Hubbard Street's Season 41 Fall Series asks a lot of its audience: The new environmentalist collaboration between the choreographers Emma Portner, Lil Buck and Jon Boogz runs close to 90 min…
On Friday afternoon, Mayor Rahm Emanuel will officially announce an estimated $10 million donation to support his Year of Chicago Theatre initiative. The private money, which comes from the …
Snooker isn't pool, any more than it's billiards. The widespread confusion annoys us aficionados of the noble cue sports on both sides of the Atlantic. Any number of snooty leisure activitie…
"This is a circus," roared the furious Judge Brett Kavanaugh, reflecting how we often respond when a seemingly controlled life of achievement devolves into escalating chaos that we discover …
Not long ago, a New York-based actress named Kelly Felthous found herself auditioning for Roxie Hart in the musical "Chicago." The audition was in Manhattan, but the theater was the Drury La…
One of the most thrilling developments in the American theater is a broader acceptance of women playing the great male roles of dramatic literature. Instead of the same old wizened dudes doi…
Tony Kushner and Jeanine Tesori's "Caroline, or Change" is a musical that dangles the one quality common to any politician worth the time of day, and to almost every musical ever to appear o…
In 1988, a young humble, quirky, British-American monologuist named David Cale appeared in the studio theater in the old Goodman Theatre. His show, he said at the time, was dedicated to the …
One fundamental problem faced by America's oldest Equity actor " that would be the 94-year-old Mike Nussbaum " is that directors keep casting him in age-appropriate roles. Such is his vitali…
On CNN Monday, the remarkable Spanish-American chef Jose Andres was interviewed while feeding tens of thousands of the victims of Hurricane Florence in both Wilmington and Raleigh, North Car…
Tracy Letts is to star alongside Annette Bening in a spring Roundabout Theatre revival of Arthur Miller's "All My Sons." The revival of the moralistic 1947 family drama, set in small-town Oh…
Thanks mostly to Chicago's culture czar, Mark Kelly, and the genuine enthusiasm of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, 2019 has been designated the Year of Chicago Theatre by the city of Chicago. Before I g…
Mayor Rahm Emanuel is to make it official on Monday: 2019 is to be the Year of Chicago Theatre. A citywide initiative dreamed up and spearheaded by the Department of Cultural Affairs and Spe…
Here's a challenge for the growing slate of mayoral candidates in Chicago: How will you ensure that ordinary Chicagoans hear international perspectives on the many troubling issues faced by …
Tragedy is commonly equated with sadness. But it's really all about chaos. To quote the great songwriter William Finn: "Life is random and unfair, life is pandemonium." Be they Greek, Shakes…
Without "Little Shop of Horrors," we wouldn't have Disney's "The Little Mermaid," "Beauty and the Beast" or "Aladdin." That's because the spoof 1982 off-Broadway musical (based on a B-movie …
Those we see every day usually know us best. In the case of Charity Hope Valentine " the Candide of the dance hall " that means her colleagues, the ones who get right to the point while stub…
Seated in a corner of the Petterino's restaurant in the Loop, Brian Dennehy was hopping mad. The objects of Dennehy's rage " this was in 2004 " were the critics of the American theater. To b…
Revitalizing a cavernous, historic space in the Loop that has been hidden from full view for decades, the West Coast entertainment company Teatro ZinZanni is to set up long-term shop on the …
In its 17-year history " and, for the record, I've seen every show " the courageous House Theatre of Chicago has trafficked almost entirely in new work, often with an emphasis on quest-based…
In 2015 " when the absurdly reductive short-form listicle became the Hail Mary of flagging entertainment journalism " a prominent New York weekly decided to ask a group of actors, and only a…
Hey, let's do Fyodor Dostoyevsky this sunny September! Two hours and 40 minutes of "Crime and Punishment"! One room! No star names! Not much of a set but lots of atmosphere and acting! We'll…
I often wish August Wilson would come back to life to help us all make sense of our riven America. I walked into the Court Theatre on Saturday night just hours after watching the Serena Will…
There's a new work from Bruce Norris likely to prove incendiary. Performance artist David Cale stages a piece drawn from his own family history. It's another day at the office for the 94-yea…
To be an actress is to be cursed with people asking you which role you would most like to play. This common experience is not to be confused with people offering you the chance actually to p…