What's happening on the arts scene – on stage, in museums and at fairs and festivals
RECOMMENDED
In East Texas Hot Links, Writers Theatre’s current show, the rhythmic speech of Adolph the “Professor,” the café setting, the discussions about work, life and death, and a sense of the economic futility of being black in a white man’s world, is somewhat reminiscent of playwright August Wilson’s Two Trains Running that ran at Goodman Theatre in 2015.
Continue reading “‘East Texas Hot Links’ looks back at the racial divide”
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
It’s likely you have heard of German composer Wilhelm Richard Wagner and some of his operas such as Lohengrin, Tristan und Isolde, Die Meistersinger von Numrnburg and of course, the four-opera cycle of Der Ring des Nibelungen. But if you want more insight into Wagner and the Ring as viewed through The Second City’s magnifying glass, try to snag a ticket to “Longer, Louder Wagner – The Second City Wagner Companion,” playing only this weekend in a Lyric Opera rehearsal room.
Continue reading “You may never see the ‘Ring’ cycle the same way again”
Listen up anyone who wants to see the Hamilton cast and any resident of Cook County who still needs to register to vote. The Chicago cast and Cook County Clerk David Orr will be at the Private Bank Theatre, 18 W. Monroe St., Chicago, midday today to encourage Cook County residents to register on line.
Oct. 23, 2016 is the last day to register to vote online. Continue reading “Hamilton cast at Private Bank Theatre today”
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
At “Hamilton’s” opening night in Chicago ( Oct. 19, 2016), its nearly three hours of rhythmic story-telling and exceptional choreography made it quite clear why lyricist, composer Lin-Manuel Miranda’s show about a Founding Father won several Tony Awards including Best Musical.
Right, often overlooked, brilliant immigrant Alexander Hamilton was a Founding Father. So, there should also be an Educational Hook Award added to the list.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
The longest-running musical revue in Broadway history, “Smokey Joe’s Café,” is making its Drury Lane debut in Oakbrook Terrace. It’s a high-energy song-and-dance production that looks nostalgically upon a bygone era and infuses it with soulful longing and a few belly laughs. The show opened on Broadway in 1995 and played more than 2,000 performances before closing in 2000.
Continue reading ““Smokey Joe’s Café” – a sweet and savory musical journey to yesterday”
RECOMMENDED
“Young Frankenstein,” now playing in Lake Forest through Oct. 30, fits a seasonal demand for monsters and weird scientists that is tempered by Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder humor.
Produced by the newly-formed Lake Forest Theatre, the show has terrific musical numbers performed by a talented cast of singers and hoofers. Its “Putting on the Ritz” interpretation of Irving Berlin’s great song and dance number is reason enough to drive to north-suburban Lake Forest.
Continue reading “Mel Brooks’ hilarious take on Transylvania makes a perfect Halloween outing”
Chicago area theatres do their part to provide fun or spooky entertainment. A show opening this weekend in north suburban Lake Forest is geared to families. A production out in the western suburbs is best for teens and older but is also interesting by the way it asks the audience to move with each scene through an old estate. Another show that will open in mid October at a Chicago theater, will leave audiences with perhaps a different understanding of a Shakespearean tragedy. Check them out this Halloween season.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
“Tony ‘n Tina’s Wedding,” one of Chicago’s longest-running hit shows, has returned after a seven-year hiatus, and it hasn’t aged a bit. The boisterous Italian nuptial farce and interactive dinner-theater engages its “guests” with servings of outrageous humor, heart-warming good cheer and just the right bit of naughtiness.
New this time around is the two-venue staging within the Belmont Theatre District. The production begins with the wedding ceremony at real-life Resurrection Church and moves for the reception to nearby Vinny Black’s Coliseum AKA Chicago Theater Works.
Continue reading ““Tony ‘n Tina’s Wedding” revival is a delightfully good time”
RECOMMENDED
The power of ‘Visiting Edna,” Tony Award-winning playwright David Rabe’s play premiering at Steppenwolf Theatre, is the utter normalcy of the conversations that take place when a married son visits his terminally ill mother.
Rabe’s brilliance, projected in the superb acting of Debra Monk as Edna and Ian Barford as son Andrew, is that the drama is subtle enough to apply to almost any family and be understood and appreciated by any audience.
Continue reading “‘Visiting Edna’ delves into adult son to parent relationship as death looms”
RECOMMENDED
Old-timers remember when political positions were argued during the day and set aside or amicably dealt with in tradeoffs agreed to during dinners at night.
That the convivial era’s respect for each other changed to vitriolic attacks after President Carter’s term and continues today is told through one politically connected Georgetown family in Anthony Giardina’s ‘The City of Conversation’ now at Northlight Theatre.
Continue reading “‘City of Conversation’ reflects country of contentious politics”