The Life

Book by
Ira Gasman & David Newman
Music by Cy Coleman

presented at The Theatre Building Chicago
June 2 — July 15, 2007

Directed by
Stephen M. Genovese

Choreographed by
Brenda Didier

Music Directed by
Jon Steinhagen

Produced by
Thomas J. Samorian

Cast:
Anthony Apodaca, Mike Arthur, Michael Booth, Brandon Dahlquist, Anthony Fett, Jess Godwin, Aaron Holland, David Jiles, Jr., Tawny Newsome, Vanessa Panerosa, Gerald Richardson, Karen-Marie Richardson, Bethany Thomas, Dana Tretta, Seasn Walton, and Vallea E. Woodbury.

Nominated for FOUR Jeff Awards
including
Outstanding Production (Musical)
Principle Actress (Musical): Tawny Newsome
Supporting Actress (Musical): Bethany Thomas

Jeff Award Winner!
Outstanding Choreography: Brenda Didier

Black Theatre Alliance Winner
Best Featured Actress in a Play (Musical or Revue):
Bethany Thomas

The Life depicts the pulsating life on the Times Square streets in the late 1970's, where everything had a price, especially sex—-the garish topless bars, the transvestite joints, the hookers who worked the sidewalks at the bidding of their pimps. As they got brief tastes of the good life while working the streets of New York, the personal stories and dreams of Fleetwood, Memphis, Jojo, Sonja, Queen, Mary, and Lou are nothing less than shockingly realistic and delightfully gripping.

Cy Coleman's (composer of Sweet Charity, Barnum, City of Angels, and more) score for The Life is charged with emotionally revealing songs; the music is the pulse of life itself, as experienced by the show's characters. Musical numbers included “Use What You Got,” “A Lovely Day to Be Outta Jail,” “Easy Money,” “Greed,” “My Friend,” and “My Way or the Highway.”

Rave reviews for The Life:

"An impressively ambitious production with superior acting & production values"
- Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune (Recommended)

"These working girls are worth every penny"
- Kris Vire, TimeOut Chicago (Recommended)

"BoHo's knockout non-Equity cast delivers the jazz-funk-gospel score with volcanic power and dramatic nuance."
- Albert WIlliams, Chicago Reader (Critics Choice)

"BoHo's production of The Life sings and soars"
- Jonathan Abarbanel, Windy City Times (Recommended)

"Bohemian has established itself as one of the prime venues in Chicago for non-Equity musical theater performers."
- John Olsen, TalkinBroadway.com (Recommended)