Neighbor News
Mr. Benny Returns to Waukegan
Favorite son Jack Benny, portrayed by Chicago actor Tim Newell, returns to Waukegan for three weeks in February!
Chicago actor Tim Newell returns to Clockwise Theatre in Waukegan in February for 12 performances in Mark Humphrey’s play Mr. Benny, an affectionate one-man show tracing the career of Waukegan favorite son Jack Benny. Opening Friday, February 12th, 2016, and running for three weekends through February 28th, Mr. Benny will be presented Fridays at 8 PM, Saturdays at 3 PM and 8 PM, and Sundays at 3 PM.
The three week run is being presented as a birthday celebration event for Benny, who was born on February 14, 1894. Famously, Benny was raised and went to school in Waukegan, a fact often recounted both in his ground-breaking radio and television shows, and in the movies.
The two-act comedy begins with Jack Benny in his Hollywood CBS Studios star dressing room on the evening of his first television broadcast, the beginning of Benny’s successful 15-year run on television. Act 2 picks up the action 15 years later.
In the play, Benny ruminates about stardom, his public image and the variance it had with his true personality, which was often generous and thoughtful. He remembers his childhood in Waukegan, his Jewish parents and humble origin, and the beginning of his show business career at Great Lakes Naval Base. He also recounts his years playing the violin professionally in Vaudeville, his radio career and the golden age of television. Featuring a sterling soundtrack of vintage radio and television shows, actor Tim Newell seamlessly interacts with the voices of the past for both comedic and sentimental effects.
“It’s a perfect celebration of the great Jack Benny,” says Clockwise Theatre Artistic Director Sanders. “What today’s audiences may not realize is that the comedy routines perfected by Benny, his on-the-air nemesis Fred Allen, and his rep company of radio stars like Mary Livingstone, Eddie Anderson, Dennis Day, and Mel Blanc, served as the basis for such shows as Seinfeld and How I Met Your Mother, among countless others.”
Benny’s famous public persona - vain, miserly, pompous, self-absorbed, a terrible musician and yet an undeniable star – delighted millions of radio listeners and movie goers throughout the Depression, the Second World War, and into the golden age of television.
“It’s also worth noting that the national premiere of a Jack Benny film in 1938 at the Academy Theater on North Genesee Street - right across from where Clockwise Theatre is today - drew crowds of more than 75,000 people,” adds Sanders.
General admission is $25.00. Senior, Veteran, Student and Industry ticket prices are available. Tickets may be purchased online at Brown Paper Tickets or at the door. Discount tickets are also available on Gold Star, Hot Tix, and on the Chicago Theater Week website.
Clockwise Theatre is located at 221 N. Genesee Street, just next door to the historic Genesee Theater. Ample parking is available. Please call Clockwise at (847) 775-1500 for more information, or visit the Clockwise Theatre website, at www.clockwisetheatre.org.
