Historical Moses, hysterical Ross Perot and a histrionic Jerry Reinsdorf as Pagliacci bemoaning the loss of Michael Jordan: The stage at Elm Place School in Highland Park was filled with clones of past jurists and current newsmakers last weekend as the Chicago Bar Association mounted the first road show of “Juristic Park,” the 70th annual Christmas Spirits production.
Fresh from its six-night December stand at the Sheraton Towers in Chicago, the famed bar association show garnered chuckles from the audience while raising about $4,000 for The Apple Tree Theatre Company in Highland Park.
Near record cold had dropped attendance from the four-year benefit’s usual 275, but about 200 hardy souls were determined to catch the show at $35 a ticket.
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With 22 cast members hitting the highlights in an hour and 40 minutes, the production was not the more than two-hour, $90 downtown dinner show with a 100-member cast, lavish scenery, costumes, dance numbers and orchestra. But it was still the bar association show.
“I’ve never seen a bar revue. I heard they were terrific,” said Barbara Herst of Highland Park.
“I’ve always loved the bar revue,” said former Highland Park City Council member Joyce O’Keefe. “Law has always been a big part of our life growing up,” said O’Keefe, whose dad was a criminal lawyer. “And besides, it’s for Apple Tree. It’s a good cause.”
Even though dropping temps had also dropped receipts from a typical $5,000 net, the annual show plays a major role in Apple Tree’s finances, according to benefit co-chairwoman Stevi Marks of Deerfield. “It’s very important to us. It’s our second-biggest fundraiser,” said Marks, a theater staff and corporate board member. But just as important as the dollars is the show’s potential for attracting new theater subscribers. “It introduces Apple Tree to people. If they enjoy this, maybe they’ll say, `That was fun; maybe we should see what the other shows are like,’ ” Marks said.
So what do the performers, who often go directly from one year’s road show schedule into the next year’s rehearsals, derive?
“I love it. It’s fun,” said bar show vice chairman Jeff Marks, Stevi’s husband. Jeff, who first played Republican hardball as a Sen. Robert Dole clone and then zinged Bridgeport softballs as Mayor Daley, likes playing to the audience.
“I enjoy being a ham in public instead of just before a jury,” said Jeff, a civil trial lawyer.