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Column: What happened to theater in Chicago?
Theater in both Chicago and America has changed so much since 2019, it is almost unrecognizable. A long list of our storefront companies have closed.
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Phylicia Rashad will direct at Steppenwolf Theatre next season
The Tony Award winner will direct “Purpose” by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, about an Illinois family at the center of Black American politics.
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New 312 Comedy Festival is coming to Chicago this fall
Current headliners include Nate Bargatze, Russell Peters, John Crist and Nicole Byer.
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Goodman Theatre has next pre-Broadway musical: ‘Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil’
John Berendt's bestseller is set in Savannah, Georgia, and became a 1997 Clint Eastwood movie.
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Review: Steep Theatre’s ‘The Writer’ is a gutsy look at theater itself, as seen through a feminist lens
The unsparing British play by Ella Hickson is having its U.S. premiere in Chicago.
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2023 Equity Jeff Award nominations announced, with the Goodman at the top of the list
Nominations are in for this year’s 55th anniversary awards for Chicago-area theater.
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Review: ‘MJ the Musical’ in Chicago is a fabulous launch of the national tour
At the Nederlander Theatre in the Loop, the atmosphere was electric and the action on stage was halted several times for standing ovations.
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Review: ‘Next to Normal’ at Paramount Theatre is on a simpler stage but still rewarding
This musical is bold in theme and rewards those who see the show in an intimate space.
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Review: ‘Port of Entry’ by Albany Park Theater Project is a tribute to those who came first
If you go and see this show, you’ll never again travel through Albany Park without turning your head and looking up anew at its windows.
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Evanston native Jacqueline Williams stars in touring ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’: ‘We still need this story’
Jacqueline Williams is Calpurnia in the national tour of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” and the Evanston native still considers this story to be as important as ever.
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Review: ‘Back to the Future’ on Broadway races for jokes and leaves the story stranded
Frenetically paced, relentlessly comedic and visually chaotic, this show is aimed squarely at middle America. God bless it for that.
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Column: Paramount’s powerful ‘Next to Normal’ confronts mental illness and grief
Second Bold Series launches at Copley Theatre with a Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning rock musical that's hard to turn away from.
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‘The Notebook’ musical, born at Chicago Shakespeare, will open on Broadway in the spring
The new musical based on the 1996 Nicholas Sparks novel and the hit 2004 movie is New York-bound.
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Review: ‘Marie and Rosetta’ at Northlight Theatre takes an intimate look at the ‘Godmother of Rock ‘n’ Roll’
Sister Rosetta Tharpe's music and the story of her cherished relationship with Marie Knight are revived for a new generation at Northlight Theatre.
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Naperville’s North Central College announces its upcoming entertainment season with tickets now on sale
Tickets are on sale for North Central College’s upcoming performing arts season, which features a mixture of returning favorites and new performers, a variety of genres and talented college musicians, vocalists and actors.
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Review: Fun just oozes from ‘The SpongeBob Musical’ by Kokandy Productions
This is a show about never giving up. Sure, it’s geared toward kids, but not exclusively so.
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Becoming Michael: ‘MJ the Musical’ will star Roman Banks as the king of pop as tour launches in Chicago
“I want people who are fans of him to have a great time and I want people who never listen to Michael Jackson to have a great time."
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Review: This lovely outdoor ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ by Oak Park Festival Theatre adds some up-to-date casting
While changing little of the text, director Peter G. Andersen transforms several of the key relationships, shaking up the power dynamics and exploring complex layers in a play written more than 400 years ago.
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Review: In ‘Rock of Ages’ at Mercury Theater, knockout singers bring nothin’ but a good time
This show celebrates the power ballads, guitar-driven romps and heavy-metal masterworks of 1980s classic rock, god rest its soul.
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Review: ‘The Cottage’ on Broadway is a freewheeling farce that may not be for everyone
In essence, Sandy Rustin (known for ”Clue,” the play) has penned an ersatz version of a Noel Coward comedy, as retrofitted for today’s sensibilities.