumblings about a Chicago version of "Jersey Boys," a show co-produced by Larry Wilker, who happens to run the Chicago Theatre.
And if that weren't enough, we already have this fall the pre-Broadway tryout of "The Pirate Queen," the next musical by the composers of "Les Miserables." There is even some loose talk that the show may stay here permanently with a second cast going to New York. That's a model Broadway in Chicago has pushed for years. Only by my reckoning, they are in danger of running out of theaters.
So what on Earth is going on? Is there something in the lake?
Let's slow down for a minute. "Avenue Q" may not happen, except as a short run as part of a tour. "Spelling Bee" has a lot of work to do explaining what the show is about and whom it's for. Based on my voicemail and in-box, at least, plenty of people here have no idea.
And "The Color Purple" is by no means a slam-dunk for a long run in Chicago. It's a serious show that in New York attracts a large percentage of African-American theatergoers. It's been years since Chicago has had such a show downtown (not including the Arie Crown Theatre, which recently has been the local home of programming for an African-American audience). So it could be that this city's long-ignored black audience will come out and support Oprah Winfrey, Alice Walker and a justly beloved novel.
The producer Scott Sanders says he's optimistic. "We think we'll thrive in Chicago," he says. But he knows it remains to be seen.
The reason for this sudden rush of shows to town is many-fold. Firstly, "Wicked" has been selling up a storm here and has radically changed perceptions. "No question about that," says its producer David Stone.
Secondly, Chicago's natural rivals have been struggling. San Francisco, which spends a lot of money to compete aggressively for pre-Broadway shows, has of late been picking mainly clunkers. And it's dangerous to get overly associated with snafus.
Las Vegas, which we'd all been heralding as the new Broadway in the Desert, has hit a major road bump. Strip audiences still love those epic spectacles with which no other town can compete, but they just greeted "Avenue Q" with a big yawn. The too-hip-for-that-town puppets are tanking and closing.
And all of a sudden, anyone in New York with a two-act show that's even remotely edgy or weighty has become terrified of Vegas. Other than "Mamma Mia," the Strip now has nothing longer than 90 minutes. And it has nothing with an intermission--people won't come back. And who wants to play to that?
And then there's Toronto. There's some spunk left in Ontario yet--the Canadians are debuting a colossal stage version of "The Lord of the Rings" next weekend, attracting critics from all over the place and, presumably, reams of international attention.
"Out of Chicago's league," huffed a columnist this winter in the Toronto Star.
But Toronto theater provocateurs sure are spending a lot of time looking enviously at Chicago. They have good reason. We have three times the metropolitan population and a far more healthy indigenous theater scene. In the minds of New York producers, at least, Chicago is the hot town. For now.
cjones5@tribune.com
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