Simon and Garfunkel, ABBA hits are on Chicago stages and 2's Got Your Ticket
CHICAGO (CBS) — If you like nostalgia, some of your favorite music is now center stage. Jukebox musicals take us behind the music that forms the soundtrack of our lives, and there are a couple of them now showing in Chicago.
With hits like "The Sound of Silence," Simon and Garfunkel rose to fame as a leading folk-rock duo in the 1960s. "The Simon and Garfunkel Story" at the CIBC Theatre chronicles their rise as music icons.
Stepping into their harmonies are Jonah Bobo and Brendan Jacob Smith, who ironically have been friends since high school.
"We grew up together. We went to high school together and kind of bonded over this music," Smith said. "We met during our lunch period, and both realized we loved Simon and Garfunkel, and we started singing together during our lunch period, just harmonizing in the stairwell."
Bobo said he's drawn to the way they can "make a big sound with just two voices," and the show aims to capitalize on their chemistry.
"We've been singing together for a long time but we've also been through a lot together. We went to high school together. We went to college together," Smith said.
"There's a lyric that we sing at the end of the show (that goes) 'After changes upon changes we are more or less the same.' And to get to sing that to each other, when we really feel it, and we've been with each other through those changes, it's special," Bobo said.
Another show currently showing in the area is "Mamma Mia," a comedic love story set to the music of the Swedish pop sensation ABBA.
Christine Sherrill plays Donna, the mother of the bride, not sure which old boyfriend is the father.
"This show has been running for 25 years. First and foremost, the soundtrack. ABBA music," Sherrill said. "It's the joy that everybody needs right now.
"Mamma Mia" is on stage at the Nederlander Theatre now through May 19. "The Simon and Garfunkel Story" plays through May 5 at the CIBC Theatre.
