118 stories by "Francis"
Sometimes going to the theater in this arts-savvy town requires having no expectations whatsoever. Over the weekend I went to two different plays with two different mindsets and came out dis…
It's a crazy world we live in people, between face-eating in Miami, Scott Walker-unrecall in Wisconsin, and beauty pageant-rigging in Donald Trump's House of Miss USA. For my part, I nea…
When you've been going to the theater in Chicago as long as I have, you learn to embrace the unexpected in a The Hypocrites production, especially one from founding Artistic Director Sean Gr…
After seeing the unsurpassable duo of Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch weave once-in-a-lifetime theatrical magic in the Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music back i…
With my work travel having calmed down a bit, I have been able to get back into my regular theater routine of the past few years I've been writing this blog. As of today, I've seen 32 pl…
For years, whether in cocktail parties or at work events, whenever I mention I'm a theater buff, someone would ostensibly reply back with, "That's great! Rent is my favorite musical of all t…
As I was tweeting about this week, there’s so much Chicago theater and so little time. Which is a great thing. But I’ve seen several shows this spring season that I reall…
As I was settling into my seat at the performance of The Iceman Cometh at the Goodman Theatre, the woman sitting behind me said loudly to her companion, "I think this is the same place we sa…
In early 2009, I said that Frat, the second production of the new theater company The New Colony, was "a terrific example of youthful, raw, blistering, ferocious, hungrily-acted and directed…
As a gay man who grew into adulthood in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Tony Kushner's two-part theatrical masterpiece, Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes, was the definiti…
I find it a little ironic that steps away from the old Water Tower, where some people have told me they feel "so cool" coming to the theater to see a famous Chicago chef cook Mexican mole on…
After several months of frantic flyarounds for my day job, things have slowed down a bit and I've gotten to stay home in Chicago the past several weeks. What a luxury! And part of th…
When I first read in the Goodman Theatre press release last year that the 2011-2012 season will include a new production of Tennessee William's Camino Real to be adapted and directed by the …
If I had a dollar every time someone told me they went to see musicals because they're "fun", I would be as rich as Ann Romney. Casual theatergoers don't realize that there are some musical …
When a leading Republican Party presidential contender thinks it's ok to discriminate against gays, doesn't think that the constitution separates the church and the state, believes states sh…
This is the second of a two-part blog post.
In my previous blog post, I wrote about The Inconvenience's Hit the Wall. The other noteworthy new work I saw in the early weeks of 2012 was A…
This is the first of a two-part blog post.
While some theaters in the city are still going on their merry way with productions of Shakespeare, Tennessee Williams, and, inexplicably, hoary ch…
If you’ve been following my blog since 2007, you know how I love my Oscars – in the same way that the Manning brothers love Superbowl rings, Paula Deen loves lard, Elton John lov…
I gotta admit I always have a certain level of apprehension whenever I go to see a Hypocrites show. Mind you, it's not a "walking alone down a dark alley scared of being jumped by an axe mur…
Out of gas " that's exactly how I feel after a gruelling 2011 hopping around three continents and working non-stop on demanding client projects. I've been popping in and out of this blog…
As I said in my previous blog post, I flew lots and lots of miles over three continents in the course of 2011. But when I was in Chicago, I made sure I slid my butt into a theater seat (over…
And, I’m back! Yes, 2011 has been a bountiful and memorable year, my dear readers, but it has also been quite the frenetic, stressful, distraction-filled year too, so my sincerest a…
Whew! The past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind blur of commuting every week to the city of the gateway arch, and pulling in long hours on an intense strategy project. That's the re…
Although I love all theater, I have a soft, melty, mushy spot for musical theater (I was once memorably harangued by a neighbor in the hi-rise I used to live in for singing showtunes at nigh…
With a travel schedule that is, to say the least, brutalizing (anyone want to swap with me on my five-day weekly sojourn to the city of the gateway arch?), it’s been quite a challenge …
