John Reeger (born 20th century) is an American actor and playwright, based in
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
.
Performances
Theatre at the Center,
Munster, Indiana
Munster is a suburban town in North Township, Lake County, Indiana, United States. It is in the Chicago metropolitan area, approximately southeast of the Chicago Loop, and shares municipal boundaries with Hammond to the north, Highland to the ...
* Horace Vandergelder in ''
Hello, Dolly!''
* The Old Man in ''
A Christmas Story: The Musical''
* Seabon Faulk, HaHa Jones, Farley Wood in ''
A Christmas Memory
"A Christmas Memory" is a short story by Truman Capote. Originally published in '' Mademoiselle'' magazine in December 1956, it was reprinted in ''The Selected Writings of Truman Capote'' in 1963. It was issued in a stand-alone hardcover edition ...
''
Drury Lane Theatre
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, commonly known as Drury Lane, is a West End theatre and Grade I listed building in Covent Garden, London, England. The building faces Catherine Street (earlier named Bridges or Brydges Street) and backs onto Dru ...
, Illinois
*
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes () is a Detective fiction, fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a "Private investigator, consulting detective" in his stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with obser ...
in ''
Sherlock's Last Case''
* The Wizard in ''
Once Upon a Mattress
''Once Upon a Mattress'' is a musical theater, musical comedy with music by Mary Rodgers, lyrics by Marshall Barer, and book by Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller, and Marshall Barer. It opened off-Broadway in May 1959, and then moved to Broadway theat ...
''
* Scrooge in ''
A Christmas Carol
''A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas'', commonly known as ''A Christmas Carol'', is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. It recounts the ...
''
* John Barrymore in ''
I Hate Hamlet''
* Capt Hook in ''
Peter Pan
Peter Pan is a fictional character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie. A free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood having adventures on the mythical ...
''
* Fagin in ''
Oliver!
''Oliver!'' is a stage musical, with book, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the 1838 novel ''Oliver Twist'' by Charles Dickens.
It premiered at the Wimbledon Theatre, southwest London in 1960 before opening in the W ...
''
* Henry Higgins in ''
My Fair Lady
''My Fair Lady'' is a musical theatre, musical with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story, based on George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play ''Pygmalion (play), Pygmalion'' and on the Pygmalion (1938 film), 1938 film ...
''
* Franz in ''
The Sound of Music
''The Sound of Music'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, '' The Story of the Trapp Family Singers''. ...
''
Marriott Theatre
The Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire, Illinois is a respected Chicago area regional theatre. Attached to the Marriott Lincolnshire Resort, the theatre produces an average of five musicals each year, presented in the round, as well as produ ...
,
Lincolnshire, Illinois
Lincolnshire is a village in Lake County, Illinois, United States. It is a northern suburb of Chicago. Per the 2020 census, the population was 7,940. Named after Lincolnshire, England, the village was incorporated on August 5, 1957, from the u ...
His fifteen productions include:
* Max in ''
Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard is a boulevard in the central and western part of Los Angeles, California, United States, that stretches from the Pacific Coast Highway (California), Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, Pacific Palisad ...
''
* Georges in ''
La Cage Aux Folles''
* Billy Flynn in ''
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
''
Court Theatre
A court is an institution, often a government entity, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and administer justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance with the rule of law.
Courts general ...
, Chicago
His thirty productions include:
* Gabriel Conroy in ''
James Joyce's The Dead
''James Joyce's The Dead'' is a Broadway musical by Richard Nelson and Shaun Davey based upon James Joyce's short story " The Dead".
Productions
The musical was originally presented Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons, starting on October 1 ...
''
* Polonius in ''
Hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...
''
* Malvolio in ''
Twelfth Night
''Twelfth Night, or What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Viola an ...
''
* Col. Pickering in ''
My Fair Lady
''My Fair Lady'' is a musical theatre, musical with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story, based on George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play ''Pygmalion (play), Pygmalion'' and on the Pygmalion (1938 film), 1938 film ...
''
* ''
Hay Fever
Allergic rhinitis, of which the seasonal type is called hay fever, is a type of rhinitis, inflammation in the nose that occurs when the immune system overreacts to allergens in the air. It is classified as a Allergy, type I hypersensitivity re ...
''
* ''
Twelfth Night
''Twelfth Night, or What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Viola an ...
''
* ''
Piano
A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...
''
* ''
Life's a Dream''
* ''
The Learned Ladies
''Les Femmes savantes'' (, ''The Learned Ladies'') is a comedy by Molière in five acts, written in verse. A satire on academic pretension, female education, and '' préciosité'' (French for preciosity), it was one of his most popular comedies ...
''
* ''
Fair Ladies at a Game of Poem Cards''
* ''
Gross Indecency
Gross indecency is a crime in some parts of the English-speaking world, originally used to criminalize sexual activity between men that fell short of sodomy, which required penetration. The term was first used in British law in a statute of the ...
''
* ''
Nora
Nora, NORA, or Norah may refer to:
* Nora (name), a feminine given name
People with the surname
* Arlind Nora (born 1980), Albanian footballer
* Pierre Nora (1931–2025), French historian
* Simon Nora (1921–2006), French politician
Place ...
''
* ''
The Little Foxes
''The Little Foxes'' is a 1939 play by Lillian Hellman, considered a classic of 20th century drama. Its title comes from Chapter 2, Verse 15, of the Song of Solomon in the King James version of the Bible, which reads, "Take us the foxes, the li ...
''
* ''
La Bête''
* ''
Putting It Together
''Putting it Together'' is a musical revue showcasing the songs of Stephen Sondheim. Drawing its title from a song in ''Sunday in the Park with George'', it was devised by Sondheim and Julia McKenzie. The revue has received several productions, b ...
''
* ''
An Ideal Husband
''An Ideal Husband'' is a four-act play by Oscar Wilde that revolves around blackmail and political corruption, and touches on the themes of public and private honour. It was first produced at the Haymarket Theatre, London in 1895 and ran for ...
''
* ''
The Cherry Orchard
''The Cherry Orchard'' () is the last play by Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. Written in 1903, it was first published by '' Znaniye'' (Book Two, 1904), and came out as a separate edition later that year in Saint Petersburg, via A.F. Marks Pu ...
''
* ''
Old Times
''Old Times'' is a play by Harold Pinter. It was first performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Aldwych Theatre in London on 1 June 1971. It starred Colin Blakely, Dorothy Tutin, and Vivien Merchant, and was directed by Peter Hall. ...
''
* ''
Tartuffe
''Tartuffe, or The Impostor, or The Hypocrite'' (; , ), first performed in 1664, is a theatrical comedy (or more specifically, a farce) by Molière. The characters of Tartuffe, Elmire, and Orgon are considered among the greatest classical theat ...
''
* ''
The Philadelphia Story''
* ''
The Play's the Thing''
* ''
Henry IV, Part 1
''Henry IV, Part 1'' (often written as ''1 Henry IV'') is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written no later than 1597. The play dramatises part of the reign of King Henry IV of England, beginning with the Battle of H ...
''
* ''
Travesties
''Travesties'' is a 1974 play by Tom Stoppard. It centres on the figure of Henry Wilfred Carr, Henry Carr, an old man who reminisces about Zürich in 1917 during World War I, the First World War, and his interactions with James Joyce when he w ...
''
* ''
The Misanthrope
''The Misanthrope, or the Cantankerous Lover'' (; ) is a 17th-century comedy of manners in verse written by Molière. It was first performed on 4 June 1666 at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal (rue Saint-Honoré), Théâtre du Palais-Royal, Paris by ...
''
* ''
The Triumph of Love''
* ''
Cloud Nine''
* ''
A Midsummer Night's Dream
''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a Comedy (drama), comedy play written by William Shakespeare in about 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One s ...
''
* ''
Much Ado About Nothing
''Much Ado About Nothing'' is a Shakespearean comedy, comedy by William Shakespeare thought to have been written in 1598 and 1599.See textual notes to ''Much Ado About Nothing'' in ''The Norton Shakespeare'' (W. W. Norton & Company, 1997 ) p. ...
''
* ''
Woyzeck
''Woyzeck'' () is a stage play written by Georg Büchner. Büchner wrote the play between July and October 1836, yet left it incomplete at his death in February 1837. The play first appeared in 1877 in a heavily edited version by Karl Emil F ...
''
* ''
The Seagull
''The Seagull'' () is a play by Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov, written in 1895 in literature, 1895 and first produced in 1896 in literature#Drama, 1896. ''The Seagull'' is generally considered to be the first of his four major plays. It dramati ...
''
Chicago Shakespeare Theater
Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) is a non-profit, professional theater company located at Navy Pier in Chicago, Illinois. Its more than six hundred annual performances performed 48 weeks of the year include its critically acclaimed Shakespeare ...
* ''
King John''
* ''
The Moliere Comedies''
* ''
The Winter's Tale
''The Winter's Tale'' is a play by William Shakespeare originally published in the First Folio of 1623. Although it was grouped among the comedies, many modern editors have relabelled the play as one of Shakespeare's late romances. Some criti ...
''
Northlight
* ''
Woody Guthrie's American Song''
* ''
Enter the Guardsman
''Enter the Guardsman ''is a musical based on Ferenc Molnár's play ''The Guardsman'', with music by Craig Bohmler, lyrics by Marion Adler, and a book by Scott Wentworth.
The story concerns an actor who tests his actress wife's love by sending her ...
''
Steppenwolf Theatre Company
Steppenwolf Theatre Company is a Chicago theater company founded in 1974 by Terry Kinney, Jeff Perry (American actor), Jeff Perry, and Gary Sinise in the Immaculate Conception grade school in Highland Park, Illinois and is now located in Chica ...
* ''
The Ballad of Littke Jo''
Works
''The Christmas Schooner''
With
Julie Shannon creating the music and lyrics, Reeger wrote ''
The Christmas Schooner'' which premiered at Chicago's
Bailiwick Repertory Theatre The Bailiwick Repertory Theatre was a theater company in Chicago founded in 1982 that produced eclectic works. It staged productions at the Bailiwick Arts Center in the city's Lakeview neighborhood from 1995 until 2009. Productions include Biell ...
and received the 1996
Chicago After Dark Award for outstanding new work. A twelve-year (as of 2006) continuing seasonal run has followed as well as a CD, and productions in the Midwest, Texas and California have also been successful.
Based on the true story of a
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...
schooner
A schooner ( ) is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel defined by its Rig (sailing), rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more Mast (sailing), masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than t ...
captain who risks life and limb to transport
fir tree
Firs are evergreen coniferous trees belonging to the genus ''Abies'' () in the family Pinaceae. There are approximately 48–65 extant species, found on mountains throughout much of North and Central America, Eurasia, and North Africa. The genu ...
s from the
Upper Peninsula of Michigan
The Upper Peninsula of Michigan—also known as Upper Michigan or colloquially the U.P. or Yoop—is the northern and more elevated of the two major landmasses that make up the U.S. state of Michigan; it is separated from the Lower Peninsula of ...
to Chicago's German immigrants during the late 19th century.
''Let the Eagle Fly''
With Shannon again creating the music and lyrics, Reeger wrote ''Let the Eagle Fly'', the story of
Cesar Chavez
Cesario Estrada Chavez (; ; March 31, 1927 – April 23, 1993) was an American labor leader and civil rights activist. Along with Dolores Huerta and lesser known Gilbert Padilla, he co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), ...
.
Personal life
He is married to Paula Scrofano and has two children.
See also
*
Theatre in Chicago
Theater in Chicago describes not only theater performed in Chicago, Illinois, but also to the movement in Chicago that saw a number of small, meagerly funded companies grow to institutions of national and international significance. Chicago ha ...
References
External links
Author Biography by Music Theatre International (MTI) University of Missouri-Rolla's productionseason/Taleoftheallergistswife/taleoftheallergistswifeReview of James Joyce's "The Dead" at Court Theatre
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reeger, John
Year of birth missing (living people)
Place of birth missing (living people)
20th-century births
Living people
20th-century American dramatists and playwrights
20th-century American male actors
20th-century American male writers
21st-century American dramatists and playwrights
21st-century American male actors
21st-century American male writers
American male musical theatre actors
American male dramatists and playwrights
American musical theatre librettists
Male actors from Chicago
Writers from Chicago