Here's some national news (courtesy of our pals at the Associated Press) about Broadway legend Tommy Tune, who's tackling a new show in Chicago:
<< By MICHAEL KUCHWARA
AP Drama Writer
NEW YORK (AP) -- Tommy Tune will return to musical theater, directing "Turn of the Century," a world premiere that will be part of an ambitious 2008-2009 season at Chicago's Goodman Theatre.
"The show is an original - not based on a movie, a novel, or a made-for-television anything," the nine-time Tony winner said Thursday in explaining what attracted him to the project. "It's unique."
"Turn of the Century" came to the Goodman through Rick Elice, who co-wrote the show with Marshall Brickman. The Tony-winning writers of "Jersey Boys" have concocted what Robert Falls, artistic director of the Goodman, calls "a wonderful comic romp."
"The basic premise involves a young songwriter-piano player and his girl singer who find themselves through mysterious, supernatural, `Twilight Zone'-ish activities thrown back to the turn of the century, the 20th century," Falls said in a telephone interview from Chicago.
"They are playing a gig on the eve of the 21st century and at the strike of midnight, they find themselves thrown back to the dawning of the 20th century," Falls said.
The score will be composed of great American standards written by giants such as Irving Berlin, Rodgers and Hart, George Gershwin, Rodgers and Hammerstein and more, according to Tune.
"The fun part is that the couple, Billy and Dixie, realize the songs they are performing haven't been written yet - so they decide to write them," said Tune, who has directed Broadway musicals such as "Nine," "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas," "My One and Only," "Grand Hotel" and "The Will Rogers Follies."
"The two become the toast of the town," Tune continued. "But for every action, there is a reaction, so they face the results of this fame, fortune and karma and find their relationship is unraveling."
"The hard part is choosing the songs," he said. "That's our work between now and the time we open." Falls said the musical will go into rehearsal in late summer and open in either September or October.
The Goodman's 2008-2009 season also will feature Brian Dennehy in a revival of Eugene O'Neill's rarely seen "Desire Under the Elms"; the world premiere of Lynn Nottage's "Ruined," set in a civil-war-plagued Congo; and "Yohen" by Philip Kan Gotanda, a look at the long relationship between a Japanese-born woman and a black American who first met in post-World War II Japan. The last will be a co-production with Chicago's Silk Road Theatre Project and will be performed at Silk Road's small Loop theater located near the Goodman.
Dennehy and Falls have collaborated on four other O'Neill revivals including "The Iceman Cometh," "A Touch of the Poet," "Hughie" and a Tony-winning production of "Long Day's Journey Into Night."
"O'Neill is the Everest of American playwrights," Falls said. "You can't climb that mountain without spilling a lot of blood and sweat and tears. For this play, you need three extraordinary actors." The two other lead roles are still to be cast.
"Desire Under the Elms" will be part of a major Chicago celebration of the playwright, which Falls is calling "O'Neill in the 21st Century."
"I have invited a number of theater artists, both directors and companies from around the world, to present works by O'Neill in a festival setting," he said. "There probably will be four or five productions playing in January, February, early March 2009.
"The celebration is still coming together but we are looking at theater companies from South Africa, Brazil, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Russia. I don't know where it's going to land but there is some major work being done around the world on the plays of O'Neill, and we hope to get them here."
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