Tuesdays with Corti: Profound

Sat down at Tuesday’s lunch yesterday to start writing this as we are in Chicago for Cabaret audition Call Backs, and I didn’t get very far. The discussion of the work and talent before us stole away my focus…it’s gotten a bit difficult to find that moment to write with the commute back and forth from home in Aurora, evening appointments, getting some zzz’s….I do apologize! 

Here I am Wednesday morning, thinking of you, racing with the clock…

I have to mention the tremendous progress, the depth and richness of the Jesus Christ Superstar ​​performances two and a half weeks into its run and how thrilling it is to assess the rhythm the production has achieved running on all cylinders, all engines firing! What I witnessed Sunday night was breathtaking, sitting in the back row of a packed house. The excellence of this cast, the design and the operation of all the production’s moving parts is bringing together some of the biggest crowds we’ve ever had. I experienced a sense of unity and community in everyone’s appreciation of the story and how it is being told. What is happening here is quite profound, and if you haven’t seen it, I urge you to not miss this show closing on Sunday, May 28.

“Profound” applies as well to the energy generated in the Cabaret audition room. The actors’ response to the characters and story based on Christopher Isherwood’s The Berlin Stories set in 1931 resonates with an inescapable relevance to our own lives. Recognition lights up and crackles, shatters the mirror held up to nature. Kander and Ebb’s most enduring score, with Joe Masteroff’s book, are drawing out of every individual engaging with it, a palpable responsibility to the devastating truth cautioning us to remember and identify what we are capable of as humans, the fears and the follies. The lighthearted moments setting us up for a time not for the faint of heart. 

And tomorrow we’re back to the Equity Office for Elf ​Call Backs! What a roller coaster we’re on!

More later…have to hit the road!

Love & thanks,

Jim

WATCH JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR VIDEOS