Celebrate Backstage Chicago with the Blue Men

Students Interview Star and Choreographer of West Side Story

The Backstage Chicago Crew traveled on Wednesday to watch the musical production of West Side Story at the Paramount Theatre. Both Tony, played by Will Skrip, and the choreographer of West Side Story, William Carlos Angulo, made a special visit to St. Benedict Preparatory School to speak to our Backstage Chicago students.

During the interview, William Carlos Angulo spoke about his parents’ Latino immigrant story and how this contributed to his interest in choreographing the production.  He described the challenges of finding dancers of color, who make-up roughly 2% of the acting population and his determination to find the very best to play these roles. 

The Backstage Chicago students asked how actors are prepared for the rigors of the stage.  According to Angulo, most people believe that the characters have to 1) act, 2) sing, and 3) dance.  However, the fourth important element is being in top physical condition. According to Angulo, if he had the money, he would send everybody to boot camp to ensure that all were on the same page in terms of physical preparation as well as to prevent injury.

The students, who had watched the dance choreography of the movie production of West Side Story, noted the differences in the play such as the placement of the music for Officer Krupke.  In the movie, this scene takes place earlier and has more of a light-hearted tone. In the play, however, Angulo noted that both the director and he envisioned this scene as psychologically and emotionally intense as the characters struggle to cope with the realities of their lives and the murder of their friend Riff, the leader of the Jets.  It is a dramatic and spectacular performance that involved collaboration with lighting,  choreography , and singing to produce a stunning effect.

Will Skrip, who played the starring role of Tony, grew up in California and attended Northwestern.  Prior to college he was involved in theater.  His first high school production was Into the Woods and during that time he began his voice training.  After graduating from Northwestern, he soon became a resident of Chicago and has worked in a variety of musicals: Mary Poppins (Paramount), Carousel (Lyric Opera), Shrek (Chicago Shakespeare), Les Miserables (Drury Lane)-to name a few.

When asked how Skrip deals with the challenges of learning lines, music, and dance routines, he replied that he comes to the first day of rehearsal prepared with his lines and music already memorized.  In addition, Skrip commented that he also does not come with a preconceived notion and is a blank slate in terms of how to perform the pieces.

We are very grateful for the opportunity to discuss various aspects of West Side Story with Mr. Angulo and Mr. Skrip. Best wishes on future performances! 

Comedy in Chicago

 

 The Who's Whos of Second City comedians.   

Students wait for the Brown Line to Second City Comedy Club where they will be participating in a two hour improvisation workshop.

https://youtu.be/Bw74XqYIyQE

Students enjoy lunch and each other's company at the nearby Chipotle Mexican Resturaunt.

 Cheers!  Here's to an excellent day!

 

The Backstage Chicago Crew walked through Old Town to visit Zanies Comedy Club.

 

 

Jay Leno, one of hundreds of comedians who have performed at Zanies, has a special section dedicated to this well-known and former host of the Tonight Show. 

Delano poses to have his picture added to the famous wall of great comedians.

 

West Side Story at the Paramount

West Side Story, based on Arthur Laurents’ book, was set to Leonard Bernstein’s symphonic jazz score with lyrics from Stephen Sondheim.  Many people know the story based on the movie choreographed by Jerome Robbins, a perfectionist whose talent drove the production budget to new heights and exhausted the actors. As a result, the best dance scenes of West Side Story were produced under Robbins.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2ClSABkDp8

 

The Backstage Chicago Crew traveled to Aurora to attend West Side Story at the  Paramount Theatre.  We ate at Doughball's Pizza Palace and were fully expecting to have the Unicorn Revenge and the Veggie Monster pizza. 

However, electrical problems forced the management to order pizza from another restaurant.  The thin crust pizzas were delicious and the doughballs were "out-of-this-world-good".

On our walk to Paramount Theatre, we witnessed incredible wildlife moments. A duck couple guided two baby ducklings down the channel towards the Fox River. 

A cardinal hopped across the rocks to the water for a drink.

A fisherman, at the moment we walked passed, caught a large fish and asked his friend to take a picture.

Refreshed from our walk,  we paused to take a picture in front of the Paramount marquee.

West Side Story begins in New York City during the 1950s and captures the struggle of newly arrived Puerto Rican immigrants as they establish a place for themselves among the American whites. A turf  war escalates as members of the Sharks and the Jets cast racial slurs that eventually lead to a switch blade fight.  The two feuding parties, similar to Shakespeare’s Capulets and Montegues  in Romeo and Juliet, somehow find a bridge that transcends the fighting with the possibility of love between Tony, a Shark member, and Maria, whose brother is a Jet member. 

On Friday, we are looking forward to visiting with Tony, the lead played by Will Skrip in West Side Story.   Also William Carlos Angulo will also be joining us to talk about his role in choreographing West Side Story at the Paramount Theatre.

 

Storefront Theater Productions

"'There wouldn’t be the Chicago theater scene without the storefront theaters,' according to Deborah Clapp, the Executive Director of the League of Chicago Theatres. 'We wouldn’t have the kind of talent that we have at places like Goodman and Steppenwolf and Chicago Shakes if we didn’t have the storefront theaters to develop that talent'" (Roesegg 1).

What is a store front theater? According to Backstage, "'Ask three artistic directors this question, and you’ll get three different answers. 'Small, non-Equity house.' 'Itinerant company.' 'A theater in a storefront.' The only aspect that everyone can agree on? It’s a place where adventurous and often—though not necessarily—young talent take impressive risks'"(backstage.com/news/spotlight/chicagos-storefront-theaters-are-hotbed-tale).

 

The Backstage Agora Crew visited the Raven Theater where Cody Estle is the Associate Artistic Director and has also worked with various theaters in the country.  Currently he is working on The Seagull by Anton Checkhov at the Raven, and in July he will be directing Between Riverside and Crazy at the Steppenwolf Theatre.

 

Mr. Estle gave the Backstage Chicago Crew a tour of the Raven Theatre. Students viewed the set of A House of Blue Leaves by John Guare.  The play takes place during Pope Paul VI visit to Queens, New York in 1965,  and it deals with the relationship of the songwriter Artie who wants to feel famous while his wife Bananas just wants to feel.

Students also explored  the performers' dressing room and imagined what it would be like to get ready for the stage.

Mr. Estle took us to a smaller stage and led the students in a mock monologue audition.  Students who were brave enough took the stage and were given constructive feedback by Mr. Estle on their performance.  They were then given an opportunity to perform their piece again with wonderful results.

So You Want to Work in Theater.....

So you want to work in theater..... You had a taste of theater in school or an opportunity to act in a play or a desire to build a set with your own hands.  Maybe you love diving into books and traveling back in time to research the lifestyles, clothing, and customs of historical people and events. Or maybe you would like to develop the stories that connect with the human condition or challenge the social dimensions of our times.

Students traveled to the DePaul Theatre School and met with a panel of students who shared their passion for one of the twelve conservatories that they are currently studying as an undergraduate:

• Undergraduate Conservatory
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  • • • Dramaturgy / Criticism
      • Playwriting
      • Theatre Arts
      • Theatre Management
      • Stage Management
      • Theatre Arts
      • Acting  
      • Lighting
      • Scenic Design 
    • Theatre Technology
    • Costume Design  
     
     
    
    Students toured the newly built  DePaul Theatre School. We viewed the educational labs, rooms where students practice smaller performances.
    
    
    We received a sneak peak at the costume design room where students worked to finish costumes for their production of Peter Pan and  traveled to the makeup artist room.
  
  
  
  

A Peek Behind the Scenes of Chicago Film

The Backstage Chicago crew began the week celebrating John Belushi who was born, worked, and filmed in Chicago.  While Belushi spent the first six years of his life in Chicago before moving to Wheaton, he eventually returned and participated in comic performances with Second City.

Later Belushi would become a writer for National Lampoon and a star with Saturday Night Live in New York. He is well known for a variety of movies such as The Blue Brothers, which was filmed in Chicago.  Famous blues musicians and actors complete the movie cast such as Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Carrrie Fisher,  James Brown, Aretha Franklin,  and  Ray Charles (to name a few). (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080455/fullcredits/).

After watching the Blues Brothers, the students traveled to  the Billy Goat Tavern, a popular underground hamburger joint for Chicago Tribune writers. The Billy Goat Tavern became famous with the help of John Belushi's Saturday Night Live skit that pokes fun at the service.

Later we walked through the city and enjoyed the spring weather.  We crossed Wacker Drive and took in the view of city skyscrapers along the Chicago River.

The students explored the Chicago Theater which first open on October 26, 1921.  The theater hosts an ornate atmosphere that transports theater participants into the times of Louis XIV of Versailles.

The theater entrance opens to a staircase that was modeled after the Opera House in Paris.   In the 1920s, two women dressed in the baroque style would stand: one at the bottom and the other at the top of the stairs to point silently in the direction that movie goers needed to travel to find their seats.

As movie goers proceeded to the second floor, they would find mirrors and would be able to view the intricate details of the theater.

The Chicago Theater initially showed silent films and an organist would play the sound track.  Actors relied on telling the story with their facial expressions and actions.  This is the original organ that may be found at the foot of the stage of the Chicago Theater.

After our tour, the students traveled to the Chicago History Museum to learn about some of the early film technology, studio productions, and actors. William Selig, a magician and theater manager, decided to open up the first movie studio in Chicago.

The Selig Polyscope Studio, located on Irving and Western (a few feet from St. Benedict Preparatory School),  opened in 1897 and covered three acres. The studio served several purposes: writing movies, building sets, hiring actors, and filming productions.