Detroit hosted production last year
“Too Hot to Handel,” the holiday musical production that wowed audiences in Chicago with its jazz-gospel-blues version of composer George Frideric Handel’s Messiah, is back after it was canceled last year without explanation.
While officials remain silent about the musical’s Chicago cancelation last year, a possible explanation is that Detroit wooed the event away from Chicago. “Too Hot to Handel” was held in the Detroit Opera House after a four-year hiatus in the Motor City.
The two-hour musical returns to Chicago in 2025. Performances will be held January 11-12 at the Auditorium Theater in the Loop. The musical is posted on the Auditorium’s event calendar website.
Buzz Center Stage, which covers Chicago theater events, reported in July that “Too Hot to Handel” would return to the Auditorium Theater, where it had been held for 17 years before packed audiences before it was canceled last year.
Efforts to reach officials at the Auditorium Theater for comment were unsuccessful.
Last year Alex Cadice, the theatre’s director of communications, when asked during a phone conversation why the show was canceled, told the Crusader that organizers of the show were “working on restructuring the show to reflect its potential,” but he didn’t elaborate or respond to follow up questions.
However, there may be another reason why the show was canceled in Chicago despite its long running success.
On January 13, 2024, “Too Hot to Handel” was performed at the Detroit Opera House with the same singers and several musicians who performed the show in Chicago at the Auditorium Theater. The Rackham Choir and several event publications announced the performance on their websites.
The calendar on the website of the Detroit Opera House doesn’t include “Too Hot to Handel” for December or January 2025.
Like many years during its successful run in Chicago, the musical will be shown one week prior to the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. In 2022, the musical was held in December during the holiday season.
Soprano Alfreda Burke, tenor Rodrick Dixon and Karen-Marie Richardson, along with pianist Alvin Waddle, who all helped make “Too Hot to Handel” successful, are back. They will join a huge choir and orchestra on the Auditorium’s historic stage for what many describe as a show-stopping, foot-stomping, feel good, rousing performance that has gained a diverse group of loyal fans, many of whom have seen the show multiple times.
According to Buzz Center Stage, George Stelluto will serve as musical director. Stelluto conducted the “Too Hot to Handel” performance with the Peoria Symphony in December, and has made conducting appearances at the Ravinia Festival, according to Buzz Center Stage.
In years past, Suzanne Mallare Acton served as the musical director, Maestra, of the event. Twenty-two years ago, Acton started “Too Hot to Handel” in Detroit and is now director of the Detroit Opera Youth Chorus. She is also the resident conductor for the Detroit Opera.
Created in 1992 as a collaboration between conductor Marin Alsop with orchestrators and arrangers Bob Christianson and Gary Anderson, “Too Hot to Handel” is performed around the world.
The production had its Chicago premiere at the Auditorium Theatre in 2006. The show was held for 17 years at the theater. Dixon wowed audiences with his powerful vocals during his opening number, ‘Every Valley Shall Be Exalted.’ Richardson inspired fans with Quincy Jones’ soulful version ‘O Thou That Tellest Good Tidings to Zion.’