Displaying items by tag: Allison Petrillo
'Bette: Xmas at the Continental Baths' celebrate the holidays with a legend, "The Divine Miss M"
Caitlin Jackson as Bette Midler recreating one wonderful cabaret night at the Continental Bathhouse in New York city is a heartfelt, moving and entertaining way to remember and celebrate Bette's humble and "hungry" beginnings as a performer with the legendary “Tommy” (Tommy Robb) her pianist.
I really can't say enough about how talented Caitlin Jackson is as a comedienne and vocalist to be able to carry off this show with such style. Jackson's own vocal stylings are superb and many of the songs were delivered so strongly and such emotional insight into Midler's early struggles as a sexually liberated woman searching for love through her loneliness brought me to tears.
I actually lived in the historic pre-war luxury building, The Ansonia, on 72nd and Broadway showcased in Woody Allen's film Manhattan, for 4 years right after graduating from college. The bathhouse was long gone when I lived there in 1983-1988, but sometimes when I was doing laundry in the cavernous basement of the Ansonia, I imagined I could still hear the sounds of Bette's exquisite voice and the excitement of her loving fans laughing and clapping for her bawdy, yet tender humor.
I think Caitlin Jackson has a marvelous, powerful voice and does Bette Midler's humor and patter (taken almost verbatim from one show) justice without doing a full on impersonation which allows the audience to feel they are seeing the young Bette for the first time.
I had forgotten just how many of Midler's amazingly moving songs are about her extreme loneliness and heartbreak in love relationships - "Empty Bed Blues," “Long John Blues,” “Do You Wanna Dance?” and, of course, "I Shall Be Released" and "Waiting for my new Friends to Come," so I was really happy to discover that this Christmas Edition wisely pumps up the Joy factor with several fantastic renditions of toe tapping Christmas songs and the ever popular "Superstar," "Baby Please Come Home" and "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy".
Sydney Genco and Allison Petrillo are a delight as her backup singers and bring their bright sexy dame harmonies and dance moves that really help support Jackson - who otherwise carries every minute of this very demanding vocal and theatrical "one woman show". 'Bette: Xmas' is adapted by both Artistic Director David Cerda and Jackson, and Jackson also directs this production along with Marc LeWallen while music direction is handled by Tommy Robb.
I highly recommend seeing this unique and talent-filled Hell in a Handbag production, which has only been improved from its original Summer form by being lit up with Christmas lights and the Joy of Christmas.
‘Bette: Xmas at the Continental Baths’ is being performed at Mary’s Attic through December 31st.
Holiday Hilarity! Paramount presents The Second City’s Nut-Cracking Holiday Revue at downtown Aurora’s Copley Theatre, Nov. 20-Dec. 23
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Mary, A Holiday Dansical Returns for one performance only at Logan Center December 13th
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The Gift Theatre's Hayward: A Floridian-Style Shiva
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Chicago Shakespeare Makes Winter’s Tale a Story Worth Telling
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Steppenwolf Theatre Presents JESSIE MUELLER WITH SETH RUDETSKY – December 18 & 19, 2026
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Remy Bumppo’s Mud Row: A Family Haunted by the Past
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A Joe & Melanie Thing Theatre Company announces The Hanukkah Humbug at Greenhouse Theater Center - December 3-6
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Identity Performing Arts' Fifth Anniversary Gala: Movement That Keeps Becoming
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Music Theater Works Pours a Beachy Cocktail with Escape to Margaritaville
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Overshadowed Theatrical Productions Brings Beloved Holiday Classic It’s a Wonderful Life to the Stage
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Dance Theatre of Harlem fills Auditorium Theatre with fire and funk
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“A Strange Loop” Lets the Intrusive Thoughts Win at Raven Theatre in partnership with About Face Theatre
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BTE Opens New Season with Gunderson's "Louisa May Alcott's Little Women" Nov. 12-Dec. 13
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Court Theatre announces America@250 - Now is the Time: Artists Go to Work
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JK Entertainment presents WHEN WE WERE YOUNG AND UNAFRAID at Greenhouse Theater Center November 12 – 29, 2026
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Trap Door Theatre Presents the World Premiere of OH, BUDDY, by Hal Cosentino. Opening November 12th, 2026
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Announcing the Cast of the 49th A CHRISTMAS CAROL
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NOVA ENTERTAINMENT CURRENT AND UPCOMING 2026 CIRCA PINTIG UPDATES
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Steppenwolf Theatre Announces "ha ha ha ha ha ha ha" January 13 – February 7, 2027
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'Sanctuary Stories' Ventures Into Emotional Drama Behind the News on Immigration
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Inside Six Strange Worlds: Exquisite Corpse VI: LULLABIES
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PrideArts announces cast and production teams for Nick Payne's CONSTELLATIONS, performed by alternating same-sex casts, November 13- December 13
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Teatro Vista Productions in collaboration with Audible presents Cafecito & Loops: A Mexodus Listening Tour Headed South Sundays, through November 1st
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BrightSide’s Addams Family Musical Revives the Wonderfully Weird World of the Addams Clan
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Chicago City Opera Delivers a Rare Operatic Haunting with Der Vampyr
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Avalanche Theatre stages the world premiere of They Broke Up by Skyler Tarnas November 6–22, 2026
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08 October 2026 in Upcoming TheatreOil Lamp Theater is proud to announce the cast and creative team for its next production and the final production…
Latest Articles
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Holiday Hilarity! Paramount presents The Second City’s Nut-Cracking Holiday Revue at downtown Aurora’s Copley Theatre, Nov. 20-Dec. 23
Written by Buzz Center StageNeed something better than old reruns of Hallmark Movies this holiday season? Want to see some real nut-crackers? Then dash on through the snow to catch The Second City’s Nut-Cracking Holiday Revue, November 20-December 23 at Paramount’s Copley Theatre, 8… -
Mary, A Holiday Dansical Returns for one performance only at Logan Center December 13th
Written by Buzz Center StageBlack Girls Dance®, which centers Black and Brown girls in joyful community, presents its sixth annual production of Mary, A Holiday Dansical, choreographed, written, and directed by Founder Erin Barnett. This fundraiser returns for one night only Sunday, December 13…
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The Gift Theatre's Hayward: A Floridian-Style Shiva
Written by Wesley DavidThere are funerals where grief brings a family together, and then there are funerals where grief opens the door to everything a family has spent years trying to keep buried. In Hayward, playwright Netta Walker turns a father’s funeral into… -
JK Entertainment presents WHEN WE WERE YOUNG AND UNAFRAID at Greenhouse Theater Center November 12 – 29, 2026
Written by Buzz Center StageJK Entertainment has released first look rehearsal photos for WHEN WE WERE YOUNG AND UNAFRAID, the first production of the company's second season. JK Entertainment's production brings this story to Chicago audiences November 12–29, inviting audiences to consider how far…
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