84 stories by "Brianhey"
RECOMMENDED Though it’s best known as an outdoor Shakespeare venue of growing national renown, American Players Theatre runs a fair bit of work of more recent vintage as well. One of i…
By Brian Hieggelke The Untitled Michael Shannon Profile, Pre-Production Notes When he gets the email from A Red Orchid Theatre’s publicist that Michael Shannon is available to do a cov…
RECOMMENDED Though its setting is seventeenth-century French aristocracy (it premiered in 1666, near the beginning of Louis XIV’s reign), Molière’s “Misanthrope” is …
RECOMMENDED As the curtain rises on a nun in rapturous reflection, with the pulsing sounds of Donna Summer’s “Love to Love You Baby” scoring a sprawling, bawdy set of dirty…
RECOMMENDED "Proof," David Auburn's 2001 Pulitzer Prize-winning play about the inspiring yet conflicted relationship between a University of Chicago mathematician and his daughter, is making…
RECOMMENDED Growing up next to the only Mormon church in Joliet, I was remarkably ignorant of what the faith represented, knowing only that they were not “true Christians” accord…
Top 5 Dance Productions of 2012 “Epic French Masterpieces,” Paris Opera Ballet “Winter Fire,” Joffrey Ballet “Spring Series,” Hubbard Street Dance “…
RECOMMENDED How far will an outside producer go in dropping crucial elements in transposing an outside production to Chicago? How much will be lost in making the transition, particularly whe…
RECOMMENDED Although Engelbert Humperdinck's fairy-tale opera "Hansel and Gretel" has been a beloved Christmas staple around the world for well over a century, it’s been a relative rar…
RECOMMENDED It is no easy task to take the rhyming, whimsical world of Dr. Seuss and bring it to life. Boris Karloff and Chuck Jones did it wonderfully well in the 1966 animated version of "…
By Dennis Polkow If Chicago actor James Vincent Meredith looks familiar, he has been a fixture on Chicago stages for years. But even those who have not caught his distinctive performances ac…
RECOMMENDED Following in the footsteps of its highly successful and innovative "Pirates of Penzance," which is being revived and running in repertory alongside of this offering, the Hypocrit…
RECOMMENDED For a lively reprieve from the abundance of seasonal plays and pageants, Remy Bumppo offers up one of George Bernard Shaw’s few comedies, “You Never Can Tell.” …
RECOMMENDED Thirty-five years ago, Goodman Theatre debuted its first production of Charles Dickens’ holiday classic at the suggestion of now-executive director Roche Schulfer, and chan…
RECOMMENDED How rarely is Massenet's "Werther," the work many consider the crown jewel of French Romantic opera, done at Lyric Opera? Well, only twice prior in the company's near sixty years…
Chicago is having a renewed love affair with the work of Eugene O’Neill lately, as several local companies have featured O’Neill’s plays in recent seasons. Eclipse Theatre …
RECOMMENDED The Doge of Genoa is back. He doesn't come around very often, so if you want an audience with him, now is a good time to do so or you may end up having to wait another decade and…
RECOMMENDED Just in time for Halloween, Strange Tree Group’s "Funeral Wedding: The Alvin Play" returns for an engagement at the Signal Ensemble Theatre. This gothic and drawn-out ghost…
RECOMMENDED It’s always exciting to see a fresh play by a local author. Even more so when that play is executed as finely as TimeLine Theatre Company’s production of Susan Felder…
RECOMMENDED It has been twenty years since Richard Strauss' "Elektra" was last presented by Lyric Opera: there was plenty of blood that time around, and Scottish director Sir David McVicar g…
After a brief run on Broadway in 2010, “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson” is making its Chicago debut in a vivid production by Bailiwick Chicago. With a presidential election looming…
RECOMMENDED Sure the premise"a televised singing competition a la “American Idol” centered on the works of legendary “one-name-only” R&B divas like Aretha, Whitne…
RECOMMENDED Following up on his spectacular production of "Follies" last spring, Gary Griffin returns to Sondheim to open Chicago Shakespeare Theater's new season with a work he mounted at t…
RECOMMENDED Coming to Chicago all the way from the National Theatre of Scotland, “The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart” features a fine set of musicians and actors acting out on…
RECOMMENDED Having directed a brilliant revival of "A Streetcar Named Desire" at Writers' Theater a few seasons back"which has also since played the Williamstown Theatre Festival"it was a na…
