Guy Adkins, Leading Chicago Stage Actor, Dies at 41

http://chicago.broadwayworld.com/article/Chicago_Actor_Guy_Adkins_Dies_At_41_20100514

"Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" Cancelled in Chicago

I always wondered if enough people knew the story of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang , but I guess not.


http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/the_theater_loop/2009/01/chitty-chitty-announces-official-bang-bang.html

On-Stage Seating - A New Way To Experience Theatre

Always wanted to be in a big, splashy musical? No acting, dancing or singing experience? No talent? No problem! Any Chicagoan can now have a chance to appear in "Xanadu", part of Broadway In Chicago's 2009 lineup just by purchasing tickets for on-stage seating, a unique and cheaper way to experience theatre.

"Xanadu", a rollerskating musical about the forbidden love between a Greek muse and a mortal starving artist, opens on Jan. 16th at the Drury Lane Theatre Water Tower Place. It is one of several shows fueling the growing trend of on-stage seating on Broadway. Other shows that have used on-stage seating include "Spring Awakening", "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee", "Equus," and "Inherit the Wind". "Spring Awakening" is also coming to Chicago in August, but Broadway in Chicago customer service could not confirm whether on-stage seating will be available at this time.

On-stage seating places theatergoers right on the stage, in the center of all the action. Being able to be intimately close to the performers and to be visible to the rest of the house is an irresistible draw to some theatre fans. David Shum, 18, sat on stage on Broadway for both "Xanadu" and "Spring Awakening", “I wanted to sit on stage to be close to the actors, hear unamplified voices, and to see what goes on in the wings during a Broadway show.” Actress and frequent theatergoer Olin Nettles, 47, also saw both shows on Broadway and agrees that stage seating is a unique theatrical experience, “I am used to being on stage, but this was Broadway…not only is the action 12 inches in front of you but cast members actually sit among on-stage audience and watch the show when they are not in a scene. It really blurs the line between cast and audience.”

There are drawbacks to seeing the show with these seats, however. “One disadvantage is not being able to see the full stage picture,” Shum said. “Another is that actors are taught to project out, so it was sometimes hard to understand what they were saying or singing, especially if you’re very close to the band." The obstructed view and the muffled audio are reasons why on-stage seats often cost significantly less than house seats. Tickets for January’s "Xanadu" , for instance, cost from $67.50 to $87.50, while stage seating tickets are now available at Ticketmaster for $22.50.

Shum advises that people should first see the show from the house to see how the director and design team intended it to look, “After that, I recommend sitting on stage for a different experience of the show, see what goes on behind the scenes, and see what actors see eight times a week.”

A show’s producers and artistic director often decides to include on-stage seating for artistic reasons. In "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" the on-stage audience served as participants in the competition. Brian Swibel, one of "Xanadu’s" producers, said that on-stage seating in the show was intended to give people the sensation that they were in a Greek amphitheatre. It was a decision that came out of the creative team’s organic process that has enhanced the physical aspect of the show.

“"Xanadu" is designed to have a party atmosphere as it is a celebration of art and creativity,” Swibel explains. “And you have the audience in the house watching the on-stage audience having so much fun that it creates a real energy force in the theatre. The laughter releases the energy.”

Aside from artistic advantages, on-stage seating also helps with the show's profitability. Swibel said that as the buzz about on-stage seating grew, the more it became a way to gain a loyal following and sell a few more tickets, “It became a place for repeat buyers. People who saw the show would say, ‘I have to come back and sit on stage.’”

The trend of on-stage seating has become popular among New York audiences, but is relatively new in Chicago. "Spelling Bee" ran at the Drury Lane Theatre Water Tower last year, but unlike "Xanadu," audience members were screened and chosen just before the performance. They were not able to select the stage seating option when they purchased their tickets.

When asked whether its audiences will embrace on-stage seating, Swibel, who grew up in Chicago, responded, “I do think they will. Chicagoans appreciate creativity and experimentation.”

Where's The Theremin?

The House Theatre's "Dave DaVinci Saves The Universe", now playing at the Chopin Theatre until November 8, is a re-imagining of the original 2005 production. Creators of "Dave" - Chris Mathews, Jake Minton and Nathan Allen- revised the characters, rewrote the dialogue and reworked the format to add a new point-of-view to the show.

Without having seen the original production, it is difficult to pinpoint the dialogue, format and plot changes. The most evident differences are in the changes in the show's characters:

• The playwrights replaced the original fictional space adventurers Perdi's novels (Princess Pampamelia, Walter and Stanley) with a similar galactic trio (Cass Meridian, Arcturus, and T.H. Thoth) with updated costumes.
• The role of Gary, who was never seen onstage, has been deleted.
• Paige Hoffman, who originally only played Perdi, also plays Cass Meridian.

Other changes are also noticeable in the 2008 set which is warmer and more inviting with the use of wooden bookshelves and wooden beams to suggest a suburban home, or perhaps it is because of the change from the Viaduct theatre to the Chopin proscenium stage. In the costume front, Debbie Baer's Arcturus is largely more superior than Ana Kuzmanic's Walter.

The biggest difference, perhaps, is the replacement of Nora DaVinci's theremin concert (above)with a spoken word-infused house music performance. The new concert is powerful in its own right, but Stacy Stoltz's moving "performance" of the rarely used theremin was a highlight of the 2005 show. A clip of the concert has been seen in YouTube by more than 11,000 users.

"Dave DaVinci Saves The Universe" Redux

Imagine having a machine that allows you to travel back in time and gives you the ability to correct the mistakes you have made, and affords you the chance to live a life more extraordinary than how you lived it before. Would you use it? This is a question that The House Theatre of Chicago asks again, years after it originally posed it in its 2005 hit, “Dave DaVinci Saves the Universe.”

While they don’t have an actual time machine (that we know of), the three playwrights, Chris Mathews, Jake Minton (the two writers of the original “Dave”) and Nathan Allen (also the director of both versions) “re-imagined” the original story into a new show that will run September 21-November 8, 2008 in The House’s new home in the Chopin Theatre (1543 W. Division Street). Armed with the critical success of last year’s “The Sparrow”, the writers replaced characters and revised the dialogue to freshen up the previous version and provide it with a new point of view. The result, whether or not you’ve seen the original production, is a mesmerizing telling of a scientific fantasy love story.

“Dave” is about a genius scientist’s (Dennis Watkins and Stephen Taylor alternately play the future and present Dave) desperate quest to invent a time machine that would allow him to go back and prevent the suicide of his teenage daughter (Perdi, played by Paige Hoffman) a popular science fiction protégé. His obsession to undo the heartbreak caused by the past is creating intolerable pain for his wife (Nora played by Stacy Stoltz) and is destroying his marriage. His desperation causes him to see and talk to the characters from his daughter’s novels—a stereotypical android (T.H. Thoth, played by Joshua Holden), space crusader (Paige Hoffman as
Cass Meridian) and a giant red, furry, ram-like creature (Arcturus, magnificently played by Carolyn Defrin who does double duty as Nora’s younger self)—who guide him on his journey while they play out theirs. Dave does manage to invent the time machine but learns from his future self that the mission cannot be easily accomplished without significant repercussions, if it can be done at all. He and Nora must then make some difficult choices.

Time travel and science fiction aren’t easy to translate on stage. Even with scenic designer Collette Pollard’s set that easily turns a cozy living room with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves to a stark spaceship ready to enter a black hole (if you’ve ever wanted to see an Eames La Chaise up close, now’s your chance), and Debbie Baer’s color-coded costumes that help the audience distinguish between the past and future versions of Dave and Nora, and between Perdi and Cass Meridian—not to mention the remarkable piece of art that forms Arcturus—the time machine transitions are too quick and complicated to comprehend.

If there is anything to comprehend about Dave’s time-bending schemes, it may be that they are too scientifically intricate for us to follow. Or it may just be that they don’t really matter all that much. Although it poses many theories and questions about time travel the core of the story, after all, is the relationship that Dave and Nora has to salvage and the healing that they must attempt to survive from their daughter’s dark death. And Watkins, Defrin, Stoltz and Taylor tell this part of the story with simple but powerful emotion that leaves nothing to puzzle over.

Only those who saw the show in its first go-round can tell whether this year’s “Dave DaVinci Saves The Universe” was re-imagined for the better. Those who will see the show with virgin eyes, however, should appreciate “Dave” for what it presently is –a uniquely inventive show that weaves fantasy into the mundane.