Theatre with a side of life
Porchlight Music Theatre presents FUN HOME. ‘Fun home’ may conjure up carnival-like expectations. Although it is definitely fun and is about home, this show has more depth and breadth than a typical musical. It’s based on Alison Bechdel’s critically-acclaimed graphic novel about growing up in a funeral home, ‘coming out’ and her father’s suicide. The creative ...
Jackalope Theatre presents the remount and limited engagement of THE SMUGGLER. Andrew Burden Swanson is a master storyteller. Swanson plays Tim Finnegan, an unemployed Irish immigrant with a story… actually several stories… to tell. Swanson is transfixing as he weaves together a modern yarn with unexpected twists and turns. And he does it by seamlessly playing ...
Broadway in Chicago presents the Tony Award-winning musical comedy, SHUCKED. Cob County is under a corn emergency. The wedding of childhood sweethearts, Maizy and Beau, is interrupted by crop failure. When the community’s fields of dreams is threatened, they must face survival by slim-pickings. And this kernel of truth exposes them to outside forces. The creative ...
Music Theater Works presents LEGALLY BLONDE: THE MUSICAL. “Omigod. Omigod you guys” this show is super fun! In 2001, Reese Witherspoon made being blonde and wearing pink the fashionable alternative to stuffy law suits. Her iconic film became a comedy classic. Elle, a Malibu sorority girl, follows her ex-boyfriend to Harvard. In her pursuit to get him ...
Hell in a Handbag Productions presents RUDOLPH THE RED-HOSED REINDEER, An Unauthorized Parody. The infamous “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” debuted in 1964. The animated TV special about a reindeer with a really shiny nose also introduced an elf wanting to be a dentist, an abominable snow monster and an entire island of misfit toys. The show ...
Broadway in Chicago presents & JULIET. “Romeo & Juliet” is iconic. Boy meets girl. They fall in love. Their families hate each other. They marry anyway. To escape the family feuds, Juliet fakes her death. Finding her lifeless, Romeo poisons himself. Juliet wakes to find his corpse. She then stabs herself to death. This legendary tale ...
Broadway in Chicago presents YIPPEE KI YAY The Parody Celebration of Die Hard. Bruce Willis’ iconic performance in “Die Hard” and “Die Hard II” created cult-classic Christmas movies. In both films, the terrorist plots utilized the holidays as an opportunity to attack. Willis played a NYC cop meeting up with his wife. His signature sarcasm turned ...
Music Theater Works presents LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS. Down on Skid Row…. Folks are broke. Life’s a joke. And the local floral shop is doomed to close. Everything changes when an awkward clerk discovers an unusual plant. When he places it in the window, the growing flora instantly attracts the attention of the neighborhood, the media ...
Chicago Shakespeare Theater, in conjunction with the Royal Shakespeare Company, presents PERICLES. After a thirty year absence, RSC returns to Chicago with its production of a lesser known Shakespearean play. Pericles is a young ruler exploring other lands. In Act One, a shipwreck brings him to the shores of Pentapolis where he falls in love and ...
Remy Bumppo Theatre presents DEAR ELIZABETH. Playwright Sarah Ruhl has constructed a love letter to a writer’s creative process. Ruhl cleverly utilizes actual correspondence between Poets Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell to chronicle their relationship over three decades. Bishop and Lowell meet because of mutual admiration. Over time, this appreciation grows from respected colleagues to trusted ...