Roosevelt University to showcase jazz and musical comedy for Vivid ’10 on March 23 at Auditorium Theatre

Roosevelt University’s popular Vivid concert, presented annually by the Chicago College of Performing Arts (CCPA), will be held at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 23 in the Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. Congress Parkway, Chicago.

This year’s show, Vivid ’10, will feature for the first time CCPA’s jazz combos and musical theatre selections from the Broadway hit, Sweet Charity. Also, for the first time the show will be free.

Swing, Hard Bop, ECM and Avant-Garde jazz will be performed during the first half of the show, while musical selections from Sweet Charity, including “Big Spender,” Rich Man’s Frug,” “There’s Gotta Be Something Better Than This,” “I’m the Bravest Individual,” “Rhythm of Life” and “I Love to Cry at Weddings” will be featured during the second half of the program.

Now in its seventh season, Vivid is CCPA’s largest annual showcase, performance event of the year. It is being led for the first time by Henry Fogel, the former head of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and League of American Orchestras, who joined CCPA as dean one year ago. He will serve as master of ceremonies for the show.

"There’s more to CCPA than our classical music program, so this year we’ve decided to highlight the amazing talent we have in our jazz and musical theatre programs,” said Fogel.

For the first time ever, the show will exclusively feature performances by talented CCPA students.

For more information or to reserve complimentary tickets, visit the Auditorium Theatre box office, 50 E. Congress Parkway, Chicago, or reserve tickets online.  Vivid ’10 is possible thanks to the generous support of the Elizabeth Morse Genius Charitable Trust.

“I believe that CCPA is the best performing arts conservatory in the region, and we want to make it easy for the community to see our talented students and the high quality of work that our students are doing,” said Fogel, who will narrate Vivid ’10.

The jazz performances will be led by seven-time Grammy Award winning drummer and percussionist Paul Wertico, assistant professor of jazz and head of jazz and contemporary music studies at CCPA.

“Jazz has been a Chicago tradition for more than half a century and many of today’s top jazz performers got their start as students at Roosevelt University,” said Wertico. Among those who began careers at Roosevelt include Joe Segal, who began Jazz Showcase, which has been Chicago’s premier jazz club for 50 years. Other big names include jazz legends like Booker Little, Anthony Braxton, Lee Konitz, Eddie Harris, Herbie Hancock and Ramsey Lewis, as well as Robert Lamm from the band Chicago and Maurice White, founder of Earth Wind and Fire.

“Not only did Chicago play a pivotal role in the development of jazz and contemporary music, but so did Roosevelt University. There is no better way to celebrate that kind of history and contribution than with a jazz-through-the-ages show at the Auditorium Theatre,” said Wertico.

The second half of the show will open with the CCPA Jazz Ensemble, led by Rob Parton, associate professor of jazz studies at Roosevelt. Musical comedy is the theme of the second half of the show, which is being directed and choreographed by Luis Perez, former principal dancer with the Joffrey Ballet, Broadway dancer, singer, actor and choreographer, and assistant professor and head of musical theatre at CCPA.

Since his arrival at CCPA in 2005, enrollments in the musical theatre program have more than doubled and his students have become highly visible, working at all major theatres throughout the Chicago area. In all, 31 musical theatre students will perform selections from Sweet Charity, a show that also will be presented at the University’s O’Malley Theatre April 29 through May 2.  “Vivid is an incredible opportunity for these students.  Not only will they get a chance to perform in the Auditorium Theatre, but they also will be backed by a full orchestra,” said Perez.

Chicago College of Performing Arts (CCPA) is comprised of the Music Conservatory and the Theatre Conservatory.  CCPA focuses on professional training within a competitive and supportive environment and has a mission of providing each student with rich and important artistic experiences. These experiences are led by an extraordinary faculty that includes actors with credits from Broadway and national and regional theatres, 25 members of the Chicago Symphony and Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestras and former members of opera companies throughout the world.

Roosevelt University, a national leader in educating socially conscious citizens, is a private, student-centered university with 7,300 students studying at comprehensive campuses in the Chicago Loop and Northwest suburban Schaumburg and online. Founded on the principles of inclusion and social justice, Roosevelt offers academic programs in arts and sciences, business, performing arts and education.