In 2005, I wrote a profile in this newspaper of Libby Adler Mages, a diminutive, charming and ever-curious Chicagoan and one of the most successful commercial producers in the history of Chicago theater. At the time, Mages was working on two shows: something called “Love and Sex in Middle Age” (she liked relatable titles that told people what they were buying) and a show called “Nefertiti: A Musical Romance,” an exotic musical that she thought might be a nice tie-in to an upcoming exhibition at the Field Museum of the treasures of King Tutankhamen.
As we usually do at the Tribune, I looked up her age, which happened to be 81 in 2005.
I was amazed that she was an octogenarian, given that she still was such a busy and prolific producer. So were many of the people who read the profile, most of whom had pegged her, as did I, as at least a decade younger. Mages, though, let it quietly be known, in her droll way, that she had not considered the inclusion of that number to be even remotely necessary.
Mages, once a college professor, kept on producing for a dozen more years. I have no doubt whatsoever that she would have produced for still a dozen more, had she not died Sunday at the age of 93.
Even if you don’t know her name, I bet there’s a good chance you saw one of her shows, perhaps beginning with a musical called “Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up?,” based on a novel by the late John R. Powers that Mages produced for $75,000 in 1979 at the long-defunct Forum Theatre in Summit.
“Patent Leather Shoes” was a piece that tapped into the memories of growing up in the parochial school system , memories that Mages well knew were shared by many a Chicagoan and suburbanite. (The show’s song list included such classics as “How Far is Too Far?,” “We’re Saving Ourselves For Marriage” and “Private Parts”). It all seems a world away now, but the show ran for years at the Forum, grossing more than $600,000 (in the dollars of the early 1980s) for Mages and her partners. Actors who appeared in the show at various points included Anthony Crivello and Megan Mullally.
Mages then took the show to Broadway — the 1982 production was, believe it or not, directed by Mike Nussbaum, the Chicago actor who is doing his best work at this very moment. Back then, the New York move was not a great idea: Broadway heaped scorn on the populist Chicago hit. Mages shrugged it off. She would learn from that and figure out how to produce many shows that Broadway loved, including “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” a project of her longtime producing partner Mike Leavitt.
But her heart was in exposing Chicago work to New York audiences, including a production of a play called “Trying” (starring the late Fritz Weaver) that Mages had come to love after seeing the premiere at the Victory Gardens Theater. Mages’ willingness to take a risk on that show did heaps of good for Victory Gardens, increasing its national profile, which remains beneficial, even though that theater now has gone in a very different direction.
Steppenwolf also owes Mages a debt: She helped get the Steppenwolf production of “Picasso at the Lapin Agile” to Los Angeles.
After I heard about the loss of Mages over the holiday weekend, I mused whether it would be fair to say that “Patent Leather Shoes” was the most successful commercial show in Chicago history, if you were including only the shows that were genuine Chicago creations. (The likes of “Hamilton,” of course, as with most of the long-running shows in town, employ plenty of local arts professionals, but they send their box office receipts back to New York). That meant I had to ponder some of the other candidates, which I did, discovering in the process that Mages produced most of those too.
Mages gave us so much: “Come Fly With Me” at the Mercury Theater, “Lost in Yonkers,” “Lend Me a Tenor,” “Three Tall Women” (yes, in a commercial Chicago production) and “Prelude to a Kiss.” These were quality attractions. And she was mostly responsible for developing the strong relationship between Chicago audience members and the Stratford Festival of Canada; I’m on my way there later this month.
Over the past decade, Chicago has suffered from a lack of commercial producers. That business is too hard, it usually is said. But that means there is no one in town to take a show like, say, the current Broken Nose Theatre production of “At the Table,” invest some real marketing and production dollars, and bring the best of the off-Loop to a mainstream audience in Chicago and well beyond.
That’s what Mages did. And contrary to any producer stereotype, she was kind, generous and a heck of a lot of fun as she did so.
Chris Jones is a Tribune critic.
MORE FROM THE THEATER LOOP:
‘At the Table’ returns, but with more seats this time
Like it or not, we are in the midst of a second arts revolution
Laurie Metcalf to depart ‘Doll’s House’ on Broadway
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