THEATER REVIEW: "Annie Get Your Gun" at Ravinia Festival in Highland Park, starring Patti LuPone.

Of course she could. Certainly, Annie Oakley is traditionally a little younger in the tooth than Momma Rose and Madam LuPone, but as LuPone proved on a stormy Friday night at Ravinia (to borrow a soccer metaphor, it was LuPone 4, Thunderstorm 0), the lovelorn sharp-shooter works perfectly well as a woman of a certain age.

Just as long as the rival big-shot Frank Butler has a few gray hairs. The perfectly genial Patrick Cassidy, a late replacement at Ravinia, has that qualification but not, alas, the vocal heft and force of personality to give LuPone something to conquer.

Now if Annie has shot her way around the block, the little ragamuffins who show up with her can’t really be her brother and sisters, but who’s to say Annie ain’t makin’ that up, anyway? In fact, the song “You Can’t Get a Man With a Gun” comes with the inherent implication that Annie has already spent a few years trying and failing to snag one with her itchy trigger finger.

The Ravinia Festival crowd exits the gala celebrating the 80th birthday of Stephen Sondheim with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on July 31 in Highland Park. (Photo for the Tribune by Shaun Sartin

Back in the first half of the 19th century, London was full of pleasure palaces — massive entertainment emporiums that were an unruly mix of high and low culture. Regular folks could get a drink and a nice meal. Hear some music. Dance to an orchestra. Picnic on the grass. There might be a prizefight. A melodrama. An orange to suck. A ballet. A few ladies of the night. And, in all probability, a bit of Shakespeare. Working people liked Shakespeare.

But in the 1850s a fellow named Samuel Phelps decided that a buck — or rather, a shilling — could be made by creating a more elitist artistic experience. He set out to get rid of the common folk and offer a premium see-and-be-seen experience for those who could afford to pay. One way he did this was by starting his shows at 6:30 p.m. while the factory workers were still on the job. He added a dress code, beefed up the ticket prices and demanded silence in darkness. Other producers jumped on the bandwagon. Before long, all the theaters in London were being built with a separate balcony entrance around the side. The rich folks in velvet seats didn't even need to see the working stiffs sitting at the rear.

But the ordinary arts lovers in the balcony could see the folks down front. And they didn't like that setup much. Not that anybody listened to them.

These newly refined, focused venues were great for serious art, critics said. Before many more decades had passed, the heirs to those producers were wondering why ordinary people were calling the performing arts elitist. And not coming very much. They were loath to acknowledge the truth. Overly concerned about their place in society, they had deliberately kicked the regular folks out, having forgotten how badly they needed them.

There is a cautionary tale here for any arts organization. The Art Institute of Chicago. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The Ravinia Festival — a place founded on the North Shore in 1904 by the A.C. Frost Co. as a way of boosting business for the Chicago & Milwaukee Electric Railroad. Back then, Ravinia was strikingly similar to those London pleasure palaces. It was an amusement park — a cheerfully populist respite from the city heat and a verdant spot for music, picnics, recreation. There was a baseball diamond, a dance hall, a restaurant, an electric fountain, a beautiful prairie-style theater that stands to this day. In her concert there last week, actress Kelli O'Hara said the Martin Theatre felt so sacred and holy, she wished she had worn a more appropriate dress.

Two weeks ago, I complained about the unacceptably short duration of a Ravinia Festival concert honoring the 80th birthday of Stephen Sondheim, and designated as a benefit performance with a post-show dinner for supporters with means, even as the lawn was cleared of ordinary attendees (Ravinia has denied that this took place, despite many reports from customers.) A howl of Internet and radio call-in rage — suffused with class warfare — followed. There was a pervasive theme in the hundreds of comments. Ravinia has forgotten the regular folks who still come out on the train.

Notably unapologetic, Ravinia argued that the purpose of its benefit — to raise money for its programs to bring music to arts-starved schoolkids — was being egregiously overlooked. It stressed that the benefit was the work of hardworking volunteers. It noted that this was just one night out of a hundred in a season. It accurately observed that no one was saying the Sondheim concert had been of poor quality. It suggested that this was all a minor, media-induced, inorganic fracas, seized upon by people who just wanted to get their money back.

THEATER REVIEW: Kelli O'Hara at Ravinia Festival

Many of the young women who arrive on Broadway from rural Texas or small-town Oklahoma come with a brassy belt and a sassy comedic charm as the calling cards to get them through those well-guarded Gotham doors. Not Kelli O'Hara, the luminous star of “The Light in the Piazza” and “South Pacific.” O'Hara, who grew up on a small farm in Western Oklahoma and who performed at Ravinia's Martin Theatre Wednesday night, has plenty of folksy, homespun charm. But this classically trained (and classy) singer also has a pure, lyric soprano and an inherent softness and gentleness that is beguiling, if only for its unimpeachable authenticity.

I remember Adam Guettel, the grandson of American composer Richard Rodgers, once trying to explain to me in an interview why he wanted the pivotal (and post-Chicago) casting change in “Piazza” that made O'Hara's career. He didn't articulate much beyond “that voice.” He didn't need to say anything more. When O’Hara's voice hits the upper register, it seems to journey to the most disarming of emotional places, with an ease and profundity that very, very few of her peers can emulate.

As a mid-career, 34-year-old Broadway star, O'Hara is still a bit young to structure a show around her biographical journey. Aside from “Sweet Smell of Success,” a flop, she hasn't had many hard knocks. Indeed, her formidable and much-deserved reputation rests mostly on “Piazza” and the Lincoln Center revival of “South Pacific” (O'Hara had the incredible good fortune, and the talent, to be at the center of both the best new musical of the last decade and the best revival). In terms of narrative oomph, to listen to O'Hara sing through her life is a bit like reading Kristin Chenoweth's autobiography. It feels, shall we say, premature.

But so what. Her unpretentious conversation, modest charm, and warm, crinkly eyes make her exceedingly good company and her singing (accompanied by her pianist and musical director Dan Lipton) is just exquisite. She was clearly delighted that so many in her Ravinia audience knew the title song to “The Light in the Piazza” without further explanation and so appreciated the rich vulnerability and technical quality of its delivery. One only wished for more by Guettel, a composer to whom she is so well suited.

But O'Hara was out to demonstrate her eclectic tastes, running through everything from “The Boy Next Door” from “Meet Me in St. Louis” (sung without condescension) to “That's How I Say Goodbye,” a lovely ballad from Marvin Hamlisch's score to “Sweet Smell” that was cut after the Chicago tryout. Pity. They didn't know what they had in O'Hara. In her 75-minute show — plus an encore — she also threw in a song by her husband, Greg Naughton, paid tribute to her teacher, Florence Birdwell, and told of her joy at giving birth last year to a baby boy.

She was far less corny than Kansas in August as she sang about her “wonderful guy,” but we could all feel the lump in her throat.

- CHRIS JONES

Acknowledging that hundreds of people were upset by the short, 65-minute duration of a concert Saturday night celebrating the 80th birthday of American composer Stephen Sondheim, the Ravinia Festival said Monday that it would offer two-for-one pavilion tickets to its upcoming concert staging of “Annie Get Your Gun” for all of Saturday night’s attendees.

Hundreds of comments were left on a story about the “Sondheim: 80” concert on the Tribune’s Theater Loop blog by concertgoers and others annoyed by an evening that offered the audience a scant hour of entertainment. Taken as a whole, the comments suggest that many longtime attendees of the Highland Park venue have become angry at sharply raised lawn-ticket prices (which have gone from $10 to $25 for Saturday, to as much as $32 for some events), and at what they perceive as a general lack of attention to the needs of ordinary concertgoers.

Many people reported journeys to the venue from out of state after spending hundreds of dollars on tickets, only to be sent away bitterly disappointed at 8:20 p.m.

Local loyalists were equally irked.

“We biked home without the use of headlights,” wrote Steve Parker of Glencoe. “Frankly we called up the local Blockbuster and rented ‘Sweeney Todd’ so we could see what a ‘full’ night of Sondheim felt like. ... A public apology would be a start from the powers that be at Ravinia.”

Welz Kauffman, Ravinia’s president and chief executive officer, referred questions to Nick Pullia, Ravinia’s director of communications. Pullia acknowledged that Ravinia had been besieged by complaints Monday, but defended the short duration of the evening.

The Ravinia Festival crowd exits the gala celebrating the 80th birthday of Stephen Sondheim with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on Saturday night  in Highland Park.  (Photo for the Tribune by Shaun Sartin). 

• Sondheim's 80th is the birthday party that just won't end (published July 28. 2010)

What could have been a soul-stirring celebration of the music of Stephen Sondheim — and a thrilling culmination of ten years of distinguished Sondheim celebrations at the Ravinia Festival — was allowed to fall victim to some bone-headed planning on Saturday night. The debacle on the North Shore was a textbook example of what can happen when an arts venue worries too much about food and drink for its big donors and forgets its real business of fulfilling the artistic souls of the regular folks — the Sondheim lovers without the bow-ties and the fine gowns — at the back of the pavilion and out on the lawn.

Saturday night’s celebration of Sondheim’s 80th birthday, featuring the incomparable cast of Patti LuPone, Audra McDonald, Michael Cerveris and George Hearn, accompanied by no less than the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, was all over by 8:20 p.m., just when we should have all been enjoying a brief intermission as part of a perfect evening.

When you take away the self-congratulatory speechifying and a slightly delayed curtain, that made for about 65 minutes of show. There were no encores — just some embarrassed bows from the performers and awkward glances from the members of the CSO who clearly understood they’d just upset the people at the back. The show ended a good 15 minutes sooner than the sign at the door. I don’t recall ever seeing a show like this without an encore — or two, or three.

There was no need for candles on the lawn. It wasn’t even dark.

The issue here was that this was a benefit for the festival — and someone had decided that dinner should be served after the show for those 800 guests. If you were at the benefit, that might have been fine. Often such events feature brief entertainment. But Ravinia also sold most of the show-only seats to the general public — $125 pavilion tickets that were purchased by arts lovers out of their own pockets. The lawn was packed. I wandered around afterwards. Many of those people were justifiably furious. Ravinia owes them an apology and a refund — and it should do some internal soul-seaching as to where its priorities lie.

Raise money by all means, but not at the expense of your regular supporters. The only clock that should matter is an artistic clock. A cast like this is not pre-digestive entertainment. They are among the definitive interpreters of America’s greatest living composer for the theater (some would say, America’s greatest living composer, period). And there was a grand Ravinia tradition here to uphold — Chicago teems with Sondheim lovers. It was a stupefying evening.

As you can imagine from the artists involved, it was an exquisite 65 minutes, including a spectacular "Everything’s Coming Up Roses" from LuPone, a "Move On" from the radiant McDonald that brought me to tears (I’m bad at moving on), and a gripping "Pretty Women" from Hearn and the grandly insouciant Cerveris. These are performers who understand that one must always risk everything with Sondheim, the master of paradox and the king of frankness.

The emotional content of the singing was extraordinary. I love Sondheim in the open air for much the same reasons I love Shakespeare in the open air: both of these great writers probe the deepest of existential questions and their explorations feel only more vigorous and primal when combined with the elements and the composite reminder that the hearts are so restless because the world is never still.

Sondheim is also, of course, our last working link to an older, greater world of songwriting. To hear "Old Friend," perhaps the most comforting song from a composer so adept at riling us up, emerge from the CSO’s dazzling overture, conducted by the incomparable Paul Gemignani, brought a rush of emotion. I started thinking about how friendships soothe everything and readied myself for a philosophical journey amidst tunes, feelings, and succor for the working week.

It hit me hard, somehow, when they all left the stage without charting a real course. A few minutes later, I looked at the faces pressed against the glass on the return Metra train, somehow a sad conveyance. Elsewhere, dinner was served.

Time to move on. LuPone will star in "Annie Get Your Gun" is at Ravinia in a few days. I hope they’re not doing only the first act.

-- Chris Jones

What 80-year-old in history has enjoyed more birthday parties than Stephen Sondheim? Let's review. There was the high-profile shebang at the Avery Fisher Hall in New York last March with the New York Philharmonic. Lonny Price's cast included Patti LuPone, Audra McDonald, George Hearn and Michael Cerveris (not to mention David Hyde Pierce, Elaine Stritch and many others). That one will be broadcast on PBS this fall and is regarded as the formal, official celebration.

There was an April event at New York's City Center, replete with Angela Lansbury, Nathan Lane and other Broadway glitterati. Directed by the unassuming John Doyle, a Sondheim favorite, this event was rather more intimate and irreverent — a family party, if you like.

The nation's capital does not like to be left out. In May, Sondheim's birthday was celebrated by the National Symphony Orchestra and a Broadway cast that included Brian D'Arcy James, Liz Callaway, Maria Friedman and Cerveris (again).

And then there is the little matter of London. On July 31, there will be a huge British celebration of the legendary American composer at the Royal Albert Hall — featuring a who's who of the London stage, Judi Dench and all. The 31st, you'll note, is Saturday night. That's the very night the Ravinia Festival will be staging its own celebration of Sondheim's 80th birthday with much the same cast as the Avery Fisher event, including LuPone, McDonald, Hearn and Cerveris (yet again).

“My career of late,” Cerveris said dryly in a phone interview the other day, “has been singing birthday parties for Stephen Sondheim.”

Patti LuPone will play Annie Oakley in a semi-staged rendition of "Annie Get Your Gun" that is headed for the Ravinia Festival in Highland Park next summer.

LuPone will play opposite Brian Stokes Mitchell and she'll have the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as her backing. Paul Gemignani conducts and Lonny Price directs. It's all in honor of the 150th anniversary of Oakley's birth.

The last time LuPone did an Ethel Merman role at Ravinia (Mama Rose in "Gypsy"), she ended up with a Broadway reprise. (LuPone is backstage at the St. James Theater in New York, left.)

Annie Oakley is more of a stretch, but the chance to hear LuPone get her lungs around "You Can't Get a Man With a Gun" will have some people booking flights right now.

LuPone will be doing what comes naturally from Aug. 13-15.

Next summer, the Stephen Sondheim-loving Ravinia Festival plans to stage a major gala in honor of the great American composer and writer's 80th birthday, featuring distinguished Sondheim interpreters Patti LuPone, Audra McDonald, Michael Cerveris and George Hearn.

These Broadway stars, all of whom have done Sondheim at Ravinia in the past, will appear under the direction of Lonny Price and with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Paul Gemignani.

Slated for July 31, 2010, the event is intended as a celebration of Sondheim's greatest hits. It was announced at Saturday night's Ravinia gala.