Stages
When it comes to live theater and dance, we’ve got you covered. Here’s a look at what’s playing at Chicago-area theaters.
You wish this wholly tentative show gave the actors more to work with.
The man who will lead Lyric smartly conducts the opera that would lead Verdi toward greatness.
“It’s a classic film noir — an aging actress falls in love with a younger man and goes nuts,” is how Resnik succinctly sums up the plot.
From comedy and drama to musicals and dance, Chicago’s stages are alive with vibrant productions.
Though “Splatter II” (as the show’s writer/director refers to it) incorporates some clever callbacks to “Splatter I,” the sequel is more than a splatt-ier retread of its predecessor.
Ronnie Marmo stars in the 90-minute solo piece directed by Chicago native Joe Mantegna and produced in partnership with Lenny’s daughter Kitty Bruce.
Everyone in the play is dealing with sadness in his or her life. Ultimately, it’s about learning how to talk to each other and begin moving forward.
Mounting more ambitious productions was the reason AstonRep traded in its longtime home at Raven Theatre for the larger stage at The Edge.
Playwright/actress Marissa Chibas traveled to Cuba on research trips, interviewed Cuban nationals in Miami and studied U.S. State Department files on her uncle while also studying in depth the history of Cuba and her family’s place in it.
“It’s easy for people to think Africans can’t tell their own stories. This is an opportunity to tell a story the way we want to tell it,” says Isango’s co-music director Mandisi Dyantyis.
From comedy and drama to musicals and dance, Chicago’s stages are alive with vibrant productions.
Kate Fry captures the rage and the vulnerability of a 15th century woman raising a saint.
Diehard fans of royal pomp and circumstance may find some pleasure here. But I suspect they already have the superior version of this story on their DVD shelves at home.
The Tony Award-winning musical will play the Lyric Opera House in December.
Director Jim Corti goes for realism as much as he can and succeeds much of the time.
Promising programs also on the way from CSO, Music of the Baroque, Chicago Sinfonietta and others.
The season offers a “Jane Eyre” ballet, a Lar Lubovitch tribute and an all-night event in a park.
It’s also the time of year for Destinos: Chicago International Latino Theatre Festival.
The playwright’s docudrama at the Goodman Theatre emerges as his most personal and most groundbreaking.
Though the events portrayed in “The King’s Speech” occurred more than 80 years ago, the play is more topical today than anyone could have anticipated.
During the 10 to 12 weeks the show is in rehearsals, the cast is essentially workshopping new material nightly, often based off director Ryan Bernier’s homework assignments.
To mount the show, which dramatizes the clandestine back-channel diplomacy that led to the historic 1993 Israeli-Palestinian Oslo peace accord, TimeLine is working with quadruple its normal budget and has swapped its Lake View storefront for the 550-seat Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place.