"White Noise" will be directed by Sergio Trujillo at the Royal George Theatre.
Dates are now official for "White Noise," the edgy new rock musical about a white separatist singing duo that's headed to Chicago this spring — with an eye on a future Broadway gig.
Whoopi Goldberg is one of the producers, along with Holly Way, Jay Strommen and Tom Leonardis.
The show, which features a cast of 19, will begin preview performances at the Royal George Theatre on April 1, with an official opening slated for April 9. Tickets will go on sale in early February for an eight-week run, but it is hoped that the Chicago run will be significantly longer than that.
Subtitled "A Cautionary Musical," "White Noise" is conceived by Ryan J. Davis, has a book by Matte O'Brien, and music and lyrics by the twin brothers Robert and Steven Morris, and Joe Shane. The show tells the story of Eva and Eden Siller, two folk singers with a modest fan base who like to promote issues of white power. But they get picked up a powerful New York producer, who figures out that their act could penetrate the mainstream culture scene. They just need coded lyrics and the right marketing.
Given the recent debate over the tone of political discourse in America, the show could appear timely to many.
"The timing couldn't be any more perfect for this show," said the director, Sergio Trujillo, taking a break from New York casting."This is a show about an anti-hero, about sell outs. I want the show to create discussion and conversation and to inspire debate."
"We've become a culture that's bombarded with information and the rhetoric is out of control," said O'Brien. "The show riffs on that."
A very early workshop version of "White Noise" was seen at the New York Music Theatre Festival in 2006, and the show was more fully produced at Le Petit Theatre in New Orleans in the summer of 2009. Extensive work has been done over the last 18 months (O'Brien was not the book writer of the New York production). Thus the show here will be entirely different, and will likely be the version headed to Broadway (should that work out).
Trujillo, who told the Tribune last November that "White Noise" was planning on coming to Chicago and who choreographed "Jersey Boys," "Memphis," and "Next to Normal," said that "White Noise" was still in a developmental stage.
"We want to put it front of an audience and take the temperature," he said. "We need to figure out how people are reacting to the piece. We're starting from scratch."