To watch John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath" " as famously adapted for the stage by Frank Galati in 1988 " on the cusp of Britain's fear-fueled departure from the European Union was to be…
On June 15, Revlon, a multinational, mass-market cosmetics company, announced it was acquiring one of its rivals, Elizabeth Arden, for $419.3 million in cash. Corporate acquisitions, common …
Penned in 1970, Stephen Sondheim's masterpiece "Company" is fiendishly difficult to update. Where to begin? You've got lyrical references to ladies who lunch, answering services explaining t…
What's the next "Hamilton"? I've been thinking about that question partly because I have become weary of being asked what was the last "Hamilton," in reference to the colossal demand that re…
A line of more than 1,000 "Hamilton" fans wrapped around a city block Tuesday morning as they waited for a chance to be in the room where it happens when Lin-Manuel Miranda's Tony-winning mu…
Ira Levin's "Deathtrap" is one of the most successful whodunits of all time " it spawned a four-year Broadway run of 1,800 performances, a London gig, a big Hollywood movie starring Michael …
In Marcus Gardley's "The House That Will Not Stand" " the best show directed by Chay Yew since he took over at the Victory Gardens Theater " the remarkable Chicago actress Jacqueline William…
Hopeless optimism is as good a strategy as any in our angry, hate-filled world. So by the time "The SpongeBob Musical" turns the Krusty Krab into a Hells Kitchen canteen, SpongeBob SquarePan…
"BATSU!" is the Japanese word for punishment or penalty. And in the raucous new improvised entertainment in Old Town, the audience is encouraged to chant it whenever one of the performers fa…
Without Sammy Davis, Jr. " for my money, the most talented song-and-dance entertainer of all time " it's unlikely that Americans would have known much about Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newle…
When the producers of the hit musical "Hamilton," which won 11 Tony Awards last Sunday and arrives in Chicago in September, said they were moving aggressively to prevent resale of tickets to…
Jamaica " in full disclosure, one of my favorite places on Earth " is a diverse island of great cultural riches. It's also a land of self-actualizing storytellers, as you likely know if you'…
"I bet you die." That's not generally what you'd expect the director of "The Sound of Music" to say to one of the actors about his character. But it's what the veteran Broadway director Jack…
Chicago has long-awaited "Bat Boy," the smart and generally hilarious spoof of (among other things) small-town myopia, the repelling of outsiders and tabloid journalism, since there actually…
In the Chicago of 1908, a couple of comedy song-and-dance men named Thaddeus and Slocum are trying to break into vaudeville at the 2-year-old Majestic Theatre and perform somewhere other tha…
"Theater is a place where every race, creed, sexuality and gender is equal, is embraced, and is loved," said James Corden, the host of the 70th Tony Awards, at the somber start of the Sunday…
At the age of 17, Jane Austen's Catherine Morland is "in training for a heroine," seeing her life through the lens of the very kinds of Gothic novels that were in vogue around the dawn of th…
In one sketch within the joyous "The Art of Falling," The Second City's inspired collaboration with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, a guy checks out his trousers in a mirror. Since his reflect…
In any other year, "Shuffle Along," a show that celebrated African-American song and dance in the first person " and simultaneously offered a rich and searing lesson in cultural history " wo…
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein's "The Sound of Music" plays often 'round these heartland parts " the recent epic productions at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Stratford Festival o…
Tickets to the Chicago production of "Hamilton" go on sale 10 a.m. Tues. June 21. Premium tickets to the smash-hit musical will run $500-$600 during the holidays. But more than 18,000 sea…
Hold the presses: Holland Taylor and Robert Morse are taking their places on "The Front Page," the Tribune has just learned, alongside the previously announced Nathan Lane, John Slattery, Jo…
Can't find or afford tickets to "Hamilton"? Too rebellious for the hype? Dreaming not of the Founding Fathers but of a hot summer, beach blankets, an open throttle and flat sand? If so, here…
Precisely why Harry Lennix " television star, movie actor, producer, friend of President Barack Obama " is working in a tiny space on the third floor of the Athenaeum Theatre does not take l…
Landree Fleming, the wholly delightful star of the new production of "Xanadu" at American Theater Company, is perhaps the biggest musical-comedy talent to emerge from Chicago since Jackie Ho…