presents chicago celebrates sondheim!...losing my mind (follies) weekend in the country (a little...
TRANSCRIPT
presents
Chicago CelebratesSondheim!
Saturday, November 16 @ 8PM
Director: Joan CurtoMusical Director: Beckie Menzie
With Heidi Kettenring, Paul Marinaro, Johnny Rodgers, and Robert Sims, joined by special guests
Susan Werner and Rodrick DixonAlso featuring David Edelfelt, Laura Freeman, Sophie Grimm, Tom Michael,
Marianne Murphy Orland, Jaymes Osborne, Alfreda Burke, and studentsfrom Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of Performing Arts (Maria Alexandra,
Marta Bady, Faith Bas, Abrial Bonilla, Leah Brock, Sopia Dennis, Jack Dunham, Jacob Durso-Sabina, Amari Gamble, Alcee Jones, Jason Leach, Magaret McCall,
Alexandria Neyhart, Emma Powell, Samantha Russell, Max Shingen, Nathaniel Thomas, Haley Wolf, Caeli Wu)
with
Conducted by Rich Daniels
Pre-show video: Steven Wright
Orchestrations: Bob Ojeda
Stage Manager: Erik Strebig
AUDITORIUM THEATRE 2019–20 SEASON SPONSORS
Official Hotel Partner Magazine Sponsor
CHICAGO CELEBRATES SONDHEIM! PRESENTING SPONSOR
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ABOUT CHICAGO CELEBRATES SONDHEIM!
Director’s Note:The City of Chicago named 2019 the “Year of Chicago Theatre.” Upon this announcement, the commissioner of the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, Mark Kelly, said, “To truly fall in love with Chicago, you must go to our theatres. This is where the city bares its fearless soul.” As part of that soul-baring, it seems essential that we celebrate one of our greatest composer/lyricists for the theatre, Stephen Sondheim. Mr. Sondheim has always said he writes for the characters. And we, as devotees of his work, know that he doesn’t just write for them — he uncovers them and he delves deeply into them and the world around them, creating songs that allow us to see the souls they bare. And his canvas is musical theatre, or, as he has said, “musical comedy — the runt of the litter.”
On the cusp of Mr. Sondheim’s 90th birthday, we celebrate his music, Chicago-style. We come from varying genres: jazz, classical, folk, theatre, pop, and cabaret. We lend our voices to a lifetime of work, to songs that have been described as complex, layered, full of emotion, provocative, dark, and funny. Sondheim’s music uses “angular harmonies and intricate melodies,” while his lyrics reveal the human stories that we can all relate to. Most singers and actors I know just refer to him as the master, a genius — or even as a god! We are honored to sing his remarkable songs for you tonight, in this glorious theatre, in this wonderful theatre
town.
Chicago Celebrates Sondheim!ACT I
Overture
Everybody Says Don’t/Some People (Anyone Can Whistle/Gypsy†)
Our Time/Something’s Coming (Merrily We Roll Along/ West Side Story*)
Maria (West Side Story*)
Marry Me a Little/Not Getting Married (Company)
Johanna (Sweeney Todd)
Could I Leave You? (Follies)
Being Alive (Company)
No One Is Alone/Not While I’m Around (Into the Woods/Sweeney Todd)
Live Alone and Like It (Dick Tracy)
Somewhere (West Side Story*)
Entr’acte
Giants in the Sky (Into the Woods)
Pretty Women (Sweeney Todd)
Glamorous Life (A Little Night Music)
Anyone Can Whistle (Anyone Can Whistle)
Losing My Mind (Follies)
Weekend in the Country (A Little Night Music)
Send in the Clowns (A Little Night Music)
Good Thing Going/Not a Day Goes By (Merrily We Roll Along)
I’m Still Here (Follies)
Sunday (Sunday in the Park with George)
Chicago Philharmonic
Joan Curto
Beckie Menzie, Tom Michael
Robert Sims
Jaymes Osbone, Heidi Kettenring
Johnny Rodgers
Joan Curto
Sophie Grimm, Laura Freeman,Marianne Murphy Orland
Beckie Menzie
Susan Werner
Rodrick Dixon
Chicago Philharmonic
Johnny Rodgers
Robert Sims, David Edelfelt
Beckie Menzie
Susan Werner
Heidi Kettenring
Sophie Grimm, Laura Freeman, Jaymes Osborne, Marianne Murphy Orland, David Edelfelt, Tom Michael
Joan Curto
Paul Marinaro
Joan Curto
ALL
ACT II
† Music by Jule Styne* Music by Leonard Bernstein
— Joan Curto
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BIOGRAPHIES
Joan Curto (Director) is honored to return to the Auditorium Theatre for her third production, following 2016’s Cole Porter 125 and 2017’s Ella and Lena: The Ladies and Their Music. Curto has been called a “cabaret icon” by NBC-5 Chicago and “an artist with clout” by the Huffington Post. She has appeared across the nation in concerts and clubs, often celebrating the music of the Great American Songbook. As a Chicago-based performer, she is a familiar face to Chicago audiences, garnering a reputation for her thoughtful interpretations and powerful voice. She has performed at many Chicago venues, including the Auditorium Theatre, the Harris Theater, the Empire Room, Victory Gardens, Davenport’s, Drury Lane, Park West, the Thorne Auditorium, and the Claudia Cassidy Theater at the Chicago Cultural Center. She has participated in numerous years of the Chicago Humanities Festival and appeared at many of the Mabel Mercer
Foundation’s Cabaret Conventions. Nationally, Curto has performed in some of the top cabaret clubs and concert series, including Jazz at Lincoln Center and the Metropolitan Room in New York City, NY; the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center in Milwaukee, WI; the Overture Center in Madison, WI; the Gardenia in Los Angeles, CA; and the Colony Hotel in Palm Beach, FL.
In 2016, Curto was recognized and awarded with the Gold Coast Award by Chicago Cabaret Professionals for her contributions to the art of cabaret and awarded the Chicago After Dark Award for Outstanding Cabaret Artist. She continues to explore the songs of both the Classic and the New American Songbook, and has developed and performed shows across the country featuring the music of Cole Porter, George and Ira Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, Jerry Herman, and Stephen Sondheim. Howard Reich from the Chicago Tribune has praised Curto’s work, describing her as “a seasoned interpreter who makes every note count.” Her music can be found on CDBaby.com, at iTunes and Amazon, or through her website, JoanCurto.com.
Beckie Menzie (Musical Director) has appeared at the legendary Carnegie Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and Birdland in New York; the Auditorium Theatre and Park West in Chicago; and concert halls and art series across the country. Hailed by WGN Radio as “indispensable to Chicago cabaret,” Menzie was featured in Michael Feinstein’s Now & Then Series for her Carnegie Hall debut. She has been featured at many Mabel Mercer Cabaret Conventions in New York, the Hamptons, and Chicago, and performed at the Chicago Humanities Festival numerous times, where she served as a performer, director, and musical director. Menzie serves as a Musical Director for Michael Feinstein’s Songbook Academy and performs regularly with Tom Michael. As a duo, they have toured their many concerts across the country. They performed at Carnegie Hall for Cole Porter’s 100th birthday celebration and appeared with Rich Daniels’ City Lights
Orchestra and many other symphonies for their holiday show. Menzie is part of the group Girls Like Us with Laura Freeman and Marianne Murphy Orland, which entertains audiences across the Midwest. She is the co-host for Monday Night Live at Petterino’s and is an award-winning songwriter who coaches Chicago’s young musical talent. For more information, visit BeckieMenzie.com.
Rich Daniels (Conductor) has been creating and conducting memorable concerts and events since 1974, when he began his professional journey as a high school freshman on the South Side of Chicago. Music was always a passion for Daniels, as he realized at a very young age that it was possible to captivate an audience with a live performance while touching their hearts and minds in an indelible way. With the City Lights Orchestra, Daniels has been given a chance to participate in thousands of programs nationwide for associations, corporations, and non-profit organizations. Additionally, Daniels and his colleagues have had the chance to take the stage and perform in concert with some of the greatest musical artists of the past half-century, including Ray Charles, Garth Brooks, Mel Tormé, Rosemary Clooney, Dionne Warwick, Burt Bacharach, Michael Bublé, and David Foster. In recent years, Daniels has also been busy in the studio composing
and producing recordings for a wide range of projects. He composed music for the pilot of the Emmy Award-winning show Boss starring Kelsey Grammer, and served as the on-camera music supervisor for Empire on Fox, starring Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson. He also conducted regional orchestras, including the Baltimore Symphony, the Berkeley Symphony, the Richmond Philharmonic, the Hartford Philharmonic, and others, performing a symphonic celebration of Jerry Garcia with legendary guitarist and vocalist Warren Haynes.
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BIOGRAPHIES
Daniels is proud of the various charitable organizations he has worked with throughout his career, especially the Mercy Home for Boys and Girls in Chicago (former board chairman), the DePaul University School of Music (current board chairman), and the Archdiocese of Immigrant Affairs (treasurer). He is also a board member of the Chicago Federation of Musicians and a delegate to the Chicago Federation of Labor. He was appointed to the board of the Illinois Arts Council for a four-year term by Illinois governor Pat Quinn in 2013. Daniels and his lovely wife Kathy have four beautiful children: Rich, Mary Kate, Emily, and Maggie.
Heidi Kettenring is best known for her performance as Nessa in Broadway In Chicago’s Wicked. She has worked with Goodman Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Northlight Theatre, Court Theatre, Marriott Theatre, Drury Lane Theatre, Writers Theatre, American Theatre Company, Theatre at the Center, Chicago Commercial Collective, and Porchlight Theatre. She performed in the national tour of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. Film and television work includes Man of Steel, Chicago Fire, and Cupid. She received a Joseph Jefferson Award for her performance as Anna in Marriott Theatre’s The King and I and has garnered eight Jeff nominations. She is also the recipient of the Sarah Siddons Award, an After Dark Award, the Richard M. Kneeland Award, and two Broadway World Awards. She is a proud member of the Actors’ Equity Association and is a Northwestern University graduate.
Paul Marinaro is a jazz vocalist who has performed at venues including the Green Mill, Andy’s Jazz Club, and the Chicago Jazz Festival in Millennium Park. Marinaro’s performances have been named among the best of the year in the Chicago Tribune numerous times. He is a featured vocalist with the Chicago Jazz Orchestra and was the sole vocalist in Jazz at Lincoln Center’s 2019 production of The Oscar Peterson Story. The Chicago Tribune called his voice “one of the most beautiful vocal instruments in the business today” and he has become one of the most in-demand and respected male vocalists on the scene today. He has released two albums, Without a Song (2013) and the live album One Night in Chicago (2015). He appeared in various Nat King Cole centennial concerts throughout 2019.
Johnny Rodgers is an internationally celebrated singer-songwriter, pianist, Broadway veteran, and recording artist who has been described by Stephen Holden of the New York Times as an entertainer “who has show business in his bones.” He tours for the State Department of the United States to places including the Middle East, North Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Islands, and has toured Russia and performed with the Moscow Symphony Orchestra. He doubled as a piano player and music director for Liza Minelli performances and tours and wrote the song “I Would Never Leave You” for her Tony Award-winning production Liza’s at the Palace. He has earned Nightlife, Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs (MAC), and Bistro awards for his performances at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and other venues. His songwriting has been recognized with Billboard and ASCAP Foundation Awards.
Robert Sims is a vocalist who has been highly praised for his moving interpretations of African American spirituals. He has given numerous recitals of these spirituals throughout the United States, South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. He has appeared with many orchestras in the United States, and toured Japan with the Pacific Music Festival Orchestra, where he was featured in a nationally televised performance of Leonard Bernstein’s Opening Prayer. In 2005, Sims made his recital debut at Carnegie Hall and was invited by Jessye Norman to participate in Honor! A Celebration of the African American Cultural Legacy at Carnegie Hall in 2009. He has appeared with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in two international telecasts and has appeared at Lincoln Center, the Ravinia Festival, Symphony Center, the Auditorium Theatre, the Harris Theater, and the Goodman Theatre. Sims is a Professor of Voice
at Northeastern Illinois University in Dekalb, IL.
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BIOGRAPHIES
Susan Werner has written 12 albums in a range of styles, from folk and rock to gospel, country, and chamber music. She is renowned as a charismatic performer and has appeared on NPR’s World Café and Mountain Stage. Her songs have been recorded by Tom Jones, Michael
Feinstein, Betty Buckley, and Christine Ebersole, among others.
Rodrick Dixon is a powerful tenor who stars in the Auditorium Theatre’s annual production of Too Hot to Handel. He has performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, among others. He
recently performed at the inauguration of Mayor Lori Lightfoot with his wife Alfreda Burke.
David Edelfelt is a voice teacher, vocal coach, composer, arranger, and accompanist, as well as a talented choral conductor. He has performed at the Mabel Mercer Cabaret Convention, Park West, and others. Recently, he presented his solo show Broadway Baritones at Davenport’s.
Laura Freeman has toured the United States and Europe extensively in productions including Into the Woods and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. As a cabaret performer, she has created tributes to Doris Day, Julie Andrews, and others, and
performed as a soloist at the Auditorium Theatre, Park West, and the Acorn Theatre.
Sophie Grimm is a lifelong vocalist and actor who has appeared as Paulette in Paramount Theater’s Legally Blonde, Mom in Trevor at Writers Theatre, and Desdemona in Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s Othello: The Remix.
Tom Michael has performed on stages including Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, the Auditorium Theatre, and the Empire Room. He regularly performs in cabaret, symphony, and orchestra concerts with his musical partner Beckie Menzie.
Jaymes Osborne is a local Chicago performer who has appeared in Hairspray and Jesus Christ Superstar at the Paramount Theatre, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at Porchlight Music Theatre, and Avenue Q at the Mercury Theater.
Marianne Murphy Orland is a big band singer, a cabaret artist, and a voice actor who has performed at Victory Gardens, Park West, and countless other venues. She is known for her tributes to Karen Carpenter, Petula Clark, and Dolly Parton.
Bob Ojeda (Orchestrator) started his career in his teens. He studied harmony and composition with prominent Chicago composer William Russo and was discovered by band leader Stan Kenton. Ojeda’s experience varies widely, from movie and symphonic work to staff arranger for Johnny
Carson’s Tonight Show in the 1980s. He was the chief arranger and composer for the Count Basie Orchestra throughout the 1990s. Ojeda’s credits include orchestrating and arranging for Sarah Vaughan, Peggy Lee, Rita Moreno, Lena Horne, Diane Schuur, Carmen McRae, and George Benson. He is currently busy with composing and arranging, and his compositions have been published worldwide.
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ABOUT THE CHICAGO PHILHARMONIC
About The Chicago Philharmonic
The Chicago Philharmonic has been called “one of the country’s fi nest symphonic orchestras” by the Chicago Tribune. The Chicago Philharmonic Society is a collaboration of over 200 of the highest-level classical musicians performing in the Chicago metropolitan area. Governed under a groundbreaking structure of musician leadership, the Society presents concerts at venues throughout the Chicago area that cover the full spectrum of classical music, from Bach to Bernstein and beyond.
Founded nearly 30 years ago, the Chicago Philharmonic currently serves as the offi cial orchestra of The Joffrey Ballet, continues its 25-year association with the Ravinia Festival, is a resident company of Harris Theater for Music and Dance, and performs regularly at the Auditorium Theatre, Symphony Center, and other great concert halls of the Chicago and North Shore area. In 2018, the Illinois Council of Orchestras honored the Chicago Philharmonic with the “Orchestra of the Year” award.
Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra Roster
Scott Speck, Artistic Director
James Berkenstock, Artistic Advisor
Thomas Manning, Board Chairman
Donna Milanovich, Executive Director
ViolinFlorentina Ramniceanu, ConcertmasterStephen Boe, Principal SecondJennifer CappelliCarmen KissingerJeff Kang
ViolaBenton Wedge, PrincipalLoretta GillespieMichael Lieberman
CelloBarbara Haffner, PrincipalMargaret Daly
BassJim Cox, Principal
Alto Saxophone/Flute/PiccoloJerry DiMuzio, Principal
Tenor Saxophone/ClarinetJohn Wojciechowski, PrincipalScott Burns
Baritone Saxophone/Bass ClarinetPeter Brusen
Trumpet/FlugelhornMark Olen, PrincipalJoe LillArt Davis
TromboneAndy Baker, Principal
Bass TromboneTom Matta
DrumsetPhil Gratteau, Principal
PercussionJoel Cohen, Principal
PianoDennis Luxion, Principal
GuitarAndy Brown, Principal
THANK YOU TO OUR GALA SPONSORS!GALA CO-CHAIRS
Pamela Crutchfield
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*Our Friends Remembered | Sponsors as of 11.1.19 | Auditorium Theatre, photo by Lucio Vergara.
2019AUDITORIUM THEATRE ANNUAL FALL GALA
HONORING PATTI EYLAR & CHARLIE GARDNER | WELCOMING RICH REGAN
THANK YOU TO OUR GALA SUPPORTERS!GALA SUPPORTERSRochelle Allen
Veronica & Brett Batterson, In honor of Patti Eylar &
Charlie Gardner
Geneva & Robert Calloway
Crowe LLP
Michael F. Csar, In honor of Patti Eylar &
Charlie Gardner
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Charlie Gardner
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Charlie Gardner
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Charlie Gardner
The John Buck Company
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Rudy Marcozzi & the Chicago College of Performing Arts,
In honor of Patti Eylar & Charlie Gardner
Elizabeth & Matt McNicholas
Bill Melamed & Jamey Lundblad,
In honor of Patti Eylar & Charlie Gardner
Anne & Keith Moffat
Joseph W. A. Myers
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Roosevelt University
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Melissa Thodos
Dana Shepard Treister & Dr. Michael Roy Treister
Nancy & Yung Wong
IN-KIND SUPPORT PROVIDED BY:Chirp Design, Inc.
HMS Media
Loop Auto Parks
Palmer House, a Hilton Hotel
Voveti ProseccoSupporters as of 11.1.19
SONDHEIM PRODUCER’S CIRCLEThank you to the members of the Sondheim Producer’s Circle for their generous support of tonight’s production.
SILVER PRODUCERS
Kate Breski and Don Richardson
Marcia and Tom Fritz
BRONZE PRODUCERS
Jay Cook
Iga Ksiazek
Barbara LaSpesa and Seymour Zitomersky
Francine Pepitone and Stephen Erenburg
Bobbi Zabel
Additional support provided by Rita Dragonette
Supporters as of 11.1.19 | Stephen Sondheim, photo by Yousuf Karsh.