To get in the holiday spirit, the Chicago Red Line presents "Bah! Humbug," its comedic spin on the classic A Christmas Carol—a show mixing fun, edgy twists on the plot and fun, entertaining songs, featuring some gay caroling sidekicks.
The shows will be held Nov. 30 and Dec. 1.
"This show will be a twist on Christmas Carol where our Scrooge character, [named] Splooge will meet the spirits of past, present, and future (Johanna Walker, Jackie Daniels, and Josita Cuervo) to help get his mojo back," said Jessica Ni Murphy, who is the executive producer and company choreographer for the group. "There will be some amazing pop/Christmas carol mash-ups and a show-stopping [all-male] number that is sure to please the audience."
Pink's song "Raise Your Glass" is mixed with "Joy to the World" to kick off the show.
"Most people are surprised when they come to their first Red Line show because they are not sure what to expect," said Murphy, who started as the company choreographer and has carried the executive producer title since 2009. "There is nothing out there like us. It's not a traditional cabaret that just features a number of songs strung together. The stories really surprise and delight with clever plot tie-ins. Expect us to push the limit with some edgy, some adult, and some over-the-top humor. Expect amazing vocal talent, really unique musical arrangements and mash-ups, and fun dancing that ties it all together. We encourage people to kick back with some cocktails during the show. Expect to laugh a lot."
The Chicago Red Line has been singing and entertaining since August 2008. It now features 15 members—eight straight women, including Murphy, six gay men and one straight man. Members range in age from 23 to 34.
"There are a lot of fun things you can do with a Christmas/holiday-themed show," Murphy said. "Managing the schedules of 15 members during the holiday season can be quite challenging, so we haven't been able to do a holiday show since our very first one—Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer—in December 2008.
"This one will be one of our best yet, with a clever plot and great music."
Murphy, who works as an integrated account director at The Atlantic, lives in Buena Park after previously spending three years living in Boystown. Her best friend, Andrew Wallace, is the group's music director—and he was the man of honor in her wedding last year.
The group added its first straight male performer about 18 months ago, and The Chicago Red Line was co-founded by openly gay Michael McGuire who, along with his husband/partner, Christopher Patrick, recently adopted their second child.
Chicago Red Line member Adam Cartwright married Steve Jaracz this fall.
The Chicago Red Line has performed at the annual Pride Festival for the past three years, and they often are together at Sidetrack for show tunes on Sundays and Mondays, or at Charlie's for karaoke on Sundays where group member Adam Hickenbottom is the Charlie-oke host.
"The most prominent gay theme we covered in a show was a twist on the Wizard of Oz called 'Over the Rainbow,' which featured songs from Wizard of Oz, Wicked, Oz, and other pop musical favorites," Murphy said. "Dorothy was really Derek and he was struggling coming out of the closet. He daydreams in church one day and gets sent to Oz where he found the Scarecrow, Tina Man (singing 'Somebody to Love' because she needed a heart), and the Lion (singing 'Save You' by Kelly Clarkson because she wasn't brave enough).
"In the poppy field, instead of falling asleep, the group is seduced in a sexy mash-up of Lady Gaga's 'Bad Romance' and '3' from Britney Spears. He finally meets Oz, a fag hag, and she helps him defeat the Wicked Witch, who sings 'Somewhere That's Green' when she melts to death. When Derek realizes he is gay he sings 'Epiphany' from Altar Boyz and the group ends singing 'Brand New Day' from Oz. And that doesn't even cover all the songs from the show."
Last fall, in the Chicago Red Line's space-themed show, a space pilot has his ship captured by an evil doctor. The show kicked-off with a mash-up of Katy Perry's "ET" and Kylie Minogue's "Light Year."
"They land on a planet inhabited by aliens and run by a king and queen," Murphy said. "The King ends up having an affair with a man and they sing a beautiful ballad, 'Best Kept Secret' from the musical Bare."
The group's Alice in Wonderland-themed show was called "Off With Their Heads," and featured a present-day twist. "Alice is disappointed by her boyfriend because she expects him to propose," Murphy said. "On her journey down the rabbit hole she goes through a path of self-discovery. Later she learns the truth that her boyfriend is gay, singing 'I Know the Truth' from Aida, and he confesses his love singing a show-stopping rendition of 'Deep Love' from Young Frankenstein."
Murphy said the Chicago Red Line is considering entering a float in the 2013 Chicago Pride Parade.
"The Chicago Red Line has an awesome history," Murphy said. "Seven of the current members performed together in a show choir called, The Cutting Edge, at the University of Illinois. In the summer of 2008, a few of us were at a concert at Ravinia, and we decided that we should perform together again by creating a group."
The group's founding members are Murphy, McGuire, Andrew Wallace and Julie Robinson.
"[Forming the group] was one of the many great ideas you come up with after a few cocktails. Most of those ideas never happen, yet this actually did," Murphy said.
"In the first two weeks we had a few mega conference calls to talk about what we envisioned for the group, how we would run the group, and most important, what we should name it. We decided on the name The Chicago Red Line because it's an El line that connects the city and is a signature line in Chicago, almost an artery."
"Then us founding members and the executive directors began calling ourselves the 'Loop.' The four of us put money down to create The Chicago Red Line, LLC, and based on that investment we retained all control on creative and business decisions for the group."
McGuire left the group in 2009 before they were expecting their first child, Julia.
"We started out by calling talented friends, singers/dancers that we knew to come join," Murphy said. "As with all groups some people moved on or away and we've held auditions for new members to join."
Nine have been with the group since song one, and the group has previously performed at Davenport's, The Spot, and Mayne Stage.
The Chicago Red Line also performed earlier this year on Windy City Live, to help welcome Rosie to the show.
"Windy City Live was an amazing experience," Murphy said. "The producers had rewritten the lyrics to 'Seize the Day' and wanted a song and dance opening for Rosie. They also asked us if we knew Adele's 'Rolling in the Deep' to close out the show since Rosie is such a big Adele fan. It was less than a week before the live taping when they reached out, which was a very short turn-around, but we were so excited at the opportunity that we dedicated extra rehearsal time to learn the song and a dance. Some were unable to make it due to daytime work conflicts, but about [10] of the group performed.
"Rosie came [on the show] and hugged a few members. At the end they could only show a few seconds of 'Rolling in the Deep,' but off-camera Rosie hopped in to join the group in singing the rest of the song."
Murphy said the group's executive board plans every part of the show, from selecting themes, songs, as well as features/solos, characters, and more.
"The three [executive board members] are close friends so we are often meeting and putting many hours into the creative process," Murphy said. "We often solicit the group members for ideas/suggestions, but in the end we bring everything together to make a cohesive show.
"Andrew [Wallace] does most of the musical arrangements himself, tailoring them to the talent in our group and the script. I plan most of the choreography, and Julie [Robinson] writes all of the scripts, crafting each story around our members and our new plot ideas.
"This has been an incredible learning process, putting the group together and taking [elements] from each show to make the next one better. Size-wise we haven't expanded too much because we are limited by our performance space in how many people can fit on stage and still do dance/movement. But, our fan-base has definitely grown. We went from performing in the backroom at Davenport's, selling 40 [to] 60 tickets for a three-show run to most recently performing at Mayne Stage which can hold up to 200 cabaret style and almost selling out two nights."
None of the members get paid. All of our funds go towards administrative costs and simply putting on the shows, Murphy said.
Members are not required to pay annual dues.
There will be three shows at Greenhouse Theatre, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave., and Strawdog Theatre, 3829 N. Broadway. The Nov. 30 show (starting at 7:30 p.m.) will be at Greenhouse. The Dec. 1 shows (3 p.m. and 8 p.m.) will be held at Strawdog.
For more information, go to www.thechicagoredline.com .
