BOOTH ONE - Celebrating Culture and Conversation

We begin by discussing the upcoming Gay Pride parade and its history. This year's numbers are expected to exceed the 1,000,000 who attended the event in 2013 and 2014.

Gary reads us a few of Mallory Ortberg's fictionalized Ayn Rand reviews of children's movies from a piece in the New Yorker. Includes reviews and 1-4 stars for films such as Bambi, Snow White, Willy Wonka and Frozen. Read reviews

Ross mentions Rand's guest appearance on the Merv Griffin show. check it out

In their search for ever more obscure expos, Gary and Ross came across the North American Manure Expo. Includes reading of the "top 10 rejected manure expo t-shirt slogans." They are considering a field trip.

Here are the shows they talked about:

Carousel @ Lyric Opera

Ross went for a third time! Gary finally checked it out too. Even more to say about it.

Jesus Christ Superstar @ Theo Ubique

Huge hit in a 60 seat house in Rogers Park. Dani Smith's Mary Magdalene was one of the great all-time performances! She was also our cocktail waitress. For real. Just a marvelous production with a sensational 4-piece band. Ross talks about frequently being bumped into by Jesus and Pontius Pilate. read Hedy Weiss' review

A Streetcar Named Desire by the Scottish Ballet @ Harris Theatre

Roscoe loves the ballet and the staging but misses the poetry of the language. He also talks about people taking huge glugs from their water bottles during pivotal moments in shows.

Which brings him to mention the "audience participation Streetcar" at Writer's Theatre in Glencoe. A magnificent performance during which 3 different audience members commented aloud on the proceedings. Michael Halberstam and Writers are building a spectacular new theater. We've been going for years and can't wait to check out a show in the new space.

The Fantasticks @ Snapple Theater Center, NYC

One of Gary's favorites was set to close but 2 long-time fans have offered financial support so it can stay open. Ross has never seen it, so this will be a field trip for sure.

The Gin Game @ The Golden Theater, NYC

Coming this fall. Starring Cicely Tyson and James Earl Jones. Talk about thrilling!

Dr. Zhivago, the Musical is closing. Joe Allen's poster, here we come!

Kiss of Death

Dan Walker, Roscoe once interviewed him in prison read former Governor of Illinois' obit

Joshua Ozursky, food blogger and found of Meatopia  NYT obit

Jean Nidech, founder of Weight Watchers what a story! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roscoe did go see Carousel at Lyric. Here is a link to a behind the scenes Lyric blogpost about the making of the show: Carousel

And the 4-star Chicago Tribune review: Chris Jones

Naomi Lewin of WQXR in New York created an episode about Lyric Opera performing musicals, called "Do Broadway Musicals Have a Place on the Opera Stage?"  Hear the show on WQXR

Gary and Roscoe discuss this production and some of the marvelous history of the show, including Stephen Sondheim's reaction to it when it opened on Broadway in 1945.

Gary's talks about how his love of theatre started by listening to cast albums from Broadway shows.

Roscoe's very funny issues with Easter Egg Hunts

Kiss of Death:

Rudolph R. Perz, Creative Director at Leo Burnett who created Poppin Fresh, an iconic advertising mascot: Obit in NYT

(Chicago's Museum of Broadcast Communications is doing a showcase of the greatest advertising icons, including the Pillsbury doughboy through October 31: Advertising Icons show.)

 

Vivian Nicholson -A remarkable life story. Working in a licorice factory when she and and her husband won today's equivalent of 4.5 million dollars. Read Margalit Fox's marvelous NYT obit: Viv Nicholson

 

 

 

Things we TALKED about...

Northlight’s wonderful production of Outside Mullangar.

Anticipating our visit to Theo Ubique in Rogers Park to see Jesus Christ Superstar.

Memories and facts about the iconic Broadway watering hole, Joe Allen

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/03/30/trifecta

Hobohemia (you’ll have to listen) and the Dill Pickle Club. Frequent visitors included:

*    Clarence Darrow

*    Upton Sinclair

*    Carl Sandberg

*    Ben Hecht

A visit to the Chicago Flower & Garden Show featuring such things as:

* Insect petting zoo featuring baby cockroaches from Madagascar

* Painted lady butterflies

* The G-Swing (hammock-like contraption)

* No Miracle Grow or other things one might expect.

* Navy Pier…

Chita Rivera on Broadway in The Visit. Roscoe reports the show is “spellbinding!”

Kiss of Death:

-- Big Al Boope   Chicago Tribune obit

-- Albert Maysles  Documentary Filmmaker

-- Mary Healy  Actress dies at 96

-- Bernice Madigan  One of the world's oldest people dies at 115

 

Today is March 8. It’s Gary’s birthday. Ross’s birthday gift is a tie covered with sharks. Sharks are Gary’s only phobia. As he says, "I guarantee. There’s at least one shark waiting for a meal in Lake Michigan.”

Grant Park Music Festival season highlights: Fancy Free, the Sondheim concert, and our friend, Kurt Elling singing with a big band and the orchestra. www.grantparkmusicfestival.com

Ross at Davenports: An Evening with Stephen Sondheim with the sensational Beckie Menzie at the piano. Read some quotes about her and Tom Michael: http://tommichael.net/menzie-and-michael

Discussion of radio:

Including WFMT   wfmt.com

Kiss of Death:

-- Leonard Nimoy   NYT obit

-- Harve Bennett Star Trek producer

-- Alice Mathias Hammerstein  Oscar Hammerstein's daughter

Nobody Ever Lets RoscoeTalk:

Baby Peggy

Warren Beatty

Nikita Khrushchev

Welcome to our never-ending conversation. On this first episode, Gary introduced himself as “Peter Michaels.” An early attempt to be mysterious. He will correct this by episode 3.

Gary introduces his ideas about potential themes and segments.

Roscoe is sparkling in anticipation of the upcoming 2015 Oscars

An account of one of Roscoe's adventures at the Lyric Opera of Chicago

The Goodman production of Iceman Cometh goes to BAM.  click here to read the NYT review

Kiss of Death (our segment quoting from well-written obits honoring fascinating lives):            

-- Louis Jordan Louis Jourdan

-- Raul Rodriguez – Designer of Tournament of Roses floats.  Raul Rodriguez

-- Lesley Gore   Lesley Gore

Nobody Ever Lets Roscoe Talk:

Child stars

Booth One first encountered Breon's work seeing The Total Bent, produced by Haven & About Face Theatres. We were all blown away by Lili-Anne Brown's direction and the marvelous performances, including friend of the show, Robert Cornelius and new friend, Breon Arzell, who also choreographed this great musical. Here are some of the rave reviews. The production design was extraordinary. We were especially wowed by the choreography and costumes, designed by previous guest and friend, Christine Pasqual.

You can catch some of his brilliant work in the remote production of Kill Move Paradise. Absolutely not to be missed. We have seen a lot of attempts to capture great theatre on video and this is exceptional. A true masterpiece, directed by dear friend of the show, Wardell Julius Clark. Read one of the many great reviews here.

Much more to say, but we want to get the audio published now. Will write more ASAP.

We always love our amazingly talented guests, but this time we were Star Struck! David Pasquesi is a brilliant artist and one of the nicest people you're ever likely to meet. He is a master improvisor and has created memorable performances in many movies and TV series. He was excellent as Julia Louis Dreyfuss's ex-husband, Andrew in VEEP and had a great role as the "local alchemist" on the weird and wonderful Lodge 49. He also has done some infamous and long running voice-over spots for clients like McDonalds and Anheuser Busch. We have included his remarkable commercial reel in this episode. You can also go to David's website to check out his work.

David studied with the legendary improvisation pioneer Del Close, who created the Harold and was part of the first ever Harold team, Baron's Barracudas. David describes the Harold as a "long form group improvisation that was developed as a performance piece itself as opposed to using it to create material for revues...The aim is that the work is consistently good enough to be able to warrant a ticket price."

We talk about Del's ideas about working genuinely in improvisation. Gary reads from David and TJ Jagodowski's book, Improvisation at the Speed of Life. "Del taught us to play slowly without worrying about entertaining the audience. He stressed the importance of playing at the top of our intelligence...Another big lesson I took from Del was not to talk too much because overusing words diminishes the power of each one. Del taught us to dare to be poets...Don't be afraid of silence."

TJ & Dave have been doing long form performances at iO in Chicago and Barrow Street Theatre in New York since 2001. Stephen Colbert says of them, "One of these guys is the best improvisor in the world. And the other one is better." The New York Times calls their work, "...a creative tour de force, an intellectual high-wire act as astonishing as it is entertaining." They met on a team at the Chicago Improv Festival and found they shared a reverence for the same kind of work. They make it "more about discovery than invention...The work can be funny, but also sad, heartwarming, kind, scary, brutal. It's unlimited." David talks about the important role of the audience. TJ & Dave "requires interested people watching it."

David and our co-host Frank talk about teaching improvisation. "The most important thing is listening and paying attention...Be genuine moment to moment and the rest of it takes care of itself." Gary asks about another of David's teachers and mentors, Charna Halpern, who built ImprovOlympic with Del, has taught so many magnificent actors and writers, and now owns the marvelous iO Theatre at 1501 Kingsbury. There are 4 performances there every night of the week, a nice bar, and good food. Charna gave us great backstory on a few things. Such as: David camped out at her place when he was a student without an apartment and cooked dinner in exchange for his room. She also told us about him juggling apples in his stand up act and that he does great impersonations (not). Learn more about the force of nature that is Charna on episode 47 of our show, performed live at Steppenwolf Theatre.

Frank reviews the superb production of

Dennis Zacek, founding member and Artistic Director of Victory Gardens Theatre for 34 years, joined us in the Booth for a fascinating conversation about playwrights, directing, and the history of Chicago theatre. He shares his experiences directing over 250 productions, including his current production of Waiting for Godot, which runs at Victory Gardens through December 15.

Dr. Z is an icon of the Chicago theatre community, having been at the forefront of the storefront theatre movement in the mid-1970s. In 2014, Victory Gardens received the special Regional Theatre Tony Award for outstanding contributions to the American theatre landscape.

The Zacek Tapes is a fascinating book filled with interviews with Dennis about many aspects of his life in the theatre. We couldn't recommend it more highly!

More notes to come...

Kiss of Death

Jessye Norman, American opera singer and recitalist. A dramatic soprano, Norman sang a broad repertoire and avoided being limited to one kind of genre. She famously stated that "pigeonholes are for pigeons” and that she was "attracted to the unusual". A towering figure on operatic, concert, and recital hall stages, Norman leaves a vast catalogue of recordings. NY Times music critic Edward Rothstein described her voice as a "grand mansion of sound”, and wrote that “it has enormous dimensions, reaching backward and upward. It opens onto unexpected vistas." Jessye Norman was 74. Read the full NYTime obit here.

 

Wardell Julius Clark and Regina Victor are stars who just keep growing in our Chicago theatre community. We had an amazing time talking with them recently about all of their adventures. They are work and life partners and as Gary said, "extraordinary creative artists and human beings." They also did a beautiful job introducing the show. Voice over agents, take note.

Regina Victor works as a theatre director, producer, dramaturg, arts journalist, and mentor. Regina is a non-binary femme who grew up in Oakland, now residing in Chicago. Regina attended boarding school at Phillips Exeter, then studied theatre, religion, and dance at Santa Clara University. They have worked with and been mentored by, among others, Phylicia Rashad, Anna Shapiro, Raelle Myrick-Hodges, and Danya Taymor. Victor has helped develop world premieres by Antoinette Nwandu (Breach:...), Brett Neveu (To Catch A Fish), Sarah Ruhl and Morgan McNaught (A Persephone Pageant), and Loy Webb (The Light, His Shadow). Regina will be direct a world premiere of Pro-Am at Sideshow in May. They have recently been named to be the first Associate Producer ever at Court Theatre.

Regina founded an arts criticism platform called Rescripted in 2017. Rescripted’s mission is "to reprogram the way we critically engage with each other using an empathetic lens, while cultivating critics and adding new voices to the field." It is a collective of artists who engage with each other's ideas and opinions openly. Regina mentors young critics through a program called The Key, which has produced some terrific new critics. It is produced in partnership with the Chicago Inclusion Project and is hosted by Steppenwolf Theater Company.

Wardell Julius Clark was raised in Fairfield, Alabama, where he toured the country as a child with the amazing Sparkle Dance Company. Read about their mission and programs here. He went on to audition for DePaul University's acting program, which is extremely competitive. He got in to the program, didn't get cut, and has been working here in Chicago ever since. He was a very successful actor for the first 10 years of his career, then asked Ron OJ Parsons if he could assist him on directing Gem of the Ocean at Court. He tells a wonderful story about his first (triumphant) directing gig on Insurrection at Stage Left. Next up was Wardell's hugely acclaimed production of The Shipment. He has been booked as a director since...

We recently saw and were blown away by His Shadow, which Wardell (with Sydney Charles) directed, with Regina serving as Dramaturg. It was truly not to be missed. The good news is it was recorded for the archives at Harold Washington Lib...

We were thrilled to have Erica Daniels Strater join us in the Booth, starting our next 100 episodes off in style! She has been an agent, casting director, Associate Artistic Director, president, and now Executive Director. All at top-flight companies.

Erica has so many dear friends in the Chicago theatre community. She helped us all out when we were with small companies who needed casting help and couldn't afford our own casting directors. Her email response would come back pronto with a list of really great suggestions for a role. Early in her career, she joined her close friend and mentor, Martha Lavey, in choosing to make the effort to pay attention to smaller companies and emerging talents and to lend a hand up.

A graduate of Northwestern University with a degree in Performance Studies, she studied with an amazing group of artists, including Martha Lavey, Frank Galati, Mary Zimmerman and Dwight Conquergood. When she graduated and was planning to start auditioning, Erica broker her foot. While she was recuperating, she thought maybe she could help out in a casting director's office. She worked in Jane Brody's office, then Shirley Hamilton's, two of the best casting people in Chicago. Then, after an exciting stint as the Theatre Department coordinator at William Morris in New York, she went to work for Steppenwolf as their in-house casting director. She was then promoted to Associate Artistic Director and did a wonderful job in that capacity while continuing to do their casting.

She is providing great leadership at Victory Gardens, collaborating with her partner, Artistic Director Chay Yew. Erica is eloquent about Victory Gardens' mission to "be a leader in developing and producing new work and cultivating an inclusive theater community." We have seen so many marvelous productions there, most recently, Tiny Beautiful Things. Erica and Chay were listed as #1! in New City Stages' feature: Players 2019: The Fifty People Who Really Perform for Chicago..

Gary talks to Erica about getting her start in the business, what she looks for in an actor, the audition process, working with directors to cast just the right actor for the role, and what challenges an Executive Director of a Tony Award-winning Chicago off-loop theatre faces on a daily basis. You'll find Erica to be eloquent and forthright in her responses. Just a joy to have as a guest in the Booth.

Kiss of Death:

Franco Zeffirelli, Italian director with a penchant for excess. Renowned for his extravagantly romantic opera productions, immensely popular film versions of Shakespeare and an active and sometimes controversial social life. Wiki tells us he was one of the only living people traceably consanguineous with Leonardo da Vinci. Mr. Zeffirelli was 96.