Tuesday, December 30, 2014
In 2014 ... Chicago's Jessie Mueller snagged the role of Carole King in "Beautiful" on Broadway. By June, she had a Tony Award and the Mueller family was on its way to becoming a national th…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 05:38PMWednesday, December 24, 2014
This past spring and summer, hundreds of Chicago Public Schools teachers came to see Ike Holter's "Exit Strategy," a riveting new play from the little-known Jackalope Theatre about the last …
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 01:27PMTuesday, December 23, 2014
Here's a great way to end the year with this column, a celebration of 10 of the great performances of 2014. In alphabetical order:
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 04:59PMHere's a great way to end the year with this column, a celebration of 10 of the great performances of 2014. In alphabetical order:
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 04:32PMWhen Light Opera Works produced "The Merry Widow" in 2005, starring Stacey Tappan and Larry Adams, the company was greeted with reviews remarking on the frolicsome pleasures of Franz Lehar's…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 03:17PMMonday, December 22, 2014
When it comes to cheating the gray skies of winter, only Santa has a bigger bag of tricks than Sean Graney and The Hypocrites, the theater company Graney founded in 1997. In 2010, his produc…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 04:17PMSeveral Chicago-area artistic directors have signed an open letter protesting the firing of Ari Roth, the artistic director of Theater J in Washington, D.C. Although the stated cause of Roth…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 01:10PMFriday, December 19, 2014
A title like "Cirque Dreams Holidaze" does not exactly pack the familiar punch of "A Christmas Carol" or "Cinderella," which may account for the many empty seats at the Chicago Theatre on Th…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 03:33PMThursday, December 18, 2014
In these last days of 2014, it seems like the delicate, freedom-hugging art of narrative storytelling has exploded in our faces. Not unlike the head of a certain political leader in a fictio…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 05:55PMTwo Cinderellas dreamed of a handsome prince at the Cadillac Palace Theatre on Wednesday. The one listed in the program, Paige Faure, suffering from what sure sounded like a severe cold or f…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 04:29PMA show from Los Angeles about the Vegas singers Louis Prima and Keely Smith is headed to the Royal George Theatre mainstage, the producer Hershey Felder said on Thursday.
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 12:29PMA show from Los Angeles about the Vegas singers Louis Prima and Keely Smith is headed to the Royal George Theatre mainstage, the presenter Hershey Felder said on Thursday.
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 12:29PMWednesday, December 17, 2014
When Lisa D'Amour wrote "Detroit" — a play that premiered at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre in 2010 and went on to New York and London's National Theatre and became a finalist for the 2011 …
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 05:43PMIn the days after the fire at the Iroquois Theatre in 1903, a fire in which 600 lives were consumed by flames, this newspaper published the names of almost all of the victims. It was a formi…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 12:34PMSunday, December 14, 2014
Ugly, groggy-eyed and not unlike a low-rent Tony Soprano, I headed to my stoop for my Sunday Tribune. My early-morning eyes landed on an envelope for my very loyal carrier's holiday tip. Exc…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 03:36PM"In the beginning," observes a dying character in Lisa D'Amour's fascinating new Steppenwolf Theatre Company drama, "Airline Highway," "there was sex."
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 03:21PMFriday, December 12, 2014
For those who have been blessed by one onstage Tiny Tim too many — and which of us is not in that number at this cultural juncture? — the Goodman Theatre is, for the first time this year…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 04:49PMThursday, December 11, 2014
Late in life, when writers are more inclined to take the bigger, sadder, more complicated view of our long haul on this planet, William Shakespeare wrote (or more likely co-wrote) what vario…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 05:41PMThe year 2014 in Chicago theater could perhaps best be described in the words of Samuel Beckett: "I can't go on, I'll go on."
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 04:08PMHere's one striking truth about Broadway in 2014: There was an unusually rich correlation between quality and commercial success. This runs counter to a lot of the things often said about Br…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 12:52PMWednesday, December 10, 2014
To the delight of Midwestern fans of dancing newsboys, the one and only national tour of "Newsies" opens in Chicago on Friday night. Sales have been very brisk — some performances this wee…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 06:25PMMonday night's performance in celebration of the 125th anniversary of the Auditorium Theatre ended with something even regulars at the venerable arts venue had never seen before. The gilded …
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 03:58PMTuesday night's performance in celebration of the 125th anniversary of the Auditorium Theatre ended with something even regulars at the venerable arts venue had never seen before. The gilded…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 03:58PMTuesday, December 9, 2014
Playwright Sarah Ruhl, who grew up on Chicago's North Shore and has enjoyed a long and extensive relationship with several Chicago theaters, has published a new book of prose, "100 Essays I …
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 05:26PMMonday, December 8, 2014
Justin Roberts, the Chicago-based kids singer and songwriter, has written the kind of score for "Hansel & Gretel," the holiday attraction from the Emerald City Theatre, that makes you wish s…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 05:27PMThe Drury Lane Theatre in Oakbrook Terrace is sticking its toes into the complicated waters of pre-Broadway tryouts, aiming to provide new competition for the more costly Broadway in Chicago…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 04:00PMSunday, December 7, 2014
It might engender a few eye rolls, but the notion of Billy Corgan writing a musical makes excellent sense. He has always been an artist of ambition, his lyrics long suffused with the emotion…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 06:19PMFriday, December 5, 2014
Superior amusement at The Second City usually arrives riding on the back of panic. The crisis can be as picayune as riding Greyhound: "If think I'm on this bus any longer," Daniel Strauss' a…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 03:22PMWelfare officers arrive at an ordinary British house — they seem to suspect ill-treatment of one of the occupants. They're emotionally overwhelmed by the task — we see one of them shakin…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 11:26AMWednesday, December 3, 2014
In the world of classical theater in Canada — a small world, for sure, but one with fervent Chicago-based fans — Ben Carlson is a big star.
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 05:30PMFor all its simplicity and folksy familiarity, the word "storyteller" is a much-overused term in the arts. It's claimed by those less than committed to the art of the raconteur, the craft of…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 12:06PM 
