Monday, May 2, 2011
A Twist of Water is a play about rebuilding and new beginnings, Chicago style. This stunning new work, written by Caitlin Montanye Parrish and directed by Erica Weiss who is also the co-crea…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 01:05PMSunday, May 1, 2011
You know The King and I, right? I mean, we all do. When I saw this title on Porchlight’s season announcement last year, I have to admit I rolled my eyes a little. Well, see Porchlight Musi…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 12:58PMFriday, April 29, 2011
First, see the list of 2011 Non-Equity Jeff Award nominations here. And then read my three thoughts: Thought one: Of the six nominated best plays, I saw a whopping ZERO of them. Which is som…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 02:32PMThursday, April 28, 2011
Curt Hansen, Alice Ripley and Asa Somers in “Next to Normal” I’d been really looking forward to this one. Not only have I heard amazing things about this Tony and Pulitzer …
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 08:15AMTuesday, April 26, 2011
Remember this post from last week where I suggested five essential rules for startup storefront theatre companies? Prologue Theatre company is knocking it out of the park with numbers 1 and …
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 12:51PMSunday, April 24, 2011
Getting to the Pilson-based loft warehouse venue for Filament Theatre Ensemble’s production of Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice is a chore — especially on a cold, rainy Friday evening…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 12:10PMThursday, April 21, 2011
Debilitating illness is an equal-opportunity defeater. Not even bewigged kings bedecked in fancy threads are immune to the power of a mysterious crippling disease — such as the the blo…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 12:14PMWednesday, April 20, 2011
I downloaded, via iTunes, two wonderful new theatre-related albums yesterday: the Broadway cast recording of Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown and Lisa Howard’s new solo album,…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 08:47AMMonday, April 18, 2011
New storefront theatre companies pop up in Chicago like reality TV shows on Bravo. It seems once every month or so I get a press release from some new company that I’ve never heard of …
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 06:39PMFriday, April 15, 2011
Tony award-winner Alan Cumming (and star of CBS hit series The Good Wife, and one of my favorite flicks this year, Bulesque) is bringing his hit one-man cabaret show, I Bought a Blue Car Tod…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 07:51AMThursday, April 14, 2011
Pop-aganda: The cast of “White Noise” rocks out. “Everyone’s a little bit racist,” sang those edgy puppets in another musical. That catchy five-minute tune mana…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 09:44AMWednesday, April 13, 2011
Ever wonder what it’d be like to have a boozy Lucille Ball navigate your road trips? Punchy Players brings that fantasy to life: This reminds me of our GPS — a first generation T…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 07:48AMMonday, April 11, 2011
When I interviewed Jim Caruso last week, he joked that the experiment to bring his Manhattan-based Cast Party to Chicago could be a disaster. “It might just be Billy [Stritch] and me s…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 08:35AMSaturday, April 9, 2011
Derek Garza is happy to help you in “I Am Montana.” I’ve a love/hate relationship with Walmart. While I hear the arguments that it’s destroying communities, cheats wo…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 10:10AMFriday, April 8, 2011
Jarrod Zimmerman, Jessie Muelle and Alan Schmuckler — three old friends in The Music Theatre Company’s “Merrily We Roll Along.” “We’re opening doors, Sing…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 08:52AMThursday, April 7, 2011
Jim Caruso is what you’d call a “born entertainer.” While he made his Broadway debut singing and dancing alongside his good friend Liza Minnelli in Liza’s At The Palace! in 2008, the…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 03:28PMTuesday, April 5, 2011
The fabulous Sarah Terez Rosenblum interviewed me for her blog, Our Town, which is part of Chicago Sun-Times online. Read on if you want to see how a prostitute formed my early love of the…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 07:16PMBilly (Will Allan) and Stevie (Annabel Armour) digest some disturbing news. “You’re f*cking a goat?!” Edward Albee’s 2003 Pulitzer-Prize nominated play, The Goat, or …
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 08:35AMSunday, April 3, 2011
It’s rare that I leave a theatre completely ambivalent. I mean, I almost forgot that I saw Steppenwolf’s production of The Hot L Baltimore a few hours after returning home yester…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 10:34AMFriday, April 1, 2011
A friend who works at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre confided to me that the sassy Sicilian diva has signed on to play the caustic Phyllis stone in Gary Griffin’s Fall 2011 mounting of St…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 12:46PMThursday, March 31, 2011
Black Watch is the kind of show that shakes you to the core. Not only are the grim realities of war and sacrifice played out with brutal honesty, but Gareth Fry’s sound design authenti…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 08:23PMWednesday, March 30, 2011
For no particular reason, other than to waste some time before I head off to Black Watch, here are some top-of-mind things that I think make theatre in this city is a thing of awesomeness: 1…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 07:21PMTuesday, March 29, 2011
Ah, Patti LuPone — always one with a colorful quote. To add to this list, here’s what the Broadway diva had to say in a recent Q&A about Streisand starring in an on-again/off…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 02:01PMMonday, March 28, 2011
Mary Hollis Inboden reveals some personal truths from a painful past in “The Warriors.” “I Googled you,” says Jeff (Wes Needham) to Mary Hollis (Mary Hollis Inboden, …
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 10:45AMFriday, March 25, 2011
The Blue Men encounter the latest tech craze. Fourteen years. That’s how long it’s been since I last saw the Chicago production of Blue Man Group — that enduring piece of m…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 08:09PMThursday, March 24, 2011
Dixie Longate: Tupperware lady. Who’d have thought that plastic kitchenware would provide such ample inspiration for the stage? Two seasons ago, I saw a sassy little show called Tupper…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 07:57AMTuesday, March 22, 2011
Musical theatre is a risky undertaking. So many parts must seamlessly meld together in order to make a show sing, and one small crack can derail the entire operation. This is particularly th…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 01:27PMSunday, March 20, 2011
I simply wanted to see Miss Saigon herself, Lea Salonga, perform at The Venue. Instead, I left with a headache and heartburn. After last night’s nightmare of an experience, I’m f…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 01:09PMThursday, March 17, 2011
Get ready for some random: A storefront Light in the Piazza Theo Ubique announced that it will produce one of my absolute favorite shows in their 60-seat cafe setting. I’m confident th…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 09:26AMTuesday, March 15, 2011
The claws come out in Goodman Theatre’s production of Yasmina Reza’s “God of Carnage.” The last Yasmina Reza play I saw I absolutely hated. So, when all my New York f…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 10:02AMMonday, March 14, 2011
But maybe being a robot isn’t such a bad thing if you’re in the cast of Sideshow Theatre Company’s Heddatron. They recently assisted a clever man by the name of Erik Schroe…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 12:48PM 
