MUSIC BOX THEATRE

Inside vintage theater, film favorites of note

By Ellen Fox
Special to the Chicago Tribune

In honor of the holidays, the Music Box Theatre rolls out some perennial film favorites to grace the vintage theater's screens, starting this weekend.

`Sing-a-Long Sound of Music'

Purists may recoil, but camp fans are likely to make the third run of "Sing-a-Long Sound of Music" another sell-out.

The Julie Andrews musical (1965) about a passel of singing Austrians gets "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" treatment with a costume parade and contest; a goody bag filled with props; and the liberty of the audience to not just sing along but to shout stuff whenever the mood strikes. Those with particularly nasty things to say to Rolf, however, might want to shy away from the family-oriented matinees.

"Our general rule is innuendo is better than profanity," said emcee Joe Savino. "The Friday and Saturday evening show is a little bit racier, more edgy, and they yell out things that are perhaps a little more adult."

"Sing-a-Long Sound of Music" plays 2 and 7 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are $15 and $12.

`Sunset Boulevard'

Gloria Swanson's out-there turn as faded silent-film star Norma Desmond in "Sunset Boulevard" ((star)(star)(star)(star)) has perhaps even more potential than "The Sound of Music" to be a camp-lovers delight, but ya know what? Why not put aside your ironic detachment and embrace something at face value for a night? It requires more bravery.

Consider Billy Wilder's 1950 masterpiece instead for its uncomfortable love triangle. Down-on-his-luck screenwriter William Holden stumbles into a crumbling mansion and meets the garishly painted (but spectrally beautiful) Norma, who enlists his help in writing her comeback. Holden becomes her boy toy, but starts to feel the tug of a younger, sassy female screenwriter, Betty (Nancy Olson), with whom he works nights over at Paramount.

Holden loathes himself for being trapped between two fairly emasculating women, but his attachment to both of them goes beyond show-biz ambition. Betty may look like an ingenue, but she's modern and mocking and practical, hardly the type of gal who'd die for--or kill--a man the way old-fashioned, appealingly histrionic Norma would.

As the film sympathetically demonstrates, Norma didn't just act in the movies, she acted in real life. She may have been driven by pure emotion but at least she "took great risks" as they like to say in show biz. She was un-self-aware, so you be un-self-aware for a night, too.

"Sunset Boulevard" plays 5, 7:30 and 9:45 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday; 5 and 9:45 p.m. Thursday.

`Pee-wee's Big Adventure'

What makes 1985's "Pee-wee's Big Adventure" ((star)(star)(star)1/2) so refreshing is that, unlike other character-driven vehicles (in which, say, Mike Myers runs around mugging for the camera while everyone else has to stand there) it's actually an ensemble comedy.

Even if you don't care for Paul Reubens' trim-suited, cherry-lipped man-boy, you can still enjoy his picaresque search for a cherished stolen bicycle. The adventure may be Pee-wee's, but its success owes just as much to young Tim Burton's perfect pacing, Danny Elfman's iconic score and a dozen other memorable characters at it does to Pee-wee's glottal laughs and tight-elbowed jumps-for-joy.

This spirit of generosity--the feeling that there's no need to horde the funny moments--also makes itself felt in the way the comedy unfolds so playfully and organically.

"Pee-wee's Big Adventure" plays midnight Friday and Saturday.

`A Night at the Opera'

Much as we'd like to think otherwise, a lot of comedy has a limited shelf life. By now, the wordplay and physical comedy of the Marx Brothers' 1935 classic "A Night at the Opera" ((star)(star)(star)) isn't so much funny as it is quaintly amusing.

So if you hear out-and-out laughter as you watch Harpo, Chico and Groucho run haywire through high society, it's likely someone's either being nostalgic or posturing for their date.

What does come across, as the trio conspires to smuggle a love-sick Italian tenor to New York, is a nice, loose-pants sexiness that's you don't see in many male comedic actors today.

When the action takes a break for some straight musical numbers (including some whimsical solos by Harpo and Chico), it feels jarring, but it also adds some class. Fans of "There's Something About Mary" should spot the source material for the beans-and-franks bathroom pile-on in the famed stateroom scene.

"A Night at the Opera" plays midnight Friday and Saturday and 11:30 a.m. Saturday and Sunday.

The Music Box: Magical retro

In a world of sterile "googleplexes," the Music Box, a romantic, creaky-seated old cinema, harks back to a time when the theater environment itself was part of what made moviegoing so magical.

Vast yet adorable (it opened in 1929 as a mini version of the city's other palaces), the Music Box has charm, with a working organ and a high ceiling bedecked with twinkling "stars" and drifting projected "clouds." There's also a smaller, gem-like theater (built in 1991) off to the side of the main auditorium.

Programming here is suitably elegant: Acclaimed art-house and foreign films, and the occasional restored print, are usually the main features; cult and studio classics run as matinees and midnight movies.

Tickets: $8.75 ($6.75 matinee). Cash only. Tickets sold only at box office (open an hour before screening). Occasionally, tickets for special presentations, such as the upcoming "Sing-a-Long Sound of Music," are available via Ticketmaster.

Concessions: Candy, popcorn and fountain drinks ($4.75 large popcorn, $3.50 large soda), as well as imported chocolates.

Parking: Metered street parking is a challenge after 6 p.m. Parking at the James G. Blaine School (across the street) is available on evenings and weekends; nearby Strega Nona restaurant offers valet parking.

Public transportation: CTA Brown Line (Southport stop).

Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport Ave., 773-871-6604, musicboxtheatre.com.

-- Ellen Fox