Ravinia President and CEO Welz Kauffman today announced that the festival’s 2011 lineup will cross all genres by combining a roster of Ravinia favorites with a “who’s who” of chart-toppers making festival debuts. The season, running June 9 through Sept. 11, features the debuts of Jennifer Hudson, Maroon 5, Five For Fighting and Deep Purple […]
Power chords reverberated from the studio at the Paul Green School of Rock Music in Highwood one recent Thursday evening as students held their final rehearsal before opening for Weezer.
Heidi Kettenring is best known for her role as Elphaba’s spoiled sister in the Chicago production of “Wicked”—but now, she’s playing a very different sister. The Evanston resident plays Elinor Dashwood in Northlight’s current world premiere of Jane Austen’s beloved “Sense and Sensibility.” As Elinor, who brings the “sense” to romantic Marianne’s “sensibility,” Kettenring had […]
Blue Man Group has rebooted its 13-year-old show at Chicago’s Briar Street Theatre to include the latest fascination of the human species: technology. During a preview for reporters and special guests last week, the 3 men of Blue Man Group applied their unbridled curiosity to new gadgets on stage, breathing new life into the show. […]
“Ethan Frome,” a story about poverty and hardship, probably isn’t your first choice for a fun evening out—but it’s worth a trip downtown anyway. Superbly acted amid evocative sets, this play isn’t three-hour melodrama, but a piercing one-and-a-half-hour, no-intermission engagement. If you need a refresher on Edith Wharton’s classic tale, adapted by Evanston native Laura […]
Acclaimed family musician and songwriter Justin Roberts, along with his band, The Not Ready for Naptime Players, will perform in Chicago on March 20. Roberts sat down with Make it Better to talk about his upcoming concert as well as his recent trip to the Grammys where his album, “Jungle Gym,” was nominated for […]
“Heddatron” is an imaginative romp that programs literature to interface with robots. Throw in a media cover-up, reality television and a school book report, and the output is laughable! With so much going on, this 1-and-a-half-hour, no-intermission show is a triple play well worth seeing. Using documentary-style film footage, the play chronicles the recent robot-led […]
The smash hit Broadway musical, which won three Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize, will be playing at the Bank of America Theatre for a limited engagement April 26–May 8. Individual tickets for “Next to Normal” go on sale on Friday, February 25. Alice Ripley, who received the 2009 Tony Award for Best Actress in […]
Subscription packages to local theaters and music venues are a great deal The best gifts are the ones that keep on giving. For Evanston residents and newlyweds Marc and Emily Zarefsky, it was season tickets to the Marriott Theater in Lincolnshire. Gifted to the couple by Marc’s parents, who themselves have been season ticket holders […]
North Shore native Betsy Morgan, who currently stars in Broadway in Chicago’s “Les Miserables,” launched her musical theater career right here in Chicago. She landed a role in “Mamma Mia!”—even after a flustered audition. “I forgot my shoes outside the room, I went in with bare feet and I swore by accident,” she remembered. “They […]
