4,886 stories by "Chris Jones"
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 …
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:
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:
When 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…
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…
Several 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…
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…
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…
Two 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…
A 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.
A 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.
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 Pu…
In 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…
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…
"In the beginning," observes a dying character in Lisa D'Amour's fascinating new Steppenwolf Theatre Company drama, "Airline Highway," "there was sex."
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, of…
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…
The 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."
Here'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…
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 weeke…
Monday 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 …
Tuesday 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…
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 …
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…
The 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…
