Adam Pascal stars as Edward in “Pretty Woman — The Musical.” | Matthew Murphy for MurphyMade

‘It’s everything I love about musicals,’ says Pascal, who stepped into the role of Edward Lewis a few times during the production’s Broadway run.

After an unprecedented 18 months of darkened theaters due to the COVID pandemic shutdowns, veteran Broadway actor Adam Pascal (“Rent,” “Aida”) is happy to be on the road performing the role of businessman Edward Lewis in the touring production of “Pretty Woman — The Musical.”

“Our industry was decimated, and we didn’t know how or when it was going to come back, and so the fact that I have a job means everything,” says Pascal, who kept busy teaching master classes on acting through song as well as doing personalized Cameo video requests.

“Pretty Woman” is, of course, based on the popular 1990 movie about sex worker, Vivian Ward (portrayed by rising star Olivia Valli, the daughter of pop singer Frankie Valli), and the aforementioned wealthy businessman who fall for each other. It features a score by Grammy winner Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance with a book by the movie’s director Garry Marshall and screenwriter J.F. Lawton. Tony Award-winner Jerry Mitchell directs.

“It’s everything I love about musicals,” says Pascal, who stepped into the role a few times during the production’s Broadway run. “We’re out there to entertain an audience, and hopefully a show has a compelling story and graspable melodies that people will remember. I think this show has all that.

“It’s probably my biggest acting role that I’ve done in terms of musical theater. There’s more spoken dialogue than singing ,and so that’s been fun and exciting. Plus I get to wear great suits.”

Something new on the tour that continues to take some getting used to are the COVID protocols that are incorporated into everything the actors do.

“We’ve all been safe so far, so it’s working,” Pascal says. “But it is weird to walk offstage and put a mask on and keep it on until the second you walk back on stage. Actors have walked on stage with their masks on. I almost did it the other night.”

Pascal, 51, grew up more interested in playing in rock bands than musical theater. One day, he says he was “in the right place at the right time,” and his life and career path changed thanks to a childhood friend who’s now a famous name.

“Idina Menzel and I grew up together,” he says. “One day, she called and told me she was doing this Off-Broadway [musical], and there was a role they hadn’t been able to cast. She said, ‘It sounds a lot like you if think this is something you would ever want to try.’ “

That now-25-year-old musical was Jonathan Larson’s rock-infused “Rent,” which brought Broadway a new sense of what a musical could be. It earned rave reviews, a Pulitzer Prize and four Tony Awards. Pascal received a Tony nomination for his portrayal of HIV-positive rock guitarist Roger Davis. He reprised the role for the 2005 film version of the musical.

Copyright Joan Marcus
Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal reprise their roles and Mark and Roger, respectively, in the 2009 production of “Rent,” the Broadway Tour, at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts/Oriental Theatre in Chicago.

“The idea of auditioning for a show was interesting to me,” Pascal said. “But it didn’t go farther than that. I never thought about getting the job or if I got the job what that would mean.

“But the show changed my life and launched my career. The show had a huge impact on the world of musical theater, but my fondest memories are the connections I made with the cast, the lifelong friendships.”

After performing in “Rent” on Broadway and in London’s West End, Pascal was cast as Radames in Elton John and Tim Rice’s “Aida” and in roles in “Cabaret,” “Memphis,” “Chicago” and “Something Rotten!”

But he said he’s never far from the memorable songs in “Rent.” He performs them in his solo live show, which features his interpretations of musical theater tunes as well as the Cameo videos,where his most-requested songs are from “Rent.”

“They have never left my own personal zeitgeist,” he says. “When I sing them, I feel nostalgic, and I feel proud, and I feel amazed that I was a part of this iconic musical filled with these great songs.”

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Chicago Police Supt. David Brown said Friday that the public can expect a larger police presence downtown this weekend. | Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times file

Supt. David Brown urged parents not leave minors downtown without adult supervision.

The city’s top cop promised a beefed-up police presence downtown after a chaotic weekend when two children were shot as hundreds of youths roamed in and around Millennium Park.

“There will be more of everything,” Chicago Police Supt. David Brown told reporters at police headquarters Friday.

Without going into specifics, police said there would be additional resources in and around Millennium Park this weekend. There is also a plan to evacuate the park in an emergency.

Brown said his officers would likely be “more aggressive” in making arrests the moment they witness criminal behavior.

“But that is not the role of policing — to babysit people’s kids,” he said. “Parents should not be driving their kids from all parts of Chicagoland and dropping them off downtown. It’s just irresponsible as a parent, particularly the younger kids we saw downtown: the 12-year-olds, the 14-year-olds with no adult supervision.”

Brown said the crowd swelled to about 500 youths downtown over the weekend, many of whom were not breaking the law, he said.

“We can’t take action until people violate the law. Just coming downtown and being downtown is not a violation of the law,” Brown said.

A 12-year-old girl was shot over the weekend in the first block of North Michigan Avenue three hours before a 15-year-old boy was shot in the arm not far way in the 200 block of North Wabash Avenue.

The girl was with a group of people when someone fired in their direction about 8:40 p.m. Saturday, police said. She suffered a gunshot wound to the back and was taken in serious condition to Comer Children’s Hospital, police said. About three hours later, the 15-year-old boy bumped into someone on the street and they began arguing, police said. The other person pulled a gun and shot the boy in the arm. He was taken in good condition to Lurie Children’s Hospital.

Police said they dispatched extra patrols to control crowds. In addition to the two shootings, a CTA bus driver was beaten downtown and two cops were injured. At least 22 juveniles were arrested and two “replica firearms” were seized.

“Chicago belongs to all of us, but if you come downtown or anywhere else to engage in disorderly conduct or other crimes, you will be arrested.” Brown said.

Brown bristled at the suggestion that the department didn’t have a proper plan in place to deal with the crowds.

“We had leadership on the ground. We had clear direction on the ground,” he said.

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A deer blind during the first segment of Illinois’ firearm deer season. | Dale Bowman

Illinois hunters harvested fewer deer in Illinois’ firearm season than in 2020 after a drop of 8,057 deer harvested in the second segment than in 2020.

Illinois hunters harvested 5,485 fewer deer in the firearm season than in 2020 because hunters in the second segment harvested 8,057 fewer deer than in 2020. Harvest during the first se was 3,153 deer higher than in 2020.

Wish I could tell you some brilliant theory on why, but the weather, the first thing I always look at, was mostly unremarkable. The second segment, in terms of conditions, wasn’t any more abnormal than during the first segment.

I love hearing theories or good explanations for the harvest drop. If you got one, let me know.

Here are the key opening paragraphs from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources’ release on the breakdown of the season:

2021 Illinois firearm deer season preliminary harvest totals 71,675

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – The Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) today announced hunters took a preliminary total of 71,675 deer during the seven-day 2021 Illinois Firearm Deer Season that concluded Dec. 5. Hunters harvested a final total of 77,160 deer during the firearm season in 2020.

The preliminary harvest for the second segment of the 2021 firearm season Dec. 2-5 was 21,375, compared with 29,432 during the second season in 2020. The preliminary harvest for the first segment of this year’s firearm season Nov. 19-21 was 50,300 deer.

Click here to see the full release and the county-by-county breakdown.

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Al Unser, one of only four drivers to win the Indianapolis 500 a record four times, died Thursday. He was 82. | Doug McSchooler/AP

Unser won the Indy 500 in 1970, 1971, 1978 and 1987, and is the only driver in history to have both a sibling and a child also win one of the biggest races in the world. His final victory at age 47 made him the oldest winner in Indy 500 history.

Al Unser, one of only four drivers to win the Indianapolis 500 a record four times, died Thursday following a long illness. He was 82.

Unser died at his home in Chama, New Mexico, with his wife, Susan, by his side, Indianapolis Motor Speedway said early Friday. He had been battling cancer for 17 years.

“My heart is so saddened. My father passed away last night,” son Al Unser Jr., himself a two-time Indy 500 winner, posted on social media. “He was a Great man and even a Greater Father. Rest In Peace Dad!”

Unser is the third member of one of America’s most famed racing families to die in 2021. His oldest brother, three-time Indy 500 winner Bobby Unser, died in May, and Bobby Unser Jr. passed six weeks after his father.

Known as “Big Al” once his own son made a name for himself in racing, Unser is part of an elite club of four-time winners of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.” Unser won the Indy 500 in 1970, 1971, 1978 and 1987, and is the only driver in history to have both a sibling and a child also win one of the biggest races in the world.

His final victory at age 47 made him the oldest winner in Indy 500 history. He dominated in his first Indy win in 1970 by starting from the pole and leading all but 10 of the 200 laps. Unser beat runner-up Mark Donohue by 32 seconds that year.

Unser led over half the laps in three of his Indy 500 victories, and his 644 total laps led at Indianapolis is most in race history. He made 27 starts in the Indy 500, third most in history, and qualified once on the pole and five times on the front row.

Unser won three Indy car national championships over his career, and his total of 39 victories is sixth on the all-time list.

He and son Al Jr. were the first father-son pairing at Indianapolis, and in 1985 they battled one another for the CART championship. A pass in the closing laps of the race gave Unser a fourth-place finish in the season finale at Miami’s Tamiami Park road course, and it was enough for him to beat Al Jr. for the championship by a single point. He fought back tears while describing the “empty feeling” of defeating his son.

Unser also ran five NASCAR races in his career, finishing fourth in the 1968 Daytona 500. He earned three top-10 finishes in NASCAR. He also won three times in the International Race of Champions, an all-star series that pitted the top drivers from various disciplines against each other.

Unser won the Indy car “Triple Crown” by winning all three of of the 500-mile races on the 1978 schedule, which included stops at Pocono Raceway and in Ontario, California. He’s the only driver in history to win all three of those races in the same season.

The Unser family combined for a record nine wins in the Indy 500; Al Jr. won the Indy 500 twice — in 1992 and 1994. Coincidentally, Al Unser, Al Unser Jr. and Bobby Unser all won their final Indy 500s driving for Roger Penske. Helio Castroneves won his first three Indy 500s driving for Penske.

“Al was the quiet leader of the Unser family, a tremendous competitor and one of the greatest drivers to ever race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway,” Penske said. “We were honored to help Al earn a place in history with his fourth Indy victory … and he will always be a big part of our team. Our thoughts are with the Unser family as they mourn the loss of a man that was beloved across the racing world and beyond.”

Unser earlier this year was at Indianapolis Motor Speedway to welcome Castroneves as the newest member of the four-time winners club. Unser achieved the feat after A.J. Foyt, and Rick Mears won his fourth in 1991. Castroneves won in May to become the first new member in 30 years.

“Some days the race track smiles on you and some days, you got it the other way,” Unser said during the July celebration. “It’s not always that you’re going to think you’re going to win because your chances are very slim. There’s 32 other guys who want it as bad as you do.”

Unser received his Baby Borg — the 18-inch replica of the Indy 500 winner’s Borg-Warner Trophy that lives onsite in the speedway’s museum — during a celebration in May with family and friends. He was set to be honored in 2020 on the the 50th anniversary of his 1970 victory at Indianapolis, but the celebration was postponed because of the pandemic.

Both Castroneves and two-time Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato lauded Unser, with Sato calling Unser’s speech at the May winner’s ceremony “very funny and so charming.”

“I will always remember Big Al welcoming me to the speedway,” Castroneves told The Associated Press on Friday. “He and Johnny Rutherford were the two helping me with my rookie orientation. He will be missed.”

The youngest of four racing brothers, Unser was born in in Albuquerque in 1939 to a family of hardcore racers. His father Jerry Unser and two uncles, Louis and Joe, were also drivers. Beginning in 1926 the family began competing in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, an annual road race held in Colorado.

Al’s oldest brother, Jerry, became the first Unser to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 in 1958; he was killed in a crash during practice the following year.

Unser began racing himself in 1957 when he was 18, but competed mostly in sprint cars. He made it to Indy in 1965 driving in a car owned by Foyt and was part of a rookie class with future Indy 500 winners Mario Andretti (1969) and Gordon Johncock (1973, 1982).

“Al was one of the smartest drivers I ever raced against,” Andretti said. “I often said that I wished I could have had some of his patience.”

The Unser family combined for 73 career starts in the Indy 500 — a number bettered only by the 76 starts by the Andretti family. The Unser participation spans Al (27 races), Bobby (19), and Al Jr. (19), as well as Johnny (five), Robby (two) and Jerry (one).

Unser was inducted into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame in 1986 and the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1998. His collection of trophies and cars is housed at the Unser Racing Museum in Albuquerque.

Unser is survived by wife, Susan, and son, Al Jr. He was preceded in death by daughters Mary and Deborah.

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