ChiIL Live Shows On Our Radar
Northlight Theatre opens 2024-2025 season with
The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk
By Daniel Jamieson
Stage and Movement Direction by Elizabeth Margolius
Music Direction by Michael Mahler
Featuring Jack Cahill-Lemme and Emma Rosenthal
September 5 – October 6, 2024
Northlight Theatre, under the direction of Artistic Director BJ Jones and Executive Director Timothy J. Evans, opens its 2024–2025 season with The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk by Daniel Jamieson, music by Ian Ross, stage and movement direction by Elizabeth Margolius, with music direction by Michael Mahler. The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk runs September 5-October 6, 2024, at Northlight Theatre, 9501 Skokie Blvd in Skokie. I'll be out for the press opening September 12th, so check back soon for my full review.
Marc Chagall and his poet wife Bella were partners in life and in art. Their romance is immortalized in a feast of music, dance, and paintings brought-to-life, capturing the essence of a marriage that soared above the upheaval through which it endured. From their first meeting in Vitebsk, and through the Russian revolution, pogroms, and two world wars, their joy manifests in moments as vibrant and whimsical as the treasured artist’s best-known works. With a klezmer-inspired score, wistful songs, and inventive staging, Flying Lovers celebrates the inspiring life and love of an extraordinary couple.
**A different piece based on the same artist, Chagall in School by James Sherman, was directed by Northlight Associate Artistic Director Georgette Verdin at Theater Wit in 2022. We adored it, here at ChiIL Mama and ChiIL Live Shows and gave Chagall in School a highly recommended rating.**
“One of the joyous reasons to attend live theatre is the celebration of movement, music, and text. And The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk is certainly an example of that,” comments Artistic Director BJ Jones. “Marc Chagall and his wife Bella guide us through their lives revealing the love and longing of a life in art. Unwelcome in their home in Russia, navigating pogroms and antisemitism, Marc and Bella struggled to achieve their artistic dreams, raise a child, and survive the destruction of their beloved Vitebsk, all while creating bold and whimsical art. Here in Chicago, we are blessed with Marc’s work at the Art Institute of Chicago with the America Windows, and his Four Seasons mosaic resides at Chase Tower Plaza downtown. This charming whimsical production is a fitting theatrical companion piece to Marc Chagall’s work.”
**Marc Chagall had a fondness for Chicago, which he first visited in 1946. He said he was impressed by the city’s architecture and the friendliness of its people, and he formed lasting friendships with his admirers and patrons – an association which led to his creation of the Four Seasons mosaic at Chase Tower Plaza (then known as First National Bank Plaza), and his gifting of America Windows to the Art Institute of Chicago.**
The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk features Jack Cahill-Lemme (Marc Chagall) and Emma Rosenthal (Bella), with ensemble/musicians Elisa Carlson and Michael Mahler.
The creative team includes Elizabeth Margolius (stage and movement director), Michael Mahler (music director), Daren Leonard (associate director), Scott Penner (set design), Rachel Lambert (costume design), Charlie Cooper (light design), Willow James (sound design), Leo Bassow (props design), Jessica Deahr NeVille (lift consultant), Jyreika Guest (resident violence and intimacy coordinator), and Katie Klemme (stage manager).
About the Artists
Daniel Jamieson (Playwright) worked with Theatre Alibi in Exeter, UK for more than 30 years as associate writer and adaptor, performer and artistic director. His work as a writer for Alibi includes: River Land, Falling, Hammer and Tongs, Goucher’s War, Cobbo, Caught, One in a Million, The Freeze, Shelf Life, Little White Lies, The Swell, Sea of Faces and Birthday. In 2015 he won an ACA award for his writing for children with the company. Daniel’s play The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk was produced by Kneehigh Theatre and won the Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award in 2017. Since then, The Flying Lovers has been produced in the States by Quantum Theater in Pittsburgh, Forward Theater in Wisconsin and Winnipeg Jewish Theater. Daniel has written five plays for BBC Radio 4 and has also written for Polka Theatre, London Bubble, Theatre Royal Plymouth and Northampton Theatres. In 2013, Daniel was Leverhulme artist-in-residence at the University of Exeter’s Mood Disorders Centre.
Ian Ross (Music) is a Bristol based multi instrumentalist, composer, and Head of music for The School for Wise Children. He leads the band Eleven Magpies. Theatre for Kneehigh includes: Brief Encounter, The Red Shoes, Don John, The Wild Bride, Tristan and Yseult, Dead Dog in a Suitcase, The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk. Theatre as Music Director includes: Girl from the North Country (Toronto 2019, Runway). Theatre as Composer includes: Twelfth Night (Shakespeare’s Globe); The Very Old Man with Enormous Wings, The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk (Kneehigh); Wise Children, Malory Towers, Bagdad Café and Wuthering Heights (Wise Children); London Tide (National Theatre). Film as Composer includes: The Princess and Peppernose (RSA and Joe Wright). Nominations include: Dora Mavor Award for Outstanding Musical Direction 2020 (Girl from the North Country), Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music in a Play 2023 (Wuthering Heights).
**A Jeff Award winning stage and movement director, Elizabeth most recently won the Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Director of a Musical for Shattered Globe’s London Road and recently directed Fiddler on the Roof at Drury Lane Theatre.**
Elizabeth Margolius (Stage and Movement Director) A Jeff Award winning stage and movement director, Elizabeth most recently won the Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Director of a Musical for Shattered Globe’s London Road, and she is excited to be making her debut at Northlight. A five-time Jeff Award nominee, Elizabeth’s selected directorial credits include work with Drury Lane Theatre, American Stage, Opera Southwest, Peninsula Players, Renaissance Theaterworks, Firebrand Theatre, Chicago Opera Theater, Underscore Theatre, Chicago Folks Operetta, American Theater Company, Chicago Shakespeare Theater (Assistant Director), City Lit Theater, and Bohemian Theatre Ensemble. Elizabeth is a proud member of the American Guild of Musical Artists and the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. www.elizabethmargolius.com
Jack Cahill-Lemme (Marc Chagall) is making his Northlight Theatre debut. He was most recently seen on Broadway and the National Tour of Moulin Rouge! Select credits include: Gerry Goffin in Beautiful (John W Engeman), Barry Mann in Beautiful (North Shore MT), Sonny in Grease (Marriott Theatre, The Rev), Kenicke in Grease (Casa Mañana), Leonard Cowherd III in Letters Home (Griffin Theatre), Jack in What A Wonderful World (Timberlake Playhouse - World Premiere), Kinky Boots (Paramount Theatre), A Christmas Carol (Drury Lane), Seussical & Junie B. Jones (Marriott Theatre), and more.
Emma Rosenthal (Bella) makes her Northlight debut. Chicago credits include: Fiddler on the Roof, Peter and the Starcatcher, West Side Story, Les Miserables, Beauty and the Beast (Drury Lane Oakbrook); Big Fish, Hello Dolly (Marriott); Athena (Writers Theatre); The Fantasticks (Porchlight); The Tempest (Steppenwolf); Brigadoon. Candide (The Goodman). Off Broadway: The Threepenny Opera (Marvell Rep, Drama Desk Nomination: Best Musical); Liberty (Theatre80). Regional credits include: Indiana Repertory Theatre, Peninsula Players, Huntington Theatre, Weston Playhouse, Cardinal Stage, Williamstown Theatre Festival. A proud graduate of Northwestern University, Emma is also a competitive powerlifter and pastry chef (you may have seen her and her mom on Season One of Fox's Crime Scene Kitchen).
Elisa Carlson (Ensemble) is making her Northlight debut. She holds a bachelor’s degree in piano performance and theater from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. Chicago credits include: Once (Writers Theatre and Paramount Theatre), Ernest Shackleton Loves Me (Porchlight Music Theatre), Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story (American Blues Theater), One Man, Two Guvnors (Court Theatre), Pop Waits (Neo-Futurists), and American Idiot (The Hypocrites). Elisa is also a 20-year veteran of the solo and dueling piano bar scene in Chicago and around the world.
Michael Mahler (Music Director and Ensemble) is excited to make his Northlight debut. Chicagoland credits include The Last Wide Open, It’s a Wonderful Life, Buddy, Little Shop of Horrors, Side Man, Hank Williams: Lost Highway (American Blues); The Music Man, Holiday Inn, Honeymoon in Vegas, City of Angels, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Marriott); Into the Woods (Writers); The March (Steppenwolf), and Working (Broadway Playhouse). Michael is the Jeff award-winning composer/lyricist of October Sky, Hero, Miracle, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, An American Tail, My Little Pony: A New Generation and others. Proud husband to Dara Cameron, father to Ezra, and ensemble member of American Blues Theatre.
Dates:
Previews begin September 5, 2024
Press Opening: Thursday, September 12, 2024 at 7:30pm
Regular run: September 13-October 6, 2024
Schedule:
Tuesdays: 7:30pm (September 10 only)
Wednesdays: 1:00pm and 7:30pm
Thursdays: 7:30pm
Fridays: 7:30pm
Saturdays: 2:30pm (except September 7) and 7:30pm
Sundays: 2:30pm and 7:30pm (September 8 only)
Backstage with BJ – Northlight’s popular discussion series with Artistic Director BJ Jones – will be held August 30 at 12pm.
An Open Captioned performance will be held on Friday, September 27 at 7:30pm. An Open Captioned and Audio Described/Touch Tour performance will be held on Saturday, September 28 at 2:30pm.
Location: Northlight Theatre is located at the North Shore
Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie Blvd, Skokie
Tickets: Previews: $35-$74
Regular run: $49-$91
Student tickets are $15, any performance (subject to availability)
Box Office: The Box Office is located at 9501 Skokie Blvd, Skokie. 847.673.6300; northlight.org
**The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk is Northlight's second play based on a well-known artist, following 2023's Andy Warhol in Iran, which was a critical and commercial success. Here at ChiIL Mama and ChiIL Live Shows we thoroughly enjoyed Andy Warhol in Iran, and gave it a highly recommended rating.**
2024-2025 Season
The 2024-2025 season will open with the whimsical play with music about the romance of Marc Chagall and his poet wife Bella, The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk, September 5 – October 6, 2024; followed by a new adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women by Northlight favorite Lauren Gunderson, November 29 – December 29, 2024; Lloyd Suh’s funny and moving play The Heart Sellers about the Asian immigrant experience in the 1970s, January 23 – February 23, 2025; and Joshua Harmon’s celebrated play Prayer for the French Republic, directed by Jeremy Wechsler in a co-production with Theater Wit, April 10 – May 11, 2025. The season closes with the mesmerizing one-man show about Donny Hathaway, Twisted Melodies, written and performed by Kelvin Roston Jr, July 10-August 10, 2025.
Subscriptions range in price from $135-290. Flex pass options are $120-$210. With its wide range of ticket prices, discounted subscription packages and complimentary parking, Northlight remains one of the best theatrical values in Chicagoland. Package options include traditional 5-Play Packages, 4-Play Packages, and Flex Packages. Subscriptions are available at northlight.org/subscribe or 847.673.6300.
Northlight Theatre aspires to promote change of perspective and encourage compassion by exploring the depth of our humanity across a bold spectrum of theatrical experiences, reflecting our community to the world and the world to our community.
Founded in 1974, the organization has mounted over 240 productions, including more than 45 world premieres. Northlight has earned 230 Joseph Jefferson Award nominations and 36 Awards, as well as 11 Edgerton Foundation for New Play Awards. As one of the area’s premier theatre companies, Northlight is a regional magnet for critical and professional acclaim, as well as talent of the highest quality.
Northlight is supported in part by generous contributions BMO Harris Bank; Bulley & Andrews; Byline Bank; ComEd, An Exelon Company; Dr. Scholl Foundation; Eckenhoff Saunders Architects, Inc.; The Field Foundation of Illinois; Full Circle Foundation; Grumman Butkus Associates; Hagerty Consulting; Illinois Arts Council, a state agency; John R Halligan Charitable Fund; LionBird; Lloyd A. Fry Foundation; Mabadi Realty; Mammel Family Foundation; Modestus Bauer Foundation; Northwestern University; Paul M. Angell Family Foundation; Pritzker Foundation; The Schubert Foundation, Inc.; The Sullivan Family Foundation; The Weatherlow Foundation; Tom Stringer Design Partners.
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