WBEZ 91.5 Chicago

1. Albany Park Theater Project is teaming up with Josh Groban, he of the wavy hair and swooning fans. Groban's foundation Find Your Light "which is dedicated to enriching the lives of young people through arts, education, and cultural awareness" has chosen to donate money to APTP, the third arts education nonprofit to have had such an honor. Conveniently, Groban is also in Chicago as part of his "Straight to You" tour, during which he's partnered with Americans for the Arts as part of some sort of text-to-give situation. Stars! They really do care! 

2. Porchlight has named L. Walter Stearns as the first recipient of their The Guy Adkins Award for Excellence in the Advancement of Music Theatre in Chicago.

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Updated at: 2:40 pm on 7/11/10

The announcement that The Mommies–A Musical Blog has delayed its July opening at the Royal George raised more questions than it answered. Why should litigation about and with the producers of her previous work, Menopause the Musical, prevent writer/producer Jeanie Linders from opening something new? That, after all, is why God invented lawyers: so normal people could go about their normal lives even when confronted with Jarndyce v. Jarndyce

Apparently, though, the feud goes beyond the question of production rights for Menopause.

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1. Dan Savage was seen at The Homosexuals on Saturday night.

2. The Night Roars Cabaret is at the darkroom tonight. Their will  be nine performances, each only five minutes long, which means you can be out in the time it takes to watch an episode of CSI. Presented by Striding Lion, it will include work by The Ladies Ring Shout, The Catamounts, Synapse Arts' Factor Ricochet Ensemble, The Harlotry & Necromancy Appreciation Society, several Striding Lion Performance Groups, and others. 

3.

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The American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA) has selected Chicago, IL as the site of its 39th annual conference, June 13-17, 2012. It will be the fourth time Chicago has hosted an ATCA conference, more than any other American city, and the first time since 2002.

During the course of four days, theater critics representing print, broadcast and online platforms will attend as many as six productions by indigenous Chicago theater companies and explore local and national theater-related topics through panel discussions, workshops and a Perspectives in Criticism keynote address. The ATCA annual conference will be co-hosted by the League of Chicago Theatres and the City of Chicago Office of Tourism and Culture.

Attendees will experience the energy and diversity of Chicago Off-Loop Theater in various neighborhoods, rather than focus on Downtown theaters. The preliminary schedule includes events at the new Black Ensemble Cultural Center in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood, and also at Theater Wit!

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1. The All New Original Tribute to the Blues Brothers is wending its way through Chicago, and they did a special performance outside the Thompson Center today at noon, much to the delight of passersby. They're not the original, but I my guess is that they'll do pretty well where they started.

2. The Mommies are no longer coming quite as soon as they used to be. This "Musical Blog" at the Royal George Theater has been postponed due to litigation involving writer and producer Jeanie Linders. Linders' play Menopause: The Musical "has been embroiled in lengthy production rights litigation with GFour Productions of South Florida, whose rights to act as Presenter and Producer of Menopause: The Musical have been terminated. GFour has challenged the termination.

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We caught up with Marcus Gilmer before his big show at The Paper Machete tomorrow. Gilmer is an editor at AV Club. He has performed at The Paper Machete before and tomorrow afternoon, he joins these great writers performing original work. I caught up with Marcus yesterday afternoon on IM to get a preview of his piece.

4:17 PM Kate: Hi Marcus  Marcus: Hey!

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KELLY: Shout is something of a misnomer for this jukebox revue, as most of the songs are from a later period--specifically, 1966-7-8, when Pet Clark ruled the airwaves and the Top 40 was just as likely to feature Broadway-style ballads as rock 'n' roll. But it's a great name for the sensation the Marriott Theatre production produces in its audience, a mix of wonderment and wonderment at the clever use director-choreographer Rachel Rockwell and her cast of five girl singers and eight dancers make of these familiar melodies. They take me back to junior high school, Jonathan, which I presume means you were in your last years of graduate school. I hope that doesn't mean you're too old to share the love!

JONATHAN: Grad school? Kelly, I'd been out in the real world earning a living and paying taxes for 40 years by then! Actually, the original name of this 2008 Off-Broadway revue was Shout! The Mod Musical, and it definitely was a nod to the Brit chick singers of the 1960's, not only Petula Clark but also Lulu and Cilla Black.

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