CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — For Julia Cardia, coming back to Chicago’s CIBC Theatre is coming home.
"I grew up in Glen Ellyn — I'm a Midwestern gal at heart," she smiled.
Cardia graduated from Glenbard West High School and attended Millikin University in Decatur.
Cardia said she’s been performing since she can remember.
"Theater has been a constant in my life,” she said. “I sang in Glen Ellyn Children's Choir, and it really started this path of loving music, loving the arts, loving being in theaters, around orchestras and music.”
Now, Cardia’s life as a performer has come full circle, and she currently performs inside what was once the Shubert Theater.
"When I was little, I saw ‘Annie’ here, which is the musical that changed my life,” Cardia said. “It really did. But this is where it was, it was at the Schubert. Just walking in and seeing the box seats and the grandness of it all. It's a bit sacred. Some people go to church. I go to the theater. I feel so at home. To be in my hometown, and to be in this theater, is amazing."
Cardia is part of the cast of the revolutionary version of the classic musical “1776.”
"Traditionally, this is done with all men, [and] only two women in the cast who play the founding fathers' wives,” she said. “What is unique about our revival is that this particular show is done with different races, genders and ethnicities. All the people on the stage were not given a seat at the table back [in 1776]. Today, we get to tell the story of the signing of our independence through this lens and that is really exciting."
“1776” premiered on Broadway in 1969 and won the Tony that year, when it beat out “Hair.” A revival was produced in 1997. The newly imagined story, though, was produced in 2020 and started touring in 2021.
"As a woman, this is exciting,” Cardia said. “For different races, for the people we have in our cast, it’s so exciting because we now have a voice. The great thing, if you notice, once you get your playbill, it explains. People are going to have questions: ‘What is cis gender? What is nonbinary, what is transgender?’ We explain all of that, so that's an amazing thing that has never been done on Broadway or regionally, like we're doing here."
Many of the cast members are Black or people of color. Cardia said it is powerful to take on these traditionally male, white roles as the characters debate the place slavery should have in the country.
"It is such a rich experience to be surrounded by people who aren't like you, because where I grew up, there wasn't and isn't much diversity,” she said. “We went to a church with all white people. It's kind of embarrassing. I hope this sparks conversation about racism, about slavery, about what we all experienced during COVID, [and] that economy has taken precedence over humanity. This play touches on that completely."
Cardia said her whole family is coming to the show on Sunday. She said the homecoming has been bittersweet.
"I have a day off next week, and I'm going to take the train back to Glen Ellyn,” she said. “I'll probably walk around the track at the high school, as I used to run at Glenbard West. The lake is behind the high school, so I'll walk around the lake. I love that my family is able to come see me.”
Cardia and the cast of the new, reimagined "1776" musical will perform at the CIBC Theatre through March 12.
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