HIGH FIDELITY lives on, will play in Chicago

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/130575-High_Fidelity_Musical_by_Tony_Winner_Tom_Kitt_to_Get_Chicago_Premiere

I attended closing night on Broadway. I didn't like the show but it was by no means painful to sit through. It was somewhat enjoyable, which is better than what I have to say about many other movie-to-stage transfers.

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How ironic, I randomly got in the mood to listen to the cast recording yesterday. I do enjoy the music, it's kind of catchy in my opinon.

I liked some of the songs, and the cast was good (I saw it in Boston), but I was not overly thrilled with the production at all. Hope it can find an audience in Chicago.

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The Chicago Tribune reports: A new, drastically retooled Chicago production of the Broadway flop "High Fidelity" is to open in August in the Piper's Alley space currently occupied by the long-running production of "Tony 'n' Tina's Wedding." Peter Amster will direct.

According to Stef Tovar, artistic director of the Route 66 Theatre Company, Route 66's new, Chicago-style "High Fidelity" will jettison the Broadway set and its mostly witless conceit, replacing it with what Tovar describes as a "'Flight of the Conchords'-style presentation," replete with the performers playing and singing their own music.

"We think the source material is very good," Tovar said. "It is a matter of how it is presented. We're not taking ourselves too seriously."

"High Fidelity" features music by Tom Kitt, lyrics by Amanda Green and a book by David Lindsay-Abaire.

Based on the beloved Nick Hornby novel and the subsequent movie (which was filmed in Chicago), "High Fidelity" was a disaster on Broadway in 2006, lasting only 13 regular performances.

The new Chicago show--an Equity production with a relatively large cast--will be staged inside what has been Vinny Black's Coliseum, wherein attendees at the nuptials of Tony and Tina are fed ample quantities of pasta. The banquet hall will be turned into Championship Vinyl, the record store at the center of the "High Fidelity" story.

The bar in the rear will remain.

As in other cities, the Chicago "Tony 'n' Tina" (which has been playing for a decade) has been dwindling in popularity over the last year or so and has greatly reduced the once extensive schedule of performances. The show may return for the holiday season, but Tovar also hopes that "High Fidelity," which is being produced as a for-profit venture with investors attached, will turn into a long-running attraction.

I love the show and I'm glad to see it live on. But the set was definitely not the problem on Broadway...

I'm planning on seeing it. I like the score and at least something new is finally going into that space. I never saw Tony and Tina' Wedding there (though I have seen the show before) mostly because I couldn't imagine it would be selling well with all the discounts advertised every day for YEARS. It would be far too depressing and uncomfortable to see a show like that where the cast outnumbers the audience.

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I really like the score

Key word being "awfully"?

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I can DEFINATELY see Will as Dan. His "I've Been" would be fantastic.

I'm going to the Chicago production tonight. Anyone else seen it?

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