When we talk about music icons of the 20th century, names like The Beatles, Bruce Springsteen, Metallica, U2, and Aretha Franklin are just a few names from many industry titans who serenaded the airwaves. Simon and Garfunkel were two incredibly talented lyricists and brilliant harmonists. They are known to have created a soundtrack for an entire generation that.... Read More
Performance Spotlight
Philosophers have likened Time to a river in constant flow, dismissing attempts to circumscribe its boundaries as mere convenience proposed by upstart mortals. This might explain why, for theater artists and audiences, the 2019-2020 season ended in mid-May and didn't resume until JULY of 2021, when the discovery and release of Covid-19 vaccines signaled the beginning of the.... Read More
Moulin Rouge! The Musical is probably one of the most popular shows in the musical world. The tragic story of love, lust, greed, and ultimately heartbreak has been a huge hit and has won 10 Tony Awards including Best Musical. Theatre fans can rejoice as the musical is will make its grand entrance at the Nederlander Theatre.... Read More
If you are stuck figuring out what to buy family and friends this holiday season, think of live theatre to get you out of a gifting dilemma. Theatre gift certificates make great holiday presents. In fact, you are not just giving gifts; you are giving enjoyable experiences to your loved ones.
A 20-year study.... Read More
Ho-Ho-Hos, Fa-la-las and Bless Us, Every Ones are always welcome, of course, but after eighteen months of shuttered playhouses, what many theatergoers this year want for Christmas are not just in-person performers staging indoor pageants reflecting the yuletide season, but shows exploring the kinds of topics ignored during those solitary days spent staring at screens.
The holiday season is approaching faster than we realize, and there is no better time to soak up the festive spirit. The holiday season is not complete without a trip to the theater to watch your favorite holiday plays. The stage is set, the lights are ready, and the costumes are sparkling as ever - here is a.... Read More
Now that playhouses are cautiously opening their doors again, audiences are united in their enthusiastic welcome to live performance of every kind—musical extravaganzas, topical dramas and drag slapstick alike. For some theatergoers, however, a season just isn't a bona fide season without some SHAKESPEARE.
Fortunately, October features not one, but three, of Willie Shakes'.... Read More
Don't be misled by the title—there's nothing kinky in Cindy Lauper and Harvey Fierstein's multiple award-winning musical fable. On the contrary, Kinky Boots is about sons trying to fill the big shoes left by their fathers. It's about putting the shoe on the other foot, setting aside prejudices bred of dissimilar cultures and uniting in pursuit of.... Read More
After what seemed like an eternity of actors phoning in their performances (literally) and dramatic narratives assembled by wired-in videographers, it was probably inevitable for the news of the playhouses reopening to spur a few theatergoers to wonder at the delay necessary for companies to—well, get their acts together.
What? Have we forgotten that.... Read More
After more than a year of exhortations to keep our distance from one another, is it any wonder that so many of our besties during these lonely times should be imaginary—Lizzie Bennett, Jackson Lamb, Meg Langslow. Maybe we, ourselves, can't share a beer with the loyal companions we have come to know so intimately, but given the cosmopolitan.... Read More
Why is Measure for Measure still classified as a Romantic Comedy? Its lovers are forced to endure fraud, hypocrisy, blackmail, sexual assault, breach of promise and covert surveillance, all of it orchestrated by an authority figure whose idea of a satisfactory resolution is to forgive Bad Men their misdeeds before legally binding them to Good Women—a boon he.... Read More
"I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be [but only] an attendant lord, one that will do to swell a progress," lamented the meek J. Alfred Prufrock, in the poem by T.S. Eliot. How many of us, after all, are destined for glory—or notoriety? That being so, however, why has it taken so long for somebody.... Read More
Was it really less than a year ago that "a night at the theater" became an evening hunkered down at our desks watching dimly-lit, fuzzily-recorded archival videos on our laptops like ham-radio fugitives in science-fiction dystopiads? And later, after these home-movies gave way to newly-crafted scripts, did we then struggle to accustom ourselves to such visual quirks as.... Read More
While the impact of such innovations as headshot acting, long-distance repartee and crowd-sourced musicals remains to be seen, theater historians have been chronicling the progress of necessity-bred inventions sparked in response to the lingering closures of playhouses and isolation of its inhabitants. Among these is the adoption of technology borrowed from radio, film and television—know-how rendering productions once.... Read More
Back in March, many artists were gloomily predicting the end of theater in Chicago, but YOU weren't one of them—were you? After all, if London playhouses could survive being closed for eighteen years (1642-1660), why should we complain after only ten months? Hasn't art always found a way to thrive in even the most adverse conditions?
.... Read More
In its 52nd annual celebration of theater excellence, the Jeff Awards has recognized 39 recipients for the 2020 awards, selected from among 142 theater artist nominees across 30 artistic and technical categories. Award-winning Chicago actor, singer and teaching artist Michelle Lauto hosted the online awards announcement program and tribute to the theater community that featured work of many.... Read More
Urban centers boasting plentiful green spaces are often home to squirrels, rabbits and the occasional possum colony, while outlying communities report sightings of raccoons, skunks and deer, but our impressions of foxes are almost wholly drawn from pop songs, PBS nature documentaries, and CGI-animated Disney fables.
The Reynards and Volpones in Titas Halder's Run the.... Read More
A miracle didn't arrive to chase away the fear and the gloom, but history has demonstrated that art will always find a way. As the weather cools and days shorten, theaters mired down in despair during the spring of this annus horribilis have shaken off their shellshock and rallied to the challenge of respite for audiences grimly and.... Read More
Some blamed the ambience: cozy low-ceilinged, windowless rooms, accessed by narrow entrances and closely-spaced seats suddenly perceived as microbe-congested cells. Others faulted the intended market—hadn't we been repeatedly warned that elderly people were especially vulnerable to respiratory infections? Or were playgoers of all ages simply wary of making plans, after months of disappointment at one cancellation notice after.... Read More
You see, there's these four companions who propose taking time off from from social life in order to concentrate on scholarly pursuits, but no sooner does their sabbatical commence than they are visited by a quartet of like-minded acquaintances. Sound familiar? Sure it does! It's Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost—except that in 2020, with the restrictions of a viral.... Read More