The musical “Rent” has found such a receptive audience in Chicago — it has been staged here several times since its November 1997 local premiere — that it will be returning to the Shubert Theatre, 22 W. Monroe St., for a weeklong run, May 8-13. To help mark the show’s return and kick off ticket sales, members of Chicago’s Windy City Gay Chorus will hold a mini-concert of selections from the Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning musical, as well as a public sing-along of Rent’s “Seasons of Love.” The mini-concert is set for 2:30 p.m. Feb. 24 in the Randolph Street Cafe of the Chicago Cultural Center, 77 E. Randolph St. Special advance tickets for “Rent” will be available beginning Feb. 22 online only at www.ticketmaster.com; general ticket sales begin March 9.
— Judy Hevrdejs
IRISH GUYS
The Grammy-winning Chieftains bring their celebration of traditional Irish music — as well as their fiddles, uileann pipes and harp — to the Chicago Theatre, 175 N. State St., at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 27. Touring in support of their Grammy-nominated CD, “Water From the Well,” the Chieftains will be joined by Canadian fiddler Richard Wood and vocalist Dadawa, who has been dubbed “the Chinese Enya.” Tickets for the show go on sale Friday at the Chicago Theatre Ticket Office and Ticketmaster outlets.
— J.H.
ORCHESTRAL AWARDS
The Grant Park Symphony Orchestra (along with its resident chorus) has been named orchestra of the year by the Illinois Council of Orchestras. In other 2001 awards, Elgin Symphony Orchestra music director Robert Hanson was named conductor of the year, while Allan Dennis of the Midwest Young Artists Orchestras was selected music director of the year. The Schaumburg Youth Orchestra got the nod as youth orchestra of the year, while another such group, the Metropolis Youth Symphony, won the award for outstanding programming. These and other awards were scheduled to be presented at a concert by young Illinois singers Friday at the Alliance Francaise de Chicago.
John von Rhein
GILMAN’S SURGE
It’s shaping up as a busy year for Chicago playwright Rebecca Gilman. Her “Spinning into Butter” has just had its London premiere at the Royal Court Theatre. Her “Boy Gets Girl” makes its New York debut Feb. 20 at the Manhattan Theatre Club. And next summer, June 29-Aug. 4, her latest play, “Blue Surge,” is set for its world premiere at Goodman Theatre, where the two earlier dramas were commissioned and first produced. “Blue Surge,” a drama about policemen and prostitutes in a small Midwestern city, which will be directed by Robert Falls, replaces Gilman’s previously announced “The Great Baseball Strike of 1994.”
— Richard Christiansen
FLIPPING OUT
You’ve heard of “Stomp” and “Blast.” Now get ready for “Aeros,” the latest one-word theatrical entertainment, due here March 2 for a one-night stop in the Chicago Theatre. Using 15 gymnasts, ages 19 to 26, from the Romanian Gymnastics Association, in a dance-sport performance, the program has been created by American modern dance choreographers Daniel Ezralow, David Parsons and Moses Pendleton, with percussive music by Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas of “Stomp.”
— R.C.
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