2's Got Your Ticket: 'Songs For Nobodies' & 'Songs For A New World'

CHICAGO (CBS) -- A one-woman show is drawing rave reviews for a dynamic performance, and an intimate review of one of Broadway's most popular new composers.

They're two productions in the spotlight of this week's 2's Got Your Ticket. Entertainment reporter Vince Gerasole has more.

Five ordinary women and their interactions with five legendary divas is the premise for "Songs For Nobodies" presented by Northlight Theatre in Skokie.

"I'm doing what I can. They did cast me as some of the smallest, frailest white women who've ever lived."

In the one-woman show, actress Bethany Thomas brings them all to life: Judy Garland, Billie Holiday, Maria Callas, Patsy Cline and Edith Piaf.

"It is exhausting. It's exhausting for my voice. It's not so much the talking and the singing but affectations of the voice," she said.

It's not being the only person on stage and Thomas admits it's tough.

"It's a lot to go back and forth," Thomas said. "But the energy in the room helps propel that so much more."

The intimate setting of the Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre in Evanston is a perfect match for the music of Broadway composer Jason Robert Brown in "Songs for a New World."

"There's an element of jazz in the show. There's lots of funk. The styles aren't arbitrary, they actually help in the storytelling of the songs," said musical director Jeremy Ramey.

"It's good. That's number one. It's good music," Ramey said. "It's also incredibly difficult. If you can sing a Jason Robert Brown score, you can pretty much sing anything."

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