New in Town: Mosaic Theatre Company

There's a new theater company in Bloomington-Normal. Or there will be very soon!

Check out this announcement from the brand-new Mosaic Theatre Company Facebook page:

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we are proud to announce Bloomington-Normal's newest theatre: MOSAIC Theatre Company! We are planning on delighting you with great theatre here in central Illinois, starting with our inaugural production, Tragedy: A Tragedy by Will Eno, directed by Kenny Kendall.

"Auditions will be held May 29th and 30th with performances starting July 18th!

"Please support us, and all the theatre in Bloomington-Normal..."

Founder Jennifer Lumsdon, who has in the past directed and acted with local theaters like Prairie Fire and Heartland, has also created a kickstarter page in the hopes of creating some operating capital for the planned Tragedy production. You can visit that page and see what Mosaic has to offer right here. 

The new company's mission statement says they intend to "provide entertainment to the public in the form of professional quality theatrical productions, selected from the full spectrum of published plays as well as original works; and to provide theatrical education and support to the community through classes and mentoring/tutoring programs."

Note the mention of classes, which appears to also play a big part in the Mosaic plan. No word on where those classes will take place, but the first show will be produced at "cometogetherspace" at Roosevelt and Jefferson Streets in downtown Bloomington.

For more information about Mosaic Theatre Company's inaugural production, auditions and even t-shirts, click here.

Will "Damn Yankees" Hit It Out of the Park for Prairie Fire?

Baseball fans in the 50s knew what it was like to despair of anyone other than the Yankees winning the World Series. Sure, the Dodgers sneaked in there a couple of times, but baseball in the 50s was all Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford, Yogi Berra, Joe DiMaggio, Phil Rizzuto... Damn those Yankees, anyway!

That's why a guy named Douglass Wallop came up with a Faustian hook for his novel, "The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant," in which a fed-up Washington Senators fan accepts an offer from a devilish smooth talker named Applegate. If middle-aged nebbish Joe Boyd signs on the dotted line, he will immediately transform into Joe Hardy, an amazing young baseball phenom who can single-handedly turn the Senators into winners. Will Joe sell his soul for a winning baseball team? Or will he find a way to use his exit clause and get back to his wife with his soul intact?

The novel came out in 1954, and was quickly turned into a Broadway musical, with old hand George Abbott and Wallop creating the book, and Richard Adler and Jerry Ross writing music and lyrics. Adler and Ross, proteges of Frank Loesser, were fresh off "The Pajama Game," which had won the 1955 Tony Award for Best Musical. Bob Fosse's "Pajama Game" choreography also won a Tony, and he was in place for "Damn Yankees," as well, working with Gwen Verdon, who was cast as Lola, the sexy siren who tries to tempt Joe Boyd and his younger alter ego, Joe Hardy, into sticking with the devil's bargain.

With Verdon dancing Fosse's choreography in numbers like "Whatever Lola Wants, Lola Gets,""Damn Yankees" was a smash, winning seven Tonys, including Best Musical, Leading Actor (Ray Walston, as Applegate), Leading Actress (Verdon), Featured Actor (Russ Brown as Van Buren, the manager), Featured Actress (Rae Allen as Gloria Thorpe, a sports reporter), and Best Choreography (for Bob Fosse).

The show has been revived on Broadway only once, in 1994, with Victor Garber as the devil and Bebe Neuwirth as Lola, and Jerry Lewis stepping in as a replacement Applegate in his Broadway debut.

With so much dancing, "Damn Yankees" is a bit of a departure for Prairie Fire Theatre, as they tend to err on the side of Gilbert and Sullivan or musical revues. But their singers ought to be able to sell songs like "Heart" and "Whatever Lola Wants" with ease, making their "Damn Yankees" a good bet for baseball fans and musical fans alike.

Jennifer Lumsdon directs these "Yankees," with Kyle Wynn as Mr. Applegate, Whitney Spencer as Lola, Bob Mangialardi and Chris Stanford as Old and Young Joe, Kevin Wickart as Van Buren, Aimee Kerber as Gloria Thorpe, and Stephanie Swearingen as Meg Boyd, the wife Old Joe leaves behind for his baseball dream.

"Damn Yankees" opens August 4th, followed by performances on August 5, 10, 11, and 12. Friday and Saturday performances begin at 7:30 pm, with a 3 pm curtain for Sunday matinees.

For all the details, you can visit Prairie Fire's "Damn Yankees" Facebook page, or their website, which now has a reservation option, as well.

Auditions!

Two very popular musicals, neither done around here very often, are offering auditions to interested performers. If "Rent" and/or "Damn Yankees" flip your switches, this is your chance to light your candle or show off your heart. (C'mon. You gotta have heart. All you really need is heart!)

You can see the audition notice for the Station Theatre's "Rent" here on their Facebook page. They want men and women 18 to 30 to fill eight major roles and the ensemble. They're asking that auditioners bring a 90-second cutting of a song (with accompanying sheet music) and that everybody dress comfortably for the dance audition. That means no jeans and dance shoes (character or jazz) preferred.

Director Mikel L. Mathews, Jr. and his musical director, Alan Zelck Smith, will hold their "Rent" auditions on Saturday, May 26th, at 3 pm and Sunday, May 27th, at 6 pm at the Station Theatre, located at 223 North Broadway in Urbana. Just think! You can be in "Rent" on Broadway! Performances are scheduled for July 12 to August 4, 2012, so you'll need a lot of summer availability to do this show. Probably not 525,600 minutes. But you never know.

For more information, check out the Station's website and Facebook page. You can also peruse this post about their summer schedule in general.

And then there's "Damn Yankees," the baseball musical with all that heart. Or "Heart." It's also got "Whatever Lola Wants," the song Sofia Vergara is currently drinking Diet Pepsi to in a TV commercial. "Damn Yankees" is known as a dance show, with the incomparable Gwen Verdon dancing Bob Fosse's choreography in the original 1955 Broadway production and subsequent film.

Jennifer Lumsdon will direct "Damn Yankees" for Prairie Fire Theatre here in B-N, and she says she is looking for "new faces and new voices" as well as "all talented actors/singers/dancer in Bloomington/Normal and surrounding areas. Please tell your friends and everyone you know that is a performer to sign up for auditions for Prairie Fire's production of 'Damn Yankees.' The auditions are this Friday and Saturday and you can sign up at the website: www.prairiefiretheatre.org."

As Lumsdon notes, there is an audition request form on the website, with blocks of time set aside to see potential "Damn Yankees" cast members from 6 to 9 pm on Friday, May 11th, and 1 to 4 pm on Saturday, May 12th. Performances of this show will be held August 4 to 12 at Normal Community High School.

"Rent" and "Damn Yankees" couldn't be more different, even though each features a seductive woman trying to get a guy through song and dance. They're also both fine opportunities for singers and dancers. Go for it!