musicals

For their first full-attendance show in more than a year, a group of young thespians from around central Indiana are putting on the 1970s-era classic.

With legwork and willingness to brave the elements, you can stage a hit weekend without much fuss.

The film selection sometimes strays a long way from the genre at Roving Cinema’s annual party. Even so, it’s one of our 10 Best of Indy holiday picks.

“There’s a lot to it as far as obviously your typicals, the songs and the lines, but also the acrobatics,” he says. “There’s a lot to get in my head, but it’s getting there.”

Previous incarnations of his ‘Cocktail Hour’ show featured arrangements of songs by Joni Mitchell, Tom Jones, Shirley Bassey, and Amy Winehouse.

One of the best moments of the evening came early on as she started into the brilliant mash-up of two pop-music nuggets, Ellie Goulding’s “Starry-Eyed” and Lana Del Rey’s “Video Games.” That’s when the night’s brief drama played out.

Benanti has shared the stage with numerous Broadway stars, co-owns Kristen Chenoweth’s TV curse, and kills it on Twitter. Here she comes, Indy.

The ISO’s latest is a glitzy lesson in 1930s romance, with zealous orchestral flourishes steered by Jack Everly. Rachel York guides the ship from there, as comely evangelist–turned–entertainer Reno Sweeney.

The surefire standout of the night was Jasmin Richardson as Felicia, just as impressive in her quiet moments on stage as when she let that glorious voice soar.

The enticing trio of Stephen King, T Bone Burnett, and Hoosier John Mellencamp teams up to spin a terrifying story.

The Act II dramatics add up to a relentless rush as the plot—sorcery and love triangles and scapegoats, oh my!—corkscrews through one twist after another.

The native Hoosier and Ball State grad plays a character now who’s a far cry from the previous role she revealed to local audiences. See her thoughts on obsessed Wicked fans, life on the road, and more.

During its first two runs in Indy, Wicked cast a spell on local audiences, sweeping in 120,000 people and $8.6 million. Those numbers got us interested in other figures from the hit musical, which returns to the Murat Theatre on Nov. 13.

This world premiere did not disappoint. Beth Leavel, a Tony Award winner, commanded every song she took on, moving fluidly among touchingly romantic and randy, handsy numbers.

1. Indy snagged the show’s world premiere.  Why? It just so happens that Jack Everly, principal pops conductor of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, fills that same role for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Baltimore, as any hair hopper knows, is the hometown of John Waters, creator of the original 1988 movie Hairspray, and the setting for that and all of his other films. Everly is known for taking Broadway shows, which increasingly rely on synthesized music to save money, and creating concert versions that place a full-scale orchestra right on stage with the actors. The result: lush, symphonic sound for numbers like “You Can’t Stop the Beat” and “Good Morning Baltimore,” with just enough scenery, choreography, costumes, and dialogue to lend a theatrical atmosphere. Given the experience of Everly, an Indy native, the show (based on the Tony Award–winning 2002 Broadway rendition and subsequent movie remake) ended up debuting here today at an 11 a.m. Coffee Concert; it heads to Baltimore in two weeks.