Wednesday, December 3, 2014
For 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 12:06PMMonday, December 1, 2014
Director Rachel Rockwell's new production of Disney's "Mary Poppins" is, without question, the biggest show at the Paramount Theatre in Aurora since the start of the remarkable initiative at…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 04:56PMWednesday, November 26, 2014
In the Alejandro Gonzalez movie "Birdman," a formidably expansive, admirably unstinting yet deeply affectionate portrait of the many layers of neuroses and insecurities common to the artist,…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 03:51PMTuesday, November 25, 2014
This weekend is the beginning of peak theatergoing season in Chicago. So let me try and walk you through some decent options for you and yours.
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 05:53PMThis weekend is the beginning of peak theatergoing season in Chicago. So let me try and walk you through some decent options for you and yours.
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 05:53PMTank tops, shorts and sweaty sexual desire are the main currency of the aptly titled "Hot Georgia Sunday," the engaging little sleeper of a show from the rising Haven Theatre Company, staged…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 04:55PMMonday, November 24, 2014
Anyone who just played King Lear is ready for a little fun. So that might explain why the hard-working Larry Yando, once again starring in "A Christmas Carol" at the Goodman Theatre, seems e…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 04:34PMThis is just the second year for "A Q Brothers' Christmas Carol," the seasonal attraction at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, featuring Chicago's Q Brothers, whose core brand involves taking cla…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 04:34PMA celebration of the life of Sheldon Patinkin, the influential teacher and Chicago comedy pioneer, has been set for Jan. 23, it was announced Monday. The event will take place in the main th…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 03:57PMA celebration of the life of Sheldon Patinkin, the influential teacher and Chicago comedy pioneer, has been set for Monday, Jan. 26, it was announced Monday. The event will take place in the…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 03:57PMSunday, November 23, 2014
Some of us must have been "dreaming as the days go by," but the "Lookingglass Alice" is now, well, older than Alice herself.
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 04:03PMAs most theaters trot out their Scrooge, Schooner or George Bailey, the Victory Gardens Theater opens a difficult, sparse, austere, intense and most assuredly haunting piece that — given t…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 01:54PMAs most theaters trot out their Scrooge, Schooner or George Bailey, the Victory Gardens Theater opens a difficult, sparse, austere, intense and most assuredly haunting piece that — given t…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 01:54PMFriday, November 21, 2014
Cindy Lou Who'd believe it? The Grinch got his union card! I don't mean that Shuler Hensley, who plays the verdant old meanie on the road, is the newest member of Actors' Equity Association.…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 04:39PMThursday, November 20, 2014
NEW YORK — “But in the end how do you get hold of hollowness,” was the rhetorical question asked by the perplexed critic Walter Kerr, when Edward Albee's “A Delicate Balance” first…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 10:00PMIn 1955, Fred Wranovics, a bartender at the Woodlawn Tap on 55th Street in Hyde Park, bought a Hyde Park joint called the Hi-Hat Lounge. Wranovics decided he might as well add in the empty s…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 05:22PMMike Nichols, a nine-time Tony Award winner on Broadway and the Oscar-winning director of films such as "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf," "The Graduate" and "Carnal Knowledge," died on Wed…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 12:15PMChicagoans being nice folks for the most part, it's not unusual to sit in a theater here and feel an audience will a show to succeed. Especially in the so-called season of goodwill. Especial…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 11:42AMChicagoans being nice folks for the most part, it's not unusual to sit in a theater here and feel an audience will a show to succeed. Especially in the so-called season of goodwill. Especial…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 11:42AMMike Nichols, a nine-time Tony Award winner on Broadway and the Oscar-winning director of films such as "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf," "The Graduate" and "Carnal Knowledge," died on Wed…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 10:46AMWednesday, November 19, 2014
Monday night at the American Theater Company was one of those Chicago evenings that make putting up with snow and ice in November — not to mention buses catching fire on Lake Shore Drive �…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 06:35PMSo it's Thanksgiving week — and family and "Annie" are in town. Whaddya wanna know? I'd venture it's whether the latest bus-and-truck "Annie" delivers the full "Annie" experience.
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 04:53PMTuesday, November 18, 2014
For all its associations with tradition and fulfillment of our need for constancy, Thanksgiving dinner often turns out to be a reminder of how much things have changed.
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 02:48PMMonday, November 17, 2014
NEW YORK — "Come look at the freaks," goes the accusatory opening number of "Side Show," the eclectic and enticing 1997 musical from Bill Russell and Henry Krieger that looks at the strugg…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 03:45PMSunday, November 16, 2014
NEW YORK - Anyone who has had more than one lover — or been with someone who has been so lucky — has confronted the same dangerous moment.
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 02:17PMAgatha Christie's "The Mousetrap" has been running in London for more than 60 years now — some 25,000 performances of the whodunnit that bested all whodunits have taken place, making "The …
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 11:36AMFriday, November 14, 2014
Outgoing Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn has said he wants to push through an increase in the minimum wage for the state of Illinois — from the current $8.25 an hour to $10 an hour — before he l…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 11:06AMThursday, November 13, 2014
As an annoying pooch jumped over a llama Wednesday night at the Allstate Arena, as annoying pooches are wont to do, the llama shot its fellow llama a knowing look that truly said it all in t…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 02:02AMWednesday, November 12, 2014
Terry Green, an old-timer when it comes to Chicago theater, took me to task on Facebook this week for giving short shrift to many of the early artistic glories of the Next Theatre Company, w…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 06:53PMAs a serial theatrical and banquet entrepreneur of the old school, Anthony Tomaska has had his hits — such as the hugely profitable Chicago production of "Tony n' Tina's Wedding," which ra…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 06:06PM 
