The former Drury Lane Theater at Water Tower Place has been transformed to the new Broadway Playhouse. The lobby was a little bit meh - it used to be all plush and gilded, now it looks kinda like an information center - very stark and cold - like the moderately nicer looking stepchild of the (ugly) Harris Theater lobby. Wide open space, with black and white cheering audience people displayed along the walls. Well, huh.
Inside, it is really cute, a little jewel box of a theater, but with those same eerie black and white cheering audience people along the sides of the walls in there too. We were in row K, smack in the center. I'd been looking forward to seeing Sutton Foster perform there since I had heard about her concert (way back in the spring) - and she did not disappoint. The stage was simply set - panels of fabric along the back, groupings of square light fixtures on either side of the stage. Ms. Foster was introduced with a flourish ("Please welcome to the stage... Suttoooonnnn Foooossstteerrr!!") - she came out and started belting up a storm. She was absolutely charm itself - pausing between songs to chat with the audience - mentioning that most of the songs she would be singing came from her cd - and she then handed a copy to someone in the front row. She brought one of her Tonys to visit Chicago, she took video of us all in the audience waving and yelling "Hi from Chicago!"
She sang a lovely variety of songs - John Denver's "Sunshine" a few from Duke Ellington, and of course, songs from Broadway - cut songs from Thoroughly Modern Millie and Shrek, and also "Anyone Can Whistle" and "Being Alive" (someone in the audience exclaimed how much they loved Anyone Can Whistle - then asked "What show is that from?")
And, to introduce some variety and randomness into the proceedings, Ms. Foster put five songs on slips of paper into a cup (it said "HO" on it. Its mate said "PIMP") and had someone from the audience pull a song out for her to sing. Our choices were Meadowlark, Defying Gravity, some other ones I am not recalling at the moment, and "And I am Telling You" from Dreamgirls - which is the one she sang. She blew the roof off of that little place!
A fabulous inauguration to the new Broadway Playhouse. I am sure I will get used to the new decor...
2 comments:
Oh, so jealous you got to hear her sing "And I'm Tellin' You."
The theatre was a bit drab, wasn't it? Like they hosing it down with black paint was the best option.
I'm jealous you got to hear her sing "Meadowlark"!
The theatre lobby left a lot to be desired. Still, it's a nice little house...
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