Theatre with a side of life
Goodman Theatre presents CHRISTMAS CAROL. Larry Yando celebrates his 14th stint as Scrooge in Goodman’s 44th production of the Dickens’ holiday show. Yando owns this iconic miser role… in an almost unsettling way. He makes it impossible to hate the deplorable penny-pincher. His cruelty has biting humor. His curmudgeon stance has playful charm. Even before his ...
Broadway in Chicago presents the Pre-Broadway Musical PARADISE SQUARE. From the very first to the very last note, Joaquina Kalukango (Nellie) owns the bar, the stage, and the show. The phenomenal Kalukango welcomes the audience and patrons to her tavern with a rebel-rousing “Paradise Square.” Much later in the show, Kalukango belts out, literally and figuratively, ...
Steppenwolf Theatre presents BUG. A woman battles loneliness. A man fights to be free. They both want to escape their pasts. They meet at a party and it changes their lives… forever. Playwright Tracy Letts twists a rom-com-like premise into a demented nightmare. Letts lets his paranoia run wild and wacky. He pulls the audience into ...
Theatre 68 and the Venus Cabaret Theatre present I’M NOT A COMEDIAN… I’M LENNY BRUCE. Ronnie Marmo, writer and performer, has chosen a more than accurate title for his Lenny Bruce tribute. It is not a comedy… it is a life! True to Lenny’s provocative core, the show starts at the end and ends like it ...
Porchlight Music Theatre launches its 27th Mainstage season with Pump Boys & Dinettes. Just off Highway 57, the vibe is upbeat and casual! The premise of the show is a bus broke down. The stranded bus riders aka ‘the audience’ are greeted by the friendly staff at a random gas station and diner. The fourth wall completely ...
Broadway in Chicago presents WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME. This show is politics as unusual! USA’s favorite 230+ year old document gets dusted off and dissected down. As a 15 year old, Playwright Heidi Schreck participated in constitutional debates. Schreck used these teenage competitions to win scholarship money for college. Her play starts by setting ...
Chicago Shakespeare Theater presents a Beatles inspired AS YOU LIKE IT. Adapter and Director Daryl Cloran takes a1620’s comedy and infuses it with 1960’s music. The brilliant pairing, centuries in the making, is a poetic explosion of joy and words. Cloran, along with the Bard of the Beach Shakespeare Festival, conceived this unusual compilation. At first, ...
Chef Rick Bayless and Windy City Playhouse present the World Premiere of A RECIPE FOR DISASTER. Chef Bayless brings his extensive knowledge of restaurant catastrophes to the stage. Bayless conceived the story and wrote it with the support of WCP Amy Rubenstein and Carl Menninger. They have created another Windy City Playhouse immersion experience. This one ...
Goodman Theatre, in conjunction with Dallas Theater Center, presents AMERICAN MARIACHI. The mere mention of the word ‘Mariachi’ cues up a familiar, upbeat tune in my head. It conjures up images of strolling musicians bringing colorful tradition to otherwise indistinguishable Mexican restaurants. The performers, however momentarily at a table, become the focal point of the evening’s ...
Goodman Theatre presents SCHOOL GIRLS; OR, THE AFRICAN MEAN GIRLS PLAY. Playwright Joselyn Bioh’s story is a tribute to the best and worst parts of being a girl in high school. The ladies bond and giggle over boys, clothes and makeover parties. They also confront the clique pressures of trying to fit in, being cool and ...