So
what's the story behind The
Hipmas Carol? Good question.
The
Hipmas
Carol was first conceived
as
a short, storytellers version
of
the Dickens classic as a
benefit
for Tyler’s
sister Leah, who was born with
Cerebral Palsy. The family
needed
to
raise money in order to pay
for a special treatment
in
a hyperbaric chamber that would
take many months.
The first
version was only about 10 minutes
in length and was used as a
piece to entertain guests of
the benefit as they ate. At
the benefit many people approached
Pat and Tyler, who wrote the
shorter and longer adaptation,
and asked them if they had
a longer version or a CD of
the piece.
During the next year,
Tyler sat down with the piece
while listening to some fine
Chicago blues and started to
riff the rhymes and piece the
whole thing together. Pat joined
in, and they were on their
way to creating the show in
its longer form.
For
inspiration,
the duo turned to the spoken
work stylings of a Chicago cult
hero, Sir Lord Buckley - who,
himself had created a seven-minute
version of A
Christmas
Carol that
told the story in
a beat- jive vaudevillian
way.
Buckley had become an inspiration
to Pat and Tyler some time
ago, and oddly enough had
been
a great friend and performing
partner of the late Del
Close - whom
Pat and Tyler moved to Chicago
to study with. Unfortunately, Del passed away 6 weeks into the final performance workshop leaving Pat and Tyler as two of his very last students.
Lord Buckley
served as an inspiration to
the text, bringing out a raw
Chicago style jive narration.
Buckley, however never rhymed
his stories, and the Hipmas
Carol
rhymes every line.
For several years, musician Robert Rial of the band "Bakelite 78" played along side the duo, and is now very busy touring the states with his group.
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A Hip New Season.
Jazz and avant-garde improv guitarist, Ritch Valadez joins the veteran performers. He is the guitarist for two Chicago bands, “Digable Cat” and “The Illustrated.” The versatile musician has performed at The House of Blues, The Double Door, The Note and The Wise Fools Pub, to name a few. He studied with John Mclean and David Bloom, has played with Rick Shandling and had a #1 hit on songplanet.com. Ritch is also the guitar player for the well known musical improv troupe, “Baby Wants Candy.” |
The
Hipmas Carol has performed
runs at Frankie J's on
Broadway, The Lakeshore
Theater, The Noble Fool
(downtown
Chicago location),
The Raven Theater, at
Dicken's Fest (for
Charles Dicken's granddaughter)
and has been featured
nationally on television
on WGN, as well as CLTV
and on NPR (National
Public Radio).
Now
in
its 9th
critically acclaimed
season, this Chicago underground
hit has really caught on which
makes December an unbelievably
busy time of year. Besides running
the show at The Chicago Center for the Performing Arts on December 5th, at 8:00pm for a special 3 week limited run,
they are also bringing the touring
version to libraries, colleges,
high schools, festivals and community
events all around the Midwest.
It has been voted "Critic's
Choice" year
after year by The
Chicago Tribune and "Highly
Recommended" by The
Chicago Reader and "Must
See" the
past two years by Timeout
Chicago.
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