February brings a highly anticipated musical to Chicago Shakespeare, a festival of cutting-edge theater inside a garage, a musical about Chicago murders in the 1920s, and a new drama about murders in the city today. Gypsy February 6 to March 23 Two of Chicago’s most critically acclaimed shows in recent years were Stephen Sondheim musicals […]
The title character of “Luna Gale” is never visible. In the few moments when she is onstage during this Goodman Theatre production, Luna is quietly hidden away inside a baby carriage. And yet, as invisible as she may seem to the audience, the infant named Luna Gale is the force driving most of the adult […]
Ask Carrie Underwood what it’s like to have her live performance compared to an iconic film star’s. Unfair? Probably.
January brings some classic shows to local stages, led by a complex female protagonist in “Hedda Gabler” and the Weimar naughtiness of “Cabaret.” And if those stories are too serious for your tastes, head to Drury Lane for a monster moaning “Puttin’ on the Ritz.” Hedda Gabler January 7 to March 16 Two consistently great […]
In “Luck of the Irish,” having its Midwest premiere atNext Theatre in Evanston’s Noyes Cultural Arts Center, the Irish don’t have much. The story is about “ghost buying” in Boston in the 1950s, a maneuver in which a white man was given money by a black man to buy a house for him in a […]
As Suzy Snowflake continues her interminable tap-tap-tapping on Chicagoland windowpanes, it’s time to turn her attention-getting acoustics into a cue to indulge in a winter escape, if only for a couple of hours. At “42nd Street,” there isn’t an UGG boot to be found. Instead, this latest musical theater offering from Aurora’s Paramount Theatre is […]
Discriminating Oriental Theatre patrons through January 19 will spend much of Act 2 contemplating descriptions more vivid than “train wreck” to describe Broadway in Chicago’s initial offering of the new year, the first national tour of the musical “Ghost.” This too loud, blindingly bright, videocentric production offers none of the 1990 film inspiration’s sensuality. Unless, […]
Ask Carrie Underwood what it’s like to have her live performance compared to an iconic film star’s. Unfair? Probably. But it’s not Abby Normal, for goodness sake. And it’s a fair guess a vast majority of patrons to Drury Lane’s staging of Mel Brooks’ musical “Young Frankenstein” will be scrutinizing the cast against their indelible […]
Hedda Gabler is not happy. Back home after a honeymoon trip that lasted six months and found her mostly alone while her husband continued his research, Hedda is forced into a life she never wanted, married to a man she doesn’t love. Bored, she spends her time manipulating the few people around her and finds […]
Looking for a way to chase the winter blues? Look no further than Lifeline Theatre’s new musical production, “The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs!” This musical, based on the popular book by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith, turns the classic story on its head. Audiences will “squeal” with delight as they hear both […]
