“The Nutcracker” tradition runs deep in our family. One spring, yes, spring, during the late 1950s, the New York City Ballet brought its fabled production of George Balanchine’s “The Nutcracker” to the Civic Opera House. My youngest sister, who was enrolled in ballet classes at the time, auditioned and was accepted as a toy soldier. […]
Airing on TV year after year, Frank Capra’s 1946 film “It’s a Wonderful Life” became the classic American Christmas story of the 20th century. Like Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” it somehow manages to seem fresh and moving, even if you’ve experienced it dozens of times before. Hearing all those familiar lines from Capra’s film […]
“A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens is an intimate story of conversion. The heartless miser Ebenezer Scrooge becomes a compassionate, generous human being. A lean but authentic adaptation by Peter DeLaurier of that beloved holiday classic is now on stage at Citadel Theatre in Lake Forest, and it is deeply satisfying. Frank Farrell plays Scrooge, […]
Emerald City Theatre’s “Junie B. Jones in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells” is the perfect antidote for a gloomy winter day. The play, based on the best-selling books by Barbara Park, features Amber Robinson as Junie B. Jones, the spunky heroine whose views about life, friends and elf costumes are at the heart of this story. […]
There are simply not enough accolades to bestow upon “Memphis.” The 2010 Tony Award-winning Best Musical is running at Chicago’s Cadillac Palace through December 4. But a single word of advice to musical-theater lovers suffices: Go. It’s obvious in the show’s first 3 minutes that the audience is in for a special treat. Clear storytelling, […]
The Goodman Theatre’s annual production of “A Christmas Carol” is a Chicago tradition that has filled families with holiday spirit for 34 years. If attending this show hasn’t made your yuletide to-do list yet, this year is a good time to start. “A Christmas Carol” tells Charles Dickens’ tale of the stingy, cold-hearted curmudgeon Ebenezer […]
Three dazzling sopranos electrify the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s production of Richard Strauss’ “Ariadne Auf Naxos.” Composed in 1912, “Ariadne” is equal parts high-minded love story and raucous, rustic comedy. It begins with a conflict between a high-strung classical composer and a group of commedia dell’ arte players, both engaged as entertainment at the […]
Tennessee Williams and Harold Pinter aren’t usually thought of as joined-at-the-hip dramatists. The former favored florid self-dramatizing southern gothic tragedy, while the latter is famous for what isn’t said in his “comedies of menace” peppered with those oft-analyzed pauses. But thanks to Writers’ Theatre, I now see both as masters of domestic, territorial battles that […]
The sprawling cast of characters in “Season’s Greetings” includes a dashing young novelist, who says his writing is “painfully witty or wittily painful—I forget which.” That’s also an apt description of what British playwright Alan Ayckbourn was aiming for with “Season’s Greetings”—a mix of humor and pathos. The play has plenty of both, and a […]
Chicago theaters take on tradition this December. December is not just any month. The last month of the year is designated for gathering with friends and family to partake in age-old traditions, such as attending midnight mass, lighting the menorah and making the trek to your great Aunt’s annual cookie exchange. From Sedaris to Irving […]
