The season’s guide to theater in central Illinois
BACKSTAGE PASS | Phil Funkenbusch
Fall is a great time of year, and there’s always an interesting list of theater productions in the area. Take a look at what’s happening here this fall.
Theatre in the Park at New Salem has two more performances of Kari Catton’s play Healin’ Home this weekend, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. The play is about three children who run away from an orphan train in 1920 Missouri. Next week a special performance of Shakespeare’s Macbeth returns Sept. 2-3 at 7:30, also in the outdoor theater. The 90-minute performance, adapted and performed by professional actors Reiko Aylesworth and Rob Clare, premiered there last spring. Kevin Purcell and Jonah Walker will also take part in the production. Call 217-632-5440 for tickets; online at www.theatreinthepark.net.
Springfield Ballet Company’s Julie Ratz unveils Rockballet at Sangamon Auditorium Sat. and Sun., Sept. 10-11. This is the 18th year for this popular production, celebrating dance and rock music and the music for this year’s edition will be performed live.
Rockballet is always an exciting event, featuring the troupe in very high-intensity dancing. Songs by Adele, Stevie Wonder, Van Morrison, Frank Sinatra, Aretha Franklin and Fleetwood Mac are featured in this year’s production. Call 206-6160 for tickets or online at www.Springfieldballetco.org.
Sangamon Auditorium hosts two Broadway touring editions this fall: My Fair Lady comes in for one performance, Sunday, Nov. 6, and Disney’s Beauty and the Beast is here for two nights, Wed.-Thurs., Nov. 30- Dec. 1. Roxy Entertainment brings singer Michael W. Smith to the Auditorium Fri., Oct. 21, at 8 p.m. Call the Sangamon Auditorium box office at 217-206-6160 (online at www.sangamonauditorium.com).
The new Legacy Theatre (in the old Theatre Guild building on West Lawrence Ave.) opened this summer with The Marvelous Wonderettes. The unique offerings this theater is bringing to Springfield continue with a special touring edition of the hilarious Dixie’s Tupperware Party (Sept. 16-18) in which “fast-talking Dixie Longate travels the country throwing good ol’ fashioned Tupperware Parties filled with outrageous tales, giveaways and audience participation.” This will be the show in which you’ll find a fabulous assortment of Tupperware to buy onstage. I’m not kidding!
Next is the central Illinois premiere of the Tony award-winning musical The Drowsy Chaperone, one of the most fun and unique musicals in years (Oct. 14-16, 21-23 and 28- 29). Cynda Wrightsman, Ed MacMurdo and Erin Biggerstaff are featured in the cast of wacky characters in which an old 1920s musical comes to life in a modern-day New Yorker’s apartment. Call 800-838-3006 for info, or go to www.atthelegacy.com.
The Hoogland Center for the Arts has the musical Smoke On the Mountain opening this weekend, running Aug. 26-28 and Sept. 2-4. Don Russell directs a great cast of local performers in this show about a family gospel singing group in the 1930s.
The Hoogland’s big gala fundraiser production is set for Fri.-Sun., Sept. 9-Oct. 2 with the grand musical Ragtime, directed by Matthew Vala and featuring a strong cast of performers and singers, including Joel Tinsley-Hall and Mary Kate Smith.
The stage musical version of The Rocky Horror Show will be performed by ADHD productions for the third year in a row at the Hoogland Center Oct. 27-29 (curtain at 9 p.m., plus an 11:59 p.m. show Oct. 29). Mac Warren again directs. For more ticket information for all the Hoogland productions, call the box office at 217-523-2787 or online at www.hcfta.org.
Local actor Aasne Vigesaa portrays convicted conspirator Mary Surratt in a onenight Re-trial of Mary Surratt, Monday, Oct. 3, at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum. Judge Tom Appleton will preside, with area attorneys Steven Beckett, Bill
