Wed. October 18, 2006
By John Olson
The fictitious Christian boy band of the musical that pretends to be the closing night of a concert tour is now on the road for real, in a national tour that opened October 10th at Chicago's LaSalle Bank Theatre. The premise translates well enough from the intimacy of Off-Broadway's Dodger Stages to the sort of venue that houses big Broadway musicals. This is, after all, the size of hall a rock band might play, so it's in fact a more plausible setting than a 200-seat Off-Broadway theater.
If the marketing and publicity machines do their job in setting audience expectations and attracting the right crowd, those who find their way to Altar Boyz on tour will have a great time with this gentle satire of boy bands, corporate commercialism and too-easy commoditization of religion and sentiment. The more they recognize the cliches of boy bands and Christian pop songs in Gary Adler and Michael Patrick Walker's score, the better time they'll have.
Altar Boyz is running at the LaSalle Bank Theatre, 18 East Monroe, Chicago, through Sunday, October 29. For more information, visit www.broadwayinchicago.com and www.altarboyz.com.
Photo: Matthew Buckner, Ryan J Ratliff, Jesse JP Johnson, Jay Garcia and Nick Blaemire
© Carol Rosegg, 2006
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