Looking to experience more culture, more arts? BackStage Evanston, on Sept. 18, provides a sneak peak to 17 different local performances. The unique experience will take place from 3:30-7 p.m. at the Ethel M. Barber Theater at Northwestern University. “We’ve got a lot of performing arts in Evanston,” says Penny Rotheiser, chair of the event […]
Cirque du Soleil’s “OVO” breathes life into even the most average species of insect. Based on a loose plot about a fly who visits a community of bugs carrying a large egg, the show includes colorful costumes, bossa nova beats and “wow”-factor stunts. “OVO” boasts 10 acts peppered with buzzes, chirps and comedic filler from […]
The latest Cirque du Soleil show to hit Chicago is full of creepy, crawly insects. “OVO,” written and directed by Brazilian choreographer Deborah Colker, is about a day in the life of bugs. The show begins in the morning when a new fly visits a community of insects, carrying a mysterious egg (“ovo” in Portugese) […]
If you loved the Oscar-winning movie “Chicago,” starring Catherine Zeta-Jones, Queen Latifah and Richard Gere, you’ll re-discover it in exciting ways at this short-run production. The talents of Broadway veterans Terra MacLeod as Velma, Ron Orbach as Amos and Tracy Shayne as Roxie are wildly evident, and John O’Hurley—who played J. Peterman on “Seinfeld” and […]
Charles Smith’s “The Gospel According to James,” dramatizes a real-life 1930 Indiana lynching, examining the wily nature of truth and who defines it.
Luscious music, elaborate sets, and color-saturated costumes grace this production. The Joffrey Ballet of Chicago’s show is based on Franz Lehar’s operetta of the same name. It boasts breathtaking choreography by Ronald Hynd, who came in to recreate the dances from his 1975 story ballet. The story is set in the Paris embassy of Ponteverdro, […]
This nerve-jangling, otherworldly world premiere travels deep into the emotional desperation of people who exist on society’s fringes. Illinois playwright Brett Neveu gets into the rhythmic thinking of those who survive by conning others. Aged street hustler Eddie Sisson (played with emotional vibrancy by esteemed Steppenwolf Theatre veteran Francis Guinan) has one last shot […]
My youngest son Luke didn’t get the nickname Tasmanian Devil because he likes to sit still. And while he’s almost completely non-verbal, he is wholly capable of communicating his wants and needs (though sometimes not in ways most people expect). No surprise that we’ve been hesitant to expose him to live theater, imagining our […]
You’ve probably seen Shakespeare reinterpreted a hundred ways: transported settings (modern day Berlin), interpretive costumes (Macbeth in Armani), but Claudio as a rap star?much “Funk It Up About Nothin’ ” is definitely a new twist on “Much Ado About Nothing.” Playing in the intimate upstairs theater at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater through Feb. 13, this […]
Evanston natives Laura Eason and Jessica Thebus aren’t shy when it comes to talking about what goes on under the sheets. Eason and Thebus are the brains behind the new Steppenwolf play, “Sex with Strangers.” Eason wrote the play, which focuses on a 24-year-old male blogger who writes about his “sexcapades,” including his affair with […]
