La Bayadère: The Temple Dancer recounts the story of a humble girl who falls for a celebrity hero, but he's betrothed to a Rajah's daughter—you can guess the rest. What distinguishes Maurius Pepita's rarely-performed ballet from its 19th-century brethren is not only its exotic South Asian setting, but its heroine's untimely death arriving at the hand—or teeth,.... Read More

The array of glossy stringed instruments festooning the upstage wall could be a honky-tonk vision of the pearly gates! Actually, it's the backdrop for Hank Williams: Lost Highway, Randal Myler and Mark Harelik's biodrama of the man who introduced the melded harmonies and twanging vocals of the southern-white blues we now know as "country" music to audiences.... Read More

Broadway In Chicago announced the upcoming 2014 spring season line-up.  Supporting Broadway In Chicago's commitment to Chicagoans seeing shows first, the season features four premieres.  Coming to Chicago first is the World Premiere Pre-Broadway production of THE LAST SHIP, the U.S. Tour Premiere of MOTOWN THE MUSICAL and the North American Premiere of HEARTBEAT OF HOME, as well.... Read More

They're all over the headlines today, these robots, even making the cover of Time magazine. To be sure, the automated semi-mobile support staff of today-discounting the old-school androids used in photographs accompanying the aforementioned headlines-bear little similarity to their Hollywood predecessors: Robby in Forbidden Planet, Gort in The Day the Earth Stood Still, R2-D2 and C-3PO in Star.... Read More

Five world premiere plays and three new adaptations seen first by Chicago audiences received Jeff nominations by the Jeff Awards Committee and are among the 166 nominations in 36 categories announced for Chicago Equity theatrical productions opened between August 1, 2012 and July 31, 2013.

Luis Alfaro's "Mojada," a reimagining of Euripides' Medea transported to Chicago's Pilsen.... Read More

The magic words in Patrick Barber's adaptation of Elizabeth Von Arnim's Enchanted April are "sunshine and wisteria"— the romantic prospect thereof spurring four Englishwomen to flee the gloom of their native Hampstead in 1922 for an Italian holiday that will forever change their lives. Wisteria is no domesticated back-yard bloom, however, but sturdy-trunked garden foliage demanding very.... Read More

If you're a fan of cops-and-robbers shows, you've probably seen Danny Goldring, whose recruiting-poster appearance has earned him a resume replete with flatfoot-in-patrol-cars and gumshoe-in-precinct-room roles not unlike the one he currently occupies as Detective Vince Getz in Keith Huff's spoof of hard-boiled noir, Big Lake Big City, at Lookingglass Theatre.

"For some reason,.... Read More

There are the parade lions at Chinese New Year celebrations, of course, and the wind-sock whales in outdoor productions of Moby Dick. Just recently, audiences had an opportunity to pet wood-and-fabric foxes in The Iron Stag King and gawk at an LED-studded dragon in She Kills Monsters. On a grander scale, Chicago has seen horses and even elephants.... Read More

It's not as if Chicago audiences had never seen stage precipitation before. Steppenwolf's rain machine received almost as much press as its actors throughout the 1990s, and just last year, The Hypocrites' Fall of the House of Usher featured the title mansion springing leaks like a shotgun shack in Florida.

What distinguishes the spectacle in.... Read More

The playbill assures us that this is The Three Musketeers, but the trio of military lifers and the young civilian seeking to join their ranks are not the familiar Anglo-Norman cavaliers of Hollywood romps and candy-bar logos. Granting that even in the 17th century, it was possible to find Frenchmen with faces revealing African or Asian ancestors,.... Read More

Whether you've seen The Glass Menagerie a hundred times before or only in the textbook, you are unprepared for the spectacle that greets you in this production. First you notice the glass—a dazzling array of bottles, decanters, urns, flasks and goblets, stacked on the stairs, lined up against the walls, assembled in delicately-balanced towers—in short, everywhere you.... Read More

The concept is irresistible! The royal court in Shakespeare's Richard III envisioned as a roadhouse where rival motorcycle gangs (distinguished by the white and red roses displayed on their riding gear) wrestle for power—none more ruthlessly than the scheming Richard of Gloucester, himself. This analogy is not as bizarre as it may seem: wherever you have veterans.... Read More

A stage tale of troubled families, a true-life story musical about gay servicemen in World War II and a rousing rock'n'roll revue took home top honors Monday, June 3, at Park West during the 40th Annual Non-Equity Jeff Awards ceremony recognizing excellence in non-union Chicago theatre.

Circle Theatre in Oak Park and Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre in.... Read More

Eric Roach and Anderson Lawfer, interviewers for TheatreInChicago, will be holding a "Red Carpet" style event from the Park West Theater at the 40th annual Joseph Jefferson Awards on June 3rd, 2013 that will be streamed live and can be seen right here at TheatreInChicago.com.

The production will be handled by Brad Little and Ben Fuchsen from Oracle Theatre.... Read More

Million Dollar Quartet announced that Saturday, May 25, 2013 marks the official date at which it becomes the longest-running musical production in Chicago's history. With 1,949 performances and 5 smash years in Chicago, the Tony Award-winning rock 'n' roll musical has surpassed both Wicked and Pumpboys and Dinettes, setting a new.... Read More

The Remy Bumppo Theatre Company proved itself adept at smashing crockery in 2011 with their production of Edward Albee's The Goat, Or Who Is Sylvia. Two years later, statuary once again plays a role in David Greig's adaptation of August Strindberg's psychological thriller, Creditors—specifically, a faceless nude odalisque made in the image of the sculptor's wife, the.... Read More

When we first see Charlie, he gives his weight as somewhere between 500 and 600 lbs. If this were merely a few extra pounds, a few extra layers of clothing—some of them quilted or waffle-textured, perhaps—would be the solution. For localized corpulence (think Falstaff or Fezziwig), a leotard lined with foam rubber would do the trick. In Samuel.... Read More

The Jeff Awards Committee announced 120 nominations in 25 categories of Non-Equity Jeff Awards for productions that opened between April 1, 2012, and March 31, 2013. The Non-Equity Awards honor excellence in Chicago theatres not under a union contract. Jeff judges attended opening nights of 146 productions offered by 65 Non-Equity producing organizations. The judges recommended 54 of.... Read More

No one can deny the success of The Book of Mormon—the runaway hit musical by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, that is. The irony is that it isn't really about the gospel according to the Church of Latter-Day Saints. To understand why, it is necessary to look at the evolution of religious sects in general.

.... Read More

There are some who declare that Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller wrote the Rock-and-Roll songbook—or the first few chapters, at least—but nobody guessed that an evening of top-40 songs dating from the mid-20th century would prove so popular that Theo Ubique would be turning away customers after a run of nearly three months. Granted, the award-winning company has.... Read More