Tag Archives: Steve Rashid

April 5, 2012 · 11:53 pm

“The Vic & Paul Show” — Steve’s Photo Tour of The Beverly Arts Center…

Steve Rashid, the musical director of The Vic & Paul Show, took a scouting trip to The Beverly Arts Center – where Vic, Steve and I will be appearing this summer from June 15-17 and 21-24.

Here’s Steve driving up to The Beverly Arts Center, located on Chicago’s South Side at 2407 W. 111th Street. You can’t see her in this show, but Steve is with his lovely wife, Bea Rashid, a brilliant dancer and choreographer who runs the Evanston cultural institution, Dance Center Evanston. Bea took many of these photos, which explains why Steve ends up appearing in his own photo tour…

You can Steve in the lobby of The Beverly Arts Center. (Dressed in a snazzy jacket.) This is where you can walk in and buy a ticket to The Vic & Paul Show. It’s also where all the pre-show excitement and hobnobbing will take place before each performance.

This is another angle on the bright and sunny lobby – a pleasant environment that those who attend our Saturday and Sunday matinee performances will be able to enjoy.

Steve wanders upstairs, headed to the theatre balcony. Those who sit in the balcony to watch The Vic & Paul Show will be treated to an excellent view of the subtle bald spot on the back of my head.

This is the view from the stage, looking into the 400-seat house. I love all those colorful seats. This is going to be a really wonderful place to see our show.

Here’s Steve standing on the stage. It’s a deep stage with lots of playing space. I’ll have plenty of room to stagger around during “Whiskey Tasting”.

Here’s another angle on the house. All you folks on the North Side of Chicago should come down and check this theatre out during our run in June. It’s shocking that Evanston doesn’t have a performing arts center like this.

This is the view of the backstage area – where Vic will be getting into all of her hilarious wigs during The Vic & Paul Show. Note the covered baby grand. Steve Rashid can really make a baby grand piano sing. Steve can sing, too. The Beverly Arts Center has two baby grand pianos – but Steve will only be playing one of them. He could play both of them at the same time – but that kind of ostentatious virtuosity went out with Emerson, Lake & Palmer.

Here’s one of the four art galleries located in The Beverly Arts Center. What exhibits will be on display during our run in June? Make sure to ask when you’re ordering your tickets for The Vic & Paul Show.

The promotion for our June run is already underway. Get your tickets now!

See you in Chicago’s lovely and historic Beverly neighborhood this June when The Vic & Paul Show brings a celebration of comedy, music, marriage and martinis to The Beverly Arts Center.

For tickets, click here.

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Filed under Art, Comedy, Improvisation

Tagged as Bea Rashid, Beverly, Chicago Theatre, Dance Center Evanston, improvisational comedy, Paul Barrosse, Steve Rashid, The Beverly Arts Center, The Practical Theatre Company, The Vic & Paul Show, Victoria Zielinski

March 29, 2012 · 2:25 pm

Vic & Paul in Beverly Hills

The Vic & Paul Show is coming to Beverly Hills.

Not Rodeo Drive in the 90210.

We’re talking West 111^th Street in the 60655.

We’re talking Beverly Hills on the southwestern edge of the South Side of Chicago. (Known to the locals simply as Beverly.)

Yes, The Vic & Paul Show is going back to Chicago this summer.

And this time, it’s a special homecoming for my wife, Victoria Zielinski – because the show The Chicago Tribune hailed as “Old school sketch comedy done right” will be coming to Vic’s old South Side neighborhood.

The brilliantly funny girl who grew up at 91^st and South Hamilton will be performing just 20 blocks from her childhood home when The Vic & Paul Show runs at The Beverly Arts Center at 2407 W. 111th Street from June 15-24th, 2012.

As always, Vic and I will be accompanied by our great friend, fellow Northwestern alum, and ridiculously talented musical director — “the rather impish and thoroughly amusing Steve Rashid”*. Steve also performs his own brand of satirical songwriting in the show: “songs,” notes Chris Jones of The Chicago Tribune, “that recall the stylings of Tom Lehrer.”

(*According to The Trib’s chief theatre critic, Chris Jones – and we certainly agree.)

Last year, we appeared on WGN radio personality (and Chicago newspaper icon) Rick Kogan’s radio show, The Sunday Papers — and Rick introduced us by saying, “One of the theatrical events of the year is the return of Paul Barrosse and Victoria Zielinski to the Chicago stage with ‘The Vic & Paul Show’. I know it’s a lofty comparison, but you guys are the new Nichols & May, as far as I’m concerned.”

Talk about making us feel at home in Chicago after more than two decades.

Vic and I left the Windy City in 1991 to do TV work in Los Angeles – and raise our three wonderful daughters – but now that our kids are of age we’re back on the stage. And according to Chris Jones in The Chicago Tribune, “domesticity has not dulled the itch of Zielinski and Barrosse for a Chicago comedy stage, a couple of hard-backed chairs, and each other.”

We’ve been having great fun trodding the boards once more with Steve at the piano, beginning with our June 2010 debut at Push Lounge in Los Angeles, directed by our good friend and another NU alum, Evanston’s own Shelly Goldstein. A year later, we brought The Vic & Paul Show to Chicago for the first time at The Prop Theatre in June 2011, followed by a great holiday season run at Mayne Stage in Rogers Park.

Now, we’re taking our “Evening of Comedy, Music, Marriage & Martinis” to Vic’s old stomping grounds in Beverly.

If you live in the Chicago area and you haven’t seen The Vic & Paul Show yet, we hope you can join us at the 400-seat Beverly Arts Center for this run. It’s a wonderful venue for the show – and you may want to get there early to check out the rotating exhibitions of contemporary art in The Beverly Arts Center’s four gallery areas: second floor East Gallery, Bridge Gallery, Theater Gallery and Atrium. These exhibits are free and open to the public.

After the show, you can enjoy the best of Beverly, including some of Vic’s girlhood haunts, like Fox’s Beverly Pizza Pub, or a magnificent frozen summer treat at Rainbow Cone on Western and 92^nd. And, according to Wikipedia, Beverly is home to more Irish-style pubs than any other in Chicago. Satisfying after-show options abound!

Okay, I know what you’re thinking.

Sure, The Vic & Paul Show is crazy funny, The Beverly Arts Center is obviously a great place to see a show, and all those Irish pubs sound like a guaranteed good time – but how in the world did Vic’s old neighborhood get the name Beverly Hills?

That’s because Beverly is the only area in the City of Chicago that has hills: in fact, it’s located on the highest elevation in the city!

So, this June, it can truly be said that The Vic & Paul Show has reached the top.

Join us at the topographical summit of Chicago for two weeks of grown-up fun: sophisticated and irreverent improvisational sketch comedy and songs performed in a splendid theatre in a vibrant, historic neighborhood.

And did I mention Vic grew up there?

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Filed under Art, Comedy, Improvisation

Tagged as Beverly Arts Center, Beverly Hills, Chicago, Chicago Theatre, improvisational comedy, Morgan Park, Paul Barrosse, Rainbow Cone, Rick Kogan, Shelly Goldstein, South Side, Steve Rashid, The Chicago Tribune, The Practical Theatre, The Practical Theatre Company, The Vic & Paul Show, theatre, Victoria Zielinski

March 27, 2012 · 2:57 pm

Riffmaster & The Rockmes in No Cal: Rock & Roll Rebels for a Good Cause.

Poster by Ron Crawford, of course!

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Filed under Music

Tagged as Brad Hall, Breast Cancer Action, Casey Fox, Maurice Cleary, Paul Barrosse, Peter Van Wagner, Portola Valley, Riffmaster & The Rockme Foundation, Rockin' Ronny Crawford, Rockme, Ron Crawford, Rush Pearson, Steve Rashid, Tom Larson

January 19, 2012 · 5:09 pm

Picture Paris…

Our good friends Brad Hall and Julia Louis-Dreyfus have made a wonderful short film that will make its debut this weekend at The Santa Barbara International Film Festival.

“Picture Paris” will be shown on Saturday, January 28th at 7:40 pm and Monday, January 30th at 10:10 pm. To watch the trailer, click here.

Click here for tickets.

In “Picture Paris”, Julia plays Ellen Larson, a Southern California suburban mom with an empty nest and a longing for the City of Lights. I won’t give away anything else, except that the film – written and directed by Brad – is shot beautifully, the ensemble acting is pitch perfect, and Julia is better than ever. The music is another great character in the film – and Steve (another good friend) Rashid wrote the original score.

It must also be noted that Mr. Hall took meticulous care to get all the details right – on both sides of the pond. Not only do the locations and street scenes in Paris capture the spirit and romance of that grand European capital – exacting attention was also paid to Ellen’s house in Southern California. In fact, after a vast and exhausting search to find the perfect suburban home, Brad and Julia used our house in Woodland Hills. They shot for a week at our domicile this past June while Victoria and I were in Chicago doing “The Vic & Paul Show” at the Prop Theatre with Steve (there’s that name again) Rashid.

See “Picture Paris” soon, if you can. If you can’t get to Santa Barbara next weekend – hopefully Brad & Julia’s charming, funny (and surprising) opus will soon be coming to a film festival near you. Meanwhile, check out the “Picture Paris” blog here. Adieu, mon ami!

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Filed under Art, Beauty, Comedy

Tagged as Brad Hall, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, movies, Picture Paris, Santa Barbara Film Festival, short film, Steve Rashid

December 23, 2011 · 2:26 pm

Vic & Paul & The Chicago Tribune!

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Filed under Art, Comedy, Improvisation

Tagged as cabaret, Chicago Theatre, improvisational comedy, Mayne Stage, Nichols & May, Paul Barrosse, Steve Rashid, The Chicago Tribune, The Vic & Paul Show, Victoria Zielinski

December 2, 2011 · 1:22 pm

Counting Down to “Vic & Paul”…

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Filed under Art, Comedy, Improvisation

Tagged as cabaret, Chicago Theatre, improvisational comedy, Mayne Stage, Nichols & May, Paul Barrosse, Steve Rashid, The Vic & Paul Show, Victoria Zielinski

November 26, 2011 · 1:50 pm

The Holiday Season Has Begun — And that means “The Vic & Paul Show”!

Here’s what our friends Brad Hall, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Suzie Plakson and Lewis Black have to say about “The Vic & Paul Show“…

Join the holiday happening at Mayne Stage. Click here for tickets, or call the Mayne Stage box office: 773-381-4551

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Filed under Art, Comedy, Improvisation, Music

Tagged as Brad Hall, cabaret, Chicago Theatre, improvisational comedy, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Lewis Black, Mayne Stage, Rogers Park, Steve Rashid, Suzie Plakson, The Vic & Paul Show

November 1, 2011 · 11:50 am

“The Vic & Paul Show” — 2 for 1 for One More Week!

Here’s the bad news: Mayne Stage made a mistake and took the 2 for 1 offer on tickets to “The Vic & Paul Show” off their website too soon.

Here’s the good news: To make up for their mistake – Mayne Stage is extending the special 2 for 1 deal through Friday, November 4th.

So, to take advantage of the deal that Mayne Stage is offering friends of The Practical Theatre Company, just type in the promo code “paul” when ordering tickets.