The Real Rydell High
Eight Forty-Eight interviews Jim Jacobs, Chicagoan and co-author of Grease, about the real-life events that birthed the musical.
Eight Forty-Eight interviews Jim Jacobs, Chicagoan and co-author of Grease, about the real-life events that birthed the musical.
Did you know that Grease was based on Chicago's Taft High School in the late '50s?
The House Theatre has pulled out all the stops in its latest appeal letter, alerting fans that it may be about to cancel its next show. (The same letter also warns that Chicago may become *** dun dun dun*** St. Louis with a lake, if The House ceases to exist.)
The arrival of Steppenwolf playwright Tracy Letts' August: Osage County at the National Theater in London has made the British realize their common bonds with Chicago's theater scene, notably the "quality of the right to fail." Hmph.
Chicago politicos aren't the only Chicagoans getting national coverage these days. Exhibit A: theater director David Cromer's profile in the NY Times.
The Addam's Family musical will debut at the Oriental Theater in November 2009. It hasn't been cast yet, but Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth have participated in readings as Gomez and Lurch. Just kidding. Obviously, the lovely and pale Ms. Neuwirth was born to play Morticia.
Co-founder and chief choreographer of Chicago's internationally-renowned Joffrey Ballet passed away earlier today at the age of 86.
If the drama in Washington and comedy of the election just aren't enough politics for you, Theater Oobleck has a little more for you. Catch The Trojan Candidate, which imagines that Dick Cheney is a virus from outer space. Yes. It runs through Election Eve, Nov. 3.
Chicago Magazine interviews nine veterans of the Chicago stage.
The Reader has a great excerpt from a book by Tim Reid and Tom Dreesen about their experiences as the first black-and-white stand-up team.
Stir-Friday Night, Chicago's longstanding Asian-American improv troupe, debuted Horry Kow, That's Lacist! last Friday at Donny's Skybox Theatre in Pipers Alley, if you couldn't guess from the title, it touches on the infamous Fukudome shirts and other subtle and not-so-subtle forms of racism.
After winning Pulitzer, Tony and Drama Desk awards for August: Osage County, Steppenwolf playwright Tracy Letts has a new reason to celebrate: the play is going to the silver screen.
Jam Productions has acquired the long-shuttered Uptown Theater for $3.2 mil in a foreclosure sale, as reported by Crain's. (Thanks to Uptown Update for the tip.)
The City Council deferred action on Alderman Brendan Reilly's plan for an exemption to the smoking ban for live theater, meaning that Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons still don't get their smokes.
The Chicago Examiner looks at the top five moments in Annoyance Theater history. Yes, Co-Ed Prison Sluts is on the list.
Tracy Letts' latest play is a far cry from his award-winning August: Osage County, but that doesn't mean it's not enjoyable.
The production of "Ragtime" set to be performed in Wilmette's Gillson Park was cancelled two weeks before opening due to concerns over its racially charged language.
My favorite time of the year starts tonight, when the Neo-Futurists kick off their annual "film fest" of staged readings of classic (and not-so-classic) bad films. Tonight's premiere reading is of the classic beach party flick Beach Blanket Bingo, which will feature Chicago dance troupe The Revelettes. For a complete film fest schedule and to get tickets please visit the Neo-Futurist Website.
Tonight at ROOMS Gallery's monthly Salon, there will be theatre, film, burlesque, music and, um, clowning, all for just $3.
Chicago theaters kicked major ass at tonight's Tonys awards ceremony, with Steppenwolf's August: Osage County winning several awards for Best Play, Best Leading Actress, Best Director, Best Featured Actress, and Best Scenic Design. Chicago Shakespeare Theater also took home a regional Tony last month. Congrats!
Wicked just celebrated its third (and supposedly, final) anniversary in Chicago. Arrive "GREEN-ified" (i.e., dressed all witchy-like) at Millennium Park on June 24th, 11 a.m., to celebrate. No word on where the party will be next year, after a giant, falling house saves us all from another year of the show.
Another Belushi, Jim's son Rob, joins the line of entertainers from that famous Chicago family. But this one is going for the dramatic roles, currently rehearsing for The Lion In Winter in Glencoe's Writer's Theater.
Just got word that TJ Miller is the secret guest star at the Chicago Underground Comedy show at the Beat Kitchen tonight at 9pm. Just $5!
"Paul was the Orson Welles of improv," says Jeffrey Sweet.
Chicago's very own Miss Exotic World, Michelle L'Amour, is opening her own dance school later this month. Studio L'Amour will focus mostly on burlesque, offering beginning through advanced classes--and even classes for men.
The Chicago Improv Festival begins tomorrow and runs through Sunday, bringing some of the finest names in comedy, such as 30 Rock's Jack McBrayer, John Lutz and Scott Adsit, as well as Human Giant's Paul Scheer, to Lakeshore Theater for a series of nightly shows that will certainly entertain.
After 22 years of productions, the Chicago Shakespeare Theater has earned the 2008 Tony Award for excellence in regional theater. It's the fourth Tony for best regional theater given to a Chicago establishment -- more than any other city. Bravo!
Just got word from Theater Oobleck that their remount of The Strangerer (the melding of a Bush/Kerry 2004 Presidential debate with Camus' novel) has been extended through June 29. If you want to see the play that the Reader called "unpredictable, hilarious, and provocative," check out the Theater Oobleck Website for full details.
The Steppenwolf Theater's production of August: Osage County, written by Tracy Letts and a big hit on Broadway, picked up seven Tony Award nominations. The Chicago Shakespeare Theater received the 2008 Tony Award for excellence in regional theater.
Only two days remain in the Dance Movie Blogathon! Learn yourself all about David Bowie's footwork in Labyrinth, Kevin Bacon's prototypical Angry Young Dancer ("I'm so angry I'm dancing up against backlit silo walls") -- and so very much more. [via]
If you're planning to buy tickets for the May 14 Flight of the Conchords performance at the Chicago Theater, you're out of luck: tickets went on sale today, and sold out in less than one hour.
Spring is in the air, and The Chicago Gay Men's Chorus are back with an all-American show! Titled "Apple Pie," the chorus' tribute to Americana will be performed the first weekend in April at the Athenaeum Theatre. Details in Slowdown.
American Girl Place will be canceling its run of the The American Girls Revue theater show as of September 1, citing a need to find "new entertaining experiences for our guests." As if creepy, overpriced plastic dolls and their endless accessories weren't entertaining enough.
Chicagoans Mark Hollmann and Greg Kotis will follow-up their distinctively-monikered, Tony Award-winning stage musical Urinetown with another eye-catchingly named musical, Yeast Nation. The story takes places in the year 3,000,458,000 B.C. The show will have its Chicago premier as part of the America Theater Company's 2008-09 season.
This afternoon, the cruel overlords at Chicago Sketchfest gave teams of performers a mere 8 hours in which to write, direct and rehearse an entire 30-minute sketch show. Tonight, see what the teams cooked up: Octasketch, 8pm at Theatre Building Chicago; tickets are $5.
As noted in this week's GB Podcast and posted below, tonight is the start of the Chicago Sketchfest. The Bastion is a good resource for knowing what's worth seeing.
Wicked, which celebrated its 1000th show at the Oriental Theatre in November, grossed $1.4 million between Dec. 24 and Dec. 30, breaking two box office records: its own and Chicago's.
The seventh annual Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival opens tonight, showcasing the best in sketch comedy from around Chicago and across the globe (actually just the US and Canada). Check out the full schedule and randomly select a wacky-sounding ensemble to see. The festival runs through January 13 at Theatre Building Chicago, 1225 W. Belmont. For ticket info, call the box office at (773) 327-5252.
The Bicycle Men, a sketch comedy show featuring native Chicagoan Dan Castellaneta, begins a promising four-day run at the Lakeshore Theater tonight
Chicago Classical Music recently revamped their site and is promoting it with a contest for free tickets and other swag. Log in as a registered user before the 19th to be eligible to win.
Be one of those people who can say "I saw them back in the day," and go check out the Fowler Family Radio Hour's Christmas season shows. This isn't your parents' variety hour, primarily because Charo is not involved. It's performance, interactivity, character development and ab-workout hilarious, with the added benefit of also letting you laugh at rubes. Get down to the Skybox on Wells and meet the Fowlers.
HollywoodChicago.com has a good interview with actor and "SNL" writer Kevin Dorff, who's back in town along with Horatio Sanz and a few other veterans of the Chicago improv scene for a show at the Lakeshore Theater Tuesday night.
August: Osage County, the critically acclaimed play by Chicagoan Tracy Letts, has moved from Steppenwolf to Broadway. Unfortunately, Broadway stagehands went on strike this weekend, shutting down the New York theatre scene. They're in negotiations.
Two Chicago-area theater companies high-tailed it to New York City this week to perform at 59E59, a theater complex in Manhattan that aims to present new, challenging work. The Hypocrites are presenting Sean Graney's The 4th Graders Present an Unnamed Love-Suicide, last performed in 2004, and Writers' Theatre is staging its own Crime and Punishment. The performances are part of 59E59's "Go Chicago!" series, and Tribune columnist Chris Jones says this might be part of a trend to bring more Chicago theater eastward.
Inspired by My Kid Could Paint That (the documentary of a father who sold his four year-old daughter's paintings for big bucks), the what-is-art debate rages amongst Chicago's storefront theater intelligentsia over at the blog Angry White Guy. You can still catch the film in Wilmette and rue your own unappreciated kinder-masterpieces, or see Mr. Fluxus at The Neo-Futurarium and decide whether you agree with Yoko Ono's take on art.
Come see Craig Anton, a founding member of MadTV and Ron Lynch (Tom Goes to Mayor, Sarah Silverman Program) duke it out as Watson and Crick's less brilliant children in the comedy show The Idiots, which is at Lakeshore Theater (Belmont and Broadway) tonight at 8:00 p.m. Click here for tickets.
Crain's has a nice profile of Chicago theater impresario Steve Traxler and the gamble he's taking bringing a challenging, but acclaimed, Steppenwolf show to New York's Broadway.
My biggest geek element is my undying love of Mystery Science Theater 3000. That said, the apex of the series was its amazing send-up of the movie, Manos: Hands of Fate. It's so bad, and yet feels so good. If you share my love of all things Torgo, you'll be pleased as punch to learn that the New Millennium Theatre Company is currently showing their satirical production of Manos: Rock Opera of Fate. The show will be playing through Nov. 3, and you can learn get tickets online or at 312-458-9083. I went last night, and let me just say: whoa.
On Oct. 27/28, people around the world will do the "Thriller" dance en masse simultaneously in an effort to break the world record (yes, there's a world record for this.) The local contingent is organizing now.
The Sox tanked, the Cubs are done and the Bears are shaky. Well here you go sports fans: the new chicken wing eating champion of the world is Chicago's own Patrick "Deep Dish" Bertoletti! Congrats man.
The Chicago Theatre may soon be in the company of Madison Square Garden and Radio City Music Hall, given the completion of its proposed sale to Madison Square Garden Entertainment.
The House Theater has lost its lease at the hangar-like Viaduct Theatre on Western and must find other digs after its current show closes next month. Fortunately, the critical darlings' next show will be staged at Steppenwolf, and The Sparrow remount is still going strong at the Apollo. The House probably won't be homeless for long.
Found in the Library of Congress: The Public Dance Halls of Chicago, published by the Juvenile Protective Association in 1917. (Thanks, Erin!)
This sweet story about an elderly magician whose wife takes in a young stray (who then becomes the magician's apprentice) is brought to by super-creative storytelling that features a trio of clown-stagehands, dreams projected on video, and (not least) a host of stunning magic tricks and illusions. It's everything theater should be: emotional, inspiring, wonder-inducing. The Magnificents should not be missed (closes Nov. 2).
Steppenwolf's current production, August: Osage County, has not suffered from lack of praise, including this glowing review from the front page The New York Times Arts section last week. The play is set to close this Sunday, but not forever. The whole show, lock, stock and barrel, is heading to Broadway for a 16-week engagement. Previews start at the Imperial Theatre on October 20.
Chicago comic Kumail Nanjiani's autobiographical show, "Unpronounceable," which follows his life from his childhood in Karachi, Pakistan to college in rural Iowa, plays the Lakeshore Theater on Friday. His July show sold out, so you may want to buy your tickets ahead of time. Details in Slowdown.
Upright Citizens Brigade, the comedy improv troupe with roots in Chicago, will be coming back home for "UCB Presents," a weekly performance at the Lakeshore Theater. Teams from the Los Angeles and New York UCB theaters will perform each Tuesday, kicking off with ASSSSCAT, UCB's signature show, on September 11. Also in the works is an UCB improv training program (because Chicago doesn't have enough of them).
Smutty, Tony-winning puppet show "Avenue Q" is finally coming to Chicago...for only two weeks. Their national tour hits the Cadillac Palace from May 27 to June 7, 2008, even though other cities get longer engagements. I guess the organizers don't understand Chicago's love for dirty words and googly eyes.
As good Chicagoans, we're all familiar with the deadly 1995 heat wave and Eric Klinenberg's lauded book on the subject. But what if we want to watch a play of it? Pegasus Players have our backs. PS If you're not a good Chicagoan, here's an interview with Klinenberg for some background.
Audience response to August: Osage County, a new Steppenwolf play by ensemble member Tracy Letts, has been across the board extraordinary and glowingly positive. Go see what all the fuss is about tomorrow night, when Theater Thursdays hosts a reception (Goose Island beer, snacks and discussion included) before the show. $35.
Neo-Futurist playwright Sean Benjamin recently received 21 packets of taco sauce for two tacos from the Taco Bell drive-thru. Then he wrote a play about it. Now he wants your help collecting one million condiment packets for his Condimentometer project. Because why the hell not? You have more condiment packets than you could ever possibly use, right? Bring (or mail) your packets to the Neo-Futurarium at 5153 N. Ashland, 60640, and be a part of something big and meaningless.
Looking for something a little different this weekend? How about a hula hoop dance party in Millennium Park? HooperPower and Chicago Hoopdance are celebrating World Hoop Day with an interactive performance tomorrow night from 7 to 9pm. Grab a hula hoop and join in for free!
If you have a hankerin' for counter-culture theater, you may want to see Mary-Arrchie's performance of two Sam Shepard plays, "4-H Club" (1965) and Cowboy Mouth (1971). If you're interested, here's a review of the current production and some fascinating background (and a spoiler) on the latter play, which was co-written with Patti Smith.
Celebrate this milestone in the life of ComedySportz by attending a special line-up of shows from July 13-28. A highlight includes the "Funniest Friend Contest." To learn more, visit CSz Chicago.
We just got a note from Bloody Belle of the Girlie-Q Variety Hour, letting us know that the infamous queer burlesque and variety show is no more. Is the timing coincidental to its usual home, the Hothouse, being in danger of losing its lease? Maybe, but more importantly Belle is moving to New York. She says a couple of performers, Backdoor Aly and Mae the Bellydancer, may be planning a new show, possibly to run in Hamburger Mary's upstairs cabaret. Stay tuned, and keep your eye on Ray's Guide for your general burlesque news.
Just what it sounds like: a production of Macbeth put on by a bunch of clowns (three, to be exact--not sure where the other 497 are), and yet these bumbling, stumbling, profoundly earnest jokers manage to convey the major themes of Shakespeare's masterpiece. Terrific fun for adults as well as kids. Visit the Steppenwolf website for the schedule and to buy tickets.
Suspicious Clowns 9 is the current show at the Live Bait Theater and I hear it's good. Quite good. The Reader approves too. Friday and Saturdays all through June.
The 2006-07 Jeff Citations ceremony was held last night, honoring some of the best work in the city's vast non-union theater scene. The big winner of the night was The House Theatre of Chicago, with seven wins for the much-loved The Sparrow, followed by Bohemian Theatre Ensemble's Side Show with five, and TimeLine's Fiorello! and Eclipse's Blues for an Alabama Sky with four each. Full list of nominees and winners here.
This week marks the start of the 55th season of Theater on the Lake, the Chicago Park District's program of re-mountings of great theatrical shows from the last year or so. This year they'll be putting on nine shows in nine weeks, and the schedule has something for everyone: a Second City revue; Gorey Stories, the musical based on Edward Gorey books; a Stephen Sondheim tribute; and Rodgers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma! See the Theater on the Lake schedule for more information.
Theatre, meet Radio: Chicago Public Radio's Sylvia Ewing has joined Steppenwolf as producer of "cultural intersections." The new position will oversee such projects as the CPR-Steppenwolf "Traffic" series of live performances recorded for radio, for which Ewing was one of the producers.
Do you enjoy theater? Do you have extra bananas? Friend, you are in luck! Because a banana will get you a half-price ticket to "Poker Night at the White House," the mostly true and mostly hilarious story of how Warren G. Harding was the worst president ever...so far. It's got a life-size Harding puppet and H.L. Mencken. Also, there is a gorilla. The show runs through May 26 at the Neo-Futurarium, 5153 N. Ashland. Call 773-275-5255 for reservations.
Estrogen Fest 2007: Back on the Fringe starts its 10-day lady-made extravaganza of performance/dance/theater/music/vaudeville/etc. Wednesday night at Prop Thtr., 3502 N. Elston. Watch people do stuff in the performances and panels, learn to do stuff in the workshops, and buy stuff at the craft fair (curated by DIY Trunk Show and featuring GB staffer Cinnamon Cooper). The All Est Fest Pass is $50, but you can see individual events for various prices.
Tracy Letts, currently starring in Steppenwolf's Betrayal, weighs in on the company's blog with a very funny reprimand to "the 1%" of audience members who behave badly. I think he's being generous.
Acclaimed monologuist David Kodeski brings his acclaimed monologue "Another Lousy Day" to life again this week at Live Bait Theater. The funny and heartfelt piece, based on diaries Kodeski found in a Clark Street thrift shop, details the daily life of a South Side Zenith factory worker in the early 1960s. Showtimes are Thursday and Friday nights at 8; tickets are $30 and proceeds will help Kodeski produce the show for the 4th International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival. Call (773) 871-1212 for reservations.
Amsterdam-based troupe Boom Chicago is headlining at the 10th Annual Chicago Improv Festival tonight. Friends and fans of Quimby's may be interested to hear that store founder Steven Svymbersky, who left Chicago 10 years ago to work with the troupe, will be with them, and plans to spend all day Saturday at Quimby's. Stop by and say howdy! He'd love to see all his old pals and gals.
With all of the hubbub about the Olympics, there's an argument that sports shouldn't get all of the attention. In a city currently alive with Version>07, and soon to have Artropolis going too, art should also be at the forefront. Tribune art critics provide a few conceptions of how art could work with the Olympics.
The $21 billion sale of LaSalle Bank to Bank of America is a relatively small part of one of the largest financial mergers ever by LaSalle's soon-to-be-former parent company. Global implications, yadda yadda. I'm more concerned with speculating how the deal will affect our civic life: will BoA close some superfluous branches, thereby freeing up some storefronts for businesses that are actually useful and enjoyable? Seriously, Chicago is drowning in bank branches. And what's the fate of the LaSalle Bank Cinema, or the only-christened-last-May LaSalle Bank Theatre? "Bank of America Theatre"? Gross.
What musical shall replace the horrible middle-aged vacuum left by the departure of "Menopause: The Musical"? Never fear! Because "Hats: A New Musical For the Rest of Your Life" is here. This Red Hat-sanctioned show opens at the Royal George on 4/20. And you know it's gonna be good, because some of the show was written by the chick who penned the Bette Midler hit "The Rose."
From the establishment of the Hull House Theater to the World's Columbian Exposition, the Sun Times lists their take on "The 50 Greatest Chicago Moments."
The final installment of the Chicago Opera Theater's Claudio Monteverdi series, The Return of Ulysses, is earning strong reviews, including accolades for Rafael Viñoly's minimal set design. There are three performances remaining, so get hoppin'.
Victory Gardens Theater announced this morning this year's celebrity playwrights for its annual Chicago Stories benefit. Sun-Times entertainment columnist Bill Zwecker, retired Tribune theater critic Richard Christiansen (also author of A Theater of Our Own, the definitive history of Chicago theater), and the husband and wife team of Attorney General Lisa Madigan and New Yorker cartoonist Pat Byrnes (writing a musical, no less!) will each author a ten-minute play to be directed by VGT artistic director Dennis Zacek. This year's class joins such illustrious (and often first-time) playwrights as John Mahoney, Phil Jackson, Mike Royko, Carol Mosely-Braun and Jesse Jackson—last year's writers were Rick Bayless, Alpana Singh, and Tribune columnist Rick Kogan. The benefit is May 4; see Slowdown for details.
There was a Stella Yelling Contest, and Phil Wackerfuss won it.
Someone smart at the Tribune asked its arts and architecture critics what prompted them to reevaluate artists in their disciplines. Some second looks include the Trap Door Theatre, William McDonough and Walker Evans.
More than 40 of Chicago's top storytellers -- along with some DJs, live music, and lots of vino -- converge on the top floor of Webster's Wine Bar for Serendipity Theater Collective's second annual 2nd Story: Story, Wine & Music Festival, April 26-May 13. Each night centers around a different topic, like community, fear, heartbreak, or learning from strangers, with a handful of monologists taking the stage throughout the night as patrons enjoy food, sponsored wine flights, and music. Tickets go on sale March 15.
The Viola Project (named for Twelfth Night's cross-dressing heroine) is the braindaughter of Reina Hardy and Ellie Kaufman, two local actors who noted the disparity between the number of young girls interested in theater and the number of female characters to play. So the team decided to get girls aged 8-18 interested in Shakespeare by letting them play all the roles, even Hamlet. Coming up this spring, there's a day-long Antony and Cleopatra workshop in April, a "Sonnet Slam" in May, and a week-long MacBoot Camp in June culminating in a performance of the Scottish Play.
The Italian marionette performance company Carlo Colla e Figli begins its run of "Marionette Macbeth" at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Tuesday. Additional details are available in Slowdown.
No more waiting around outside for your cheap tickets. Hot Tix, the half-price ticket agency run by the League of Chicago Theaters, now offers ticket sales online.
Written by Paula Kamen and directed by Elizabeth Schwan-Rosenwald, this play examines Chicago's legendary underground feminist abortion service, based on original interviews with women who ran and used it. The production runs until March 24 at the 20% Theatre Company.
Lookingglass Theatre's signature work, the circus-inspired Lookingglass Alice, is playing in New York as part of an East Coast tour before returning to Chicago this summer. The Times likes it, mostly. Watch the video preview here.
Barrel of Monkeys, the theater company that conducts writing workshops with Chicago Public Schools kids and performs their work for adoring audiences of all ages, is adding some extra afternoon performances to its long-running show. Now if you don't feel like trekking to the theater on Monday nights, you can catch That's Weird, Grandma for the next six Saturday afternoons, Feb. 17 - March 24, at 2 p.m. at the Neo-Futurarium, 5153 N. Ashland. Ten bucks for adults, five bucks for kids. Fun for the whole family!
Do you have a love of local theater, some spare time, and mad fundraising or networking skills? The Neo-Futurists are looking for a few good board members who are "ready to rock, albeit in a prudent and fiscally sound way while keeping constant sight of your fiduciary responsibilities." Send a note to development director Ian Belknap (development-at-neofuturists-dot-org) to request an application.
While Mayor Daley prepares for another term in office, his late father, Mayor Richard J. Daley, lives on at the Prop Theater -- through the medium of actor/writer Neil Giuntoli. Hizzoner, the award winning play about the "Boss" is extending its run until May 13th of this year.
The Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation just completed its Chicago Region Arts Scan, a major research report surveying all non-profit arts organizations in the Chicago region in 2006. In addition to being a comprehensive directory, the report provides especially fascinating information pertaining to the growth, location, composition and funding of these organizations.
Mayor Daley laid out his spread for the traditional friendly wager between mayors of Super Bowl cities today, and it's a doozy. Daley's not worried, though, warning Indy mayor Bart Peterson that he's won bets with the mayors of five other cities in the last year and a half. While we wait for Peterson to ante up, the cities' theaters are getting in on the action as well. Bailiwick artistic director David Zak announced a bet with Bryan Fonseca of Indianapolis's Phoenix Theatre: ten tickets to Bailiwick's upcoming US premiere of Jerry Springer: The Opera if the Colts win, and ten comps to Phoenix's world premiere And Her Hair Went With Her for a Bears win.
Steppenwolf held a press conference this morning to announce the addition of six new members to its ensemble. Alana Arenas, Kate Arrington, Ian Barford, Jon Hill, Ora Jones, and James Vincent Meredith bring some much-needed youth (Hill, who last appeared in The Unmentionables, is a senior at the University of Illinois, and Arenas and Arrington are under 30) and color (Arenas, Hill, Jones and Meredith join K. Todd Freeman, the one existing ensemble member of color) to the increasingly gray institution. The Steppenwolf ensemble now totals 41 members, though many (cough Joan Allen cough) rarely return to the theater.
This show, put on by a troupe from Amsterdam, has it all: break-dancing, acrobats, a hip-hop DJ, a human beatbox who rivals the DJ, and world-champion roller bladers. In a 70-minute production, you chuckle or your breath is taken away at least every five minutes. Perfect if you have a kid to entertain this weekend. (Even if the kid's your inner child.) Closes Sunday, 28 Jan. Tickets are available from the Chicago Children's Theater.
We told you in November about the 365 Days/365 Plays project, in which 52 theater companies are performing 365 short plays by Pulitzer winner Suzan-Lori Parks. The list of participating companies ranges from the traditional big guns (Goodman, Steppenwolf) to the tiny and/or unconventional like Soul Theatre and 500 Clown. Teatro Vista brings us week eleven, with performances (in mixed Spanish and English) tomorrow night at the Hungry Brain and Saturday night at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church; next week The Mill Theatre incorporates their seven plays into their Et Cetera performance festival. See 365 Chicago for the full calendar.
Instead of kvetching in vain, check out The Assassins. This Stephen Sondheim show produced by the Porchlight Theatre depicts (in song!) the complicated lives of presidential assassins. Go to the show, which runs through March 11 -- but don't get too many "ideas," if you know what we mean.
Local interdisciplinary theater company Striding Lion InterArts Workshop is looking for 2-D artists to create backdrops for its upcoming production of "Gerrymander," a spaghetti western about the 2003 Republican redistricting in Texas. According to the curator, Jessica Lucas, "Mostly this will be landscape-based work, but all this is open to interpretation of landscape and I hope to find work that is multi-media and unconventional in its use of the 'landscape'." Selected artists will get $50 for supplies plus half of the proceeds when their work is auctioned off by the theater. If you're intrigued, drop Jessica a line at lacgallery-at-yahoo-dot-com by Jan. 23.
This innovative theatre group is at it again. Opening on February 9 is Once Upon a Time written by local author Joe Meno. This show, which will be presented in an "elaborately crafted toy theater" runs Feb. 3 through April 8 at Redmoon Central, 1463 W. Hubbard St. Get tix now.
Just in case you struggle with matching numbers up to real life, I thought I'd help you out a bit. 20% of working theater folks are female. There are a lot more people behind the scenes than there are on stage, remember. And since that just isn't right, Elizabeth Schwan-Rosenwald and Abigail Boucher created 20% Theater Company Chicago (based off 20% Theater Company in New York City) to try to even out those numbers a bit. You can support them tonight, in fact.
The Tribune offers a fine selection of art exhibits worth checking out in the coming months, including some out-of-the-way gems. Other informative prospective pieces include features about architecture, dance, and jazz, to name a few.
Hizzoner, the play, has been running at the Prop Thtr on Elston since springtime. Marking the 30th anniversary of his death, Weekend Edition runs an excerpt of Neil Giuntoli's rendition of Richard J. Daley.
It's a big weekend for the Neo-Futurists. Their current prime time show, Drag, has its final weekend, and they begin their annual two weeks of greatest hits from their long-running show Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind. So if you like either drag shows or compilations of really good (but really short) plays, you know where to go.
Everyone's favorite discount ticket outlet, Hot Tix, is going online! Right now, they're just offering online tix for a few shows, but they're adding more in the next few months. Let the impulse buying begin!
Playwright Suzan-Lori Parks wrote 365 short works in one year and starting, er, yesterday, 52 theater companies are going to perform them all -- each is performing seven of the plays over the course of a week. Andersonville's Dog and Pony Theatre is first in line; check here for the full schedule. And, for more on the genesis of the project, there's this recent profile of Parks from the New Yorker.
Fancy an evening of dance, anyone? The Dance Chicago Festival, which runs through December 3rd, showcases more than 26 innovative performances from some of the city's best dancers and choreographers. The New Moves Festival, one of the 10 programs of the festival, is something to see. I especially enjoyed the Gus Giordano breakdancers, who stole Friday night's show. The Director's Choice program, which features the best performances from the New Moves Festival, takes place on November 17th and 18th.
Chopin Theatre is in the midst of I-Fest, its annual international solo theatre series. As a special offer to GB readers, the first 10 people to call or email and include the message "Gapers Block has me covered" will get a pair of tickets to this Sunday's performance of Windows, or Must We Imagine Bill Gates Happy? for free! (If you speak German, you might also be interested in Clemons Schick's performance Saturday in his native language.)
While we begin shiver season, the Star and Garter Burlesque crew takes it off and yukks it up. Check out their striptease act, featuring "America's Got Talent" semi-finalist Michelle L'Amour, plus some of the funniest stand-ups in Chicago. Star and Garter is putting on their show every Thursday in November at Fizz. It's just $10. Get tix here.
Dance Chicago -- a month-long festival celebrating Chicago's dance companies -- kicks off this weekend at the Athenaeum Theatre in Lakeview. Tickets are typically $20 or less and the shows (every weekend in November and some weeknights) offer a unique opportunity to survey a broad swath of the local dance scene for cheap. Some performances are highlighted in Slowdown, but click here for the complete schedule.
Mother Courage makes a fortune selling shoes, blankets and assorted geegaws during the Thirty Years War, but loses her children and her heart in the process. Vitalist Theatre's production of Brecht's meditation on war and capitalism seems timely, and is surprisingly entertaining. The show has been extended until Sunday, November 5. Tickets will set you back $20, but Hot Tix has discounted seats.
Going to a play is usually hit-or-miss; even when you attend a performance by one of Chicago's celebrated companies, the script might be a dud, or the acting uneven. ShawChicago, though, is always a sure thing. They do only a handful of shows a year, and most are staged readings, but the plays (since they're by George Bernard Shaw) are guaranteed terrific--smart and funny--and the performances are so consistently skilled that you forget you're not watching a fully staged production. See for yourself: You Never Can Tell is at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts until next Monday.
Now that the Sears Centre is officially open, the Daily Herald offers a review of its first night in action, and the Sun Times and the Trib provide some background.
More in today's NYTimes on Charles Isherwood's recent Chicago visit: he notes the unlikely, informal William Inge festival comprising Shattered Globe's recently closed Come Back, Little Sheba and American Theatre Company's The Dark at the Top of the Stairs.
If you do like Robert Fall's King Lear, then you might also like TUTA's Tracks, a series of violent vingettes about kids growing up during the Balkan war, which are tied together with eerily vacant American pop songs. The show runs through October 29th at the Viaduct Theater.
NYTimes theater critic Charles Isherwood made another of his periodic Chicago visits, this time for a tale of two Shakespeares; surprising himself, he found he preferred Robert Falls' "aggressively raunchy, excruciatingly violent" King Lear (which closes this Sunday) to Chicago Shakes' "studiously tasteful, perfectly bland" Hamlet. (Perhaps he should have opted for Tiny Ninja Hamlet?) Speaking of excruciating violence, The House Theatre of Chicago's Shakespeare-inflected Hatfield and McCoy also closes this Sunday and is similarly not to be missed.
This Halloween season has plenty to offer the ghoul lurking inside of you. Unusual offerings include KFAR's Spookagogue Synagogue, the Apollo Theater's Haunting History, the Six Corners Monster Film Festival, and Ursula Bielski's Creepy Chicago Hauntings. Check slowdown for additional options.
A businessman crossing international borders is stopped by a customs agent; as he faces the agent's inquiries his virtual "data-body" becomes visible to the theater-goer: his fingerprint and personal data are projected on a monumental scale. See SUPER VISION tonight through Saturday at the MCA.
Dov Weinstein performs the Bard's most famous play at breakneck speed with the help of a hundred plastic ninjas, a robot, and other assorted dime-store figurines. Weinstein's ingenious staging is hilarious, if not exactly enlightening. Catch Tiny Ninja Hamlet through October 18th at the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre.
In July GB mentioned a Trib report that there were doubts that the skull enshrined at the Goodman Theatre is not actually the skull of improv legend Del Close. And today the Tribune follows up the earlier story with confirmation from Charna Halpern, executor of Close's will, that she tried to get Del's skull, but ultimately could not pull it off. So to speak.
Why not spend October with the sexy, funny folks from the Star and Garter Burlesque featuring Brandy's worst enemy, Miss Exotic World Michelle L'Amour! Check out their Halloween-themed show "Thriller! I Hardly Know Her" at Fizz on Thursdays at 9:00 pm. Just $10!
The Tribune offers some video of Chicago's latest dance craze, footworking. Not enough for you? Try YouTube or MySpace.
The theatrical genre of Sock Puppet returns with War Is Bad: Sock Puppet Euripides at the Hideout, 1354 W. Wabansia, tonight at 7pm. Is there any doubt that you should be there?
If you made it to the Bitch Magazine 10th Anniversary Party at the Hideout last night, you know how cool The Janes go-go dance troupe is. And even if you didn't, haven't you always wanted to learn how to dance like that? Well, you can: classes are Mondays and Tuesdays at the Flamenco Arts Center. $12 a class or six for $60; white boots not included.
You'd be a darn fool not to check out one of world-class dance performances in Chicago this weekend: Liz Lerman Dance Exchange presents the Chicago premiere of Ferocious Beauty: Genome, a multimedia docu-dance about genetics; UK-based choreographer Sue Davies collaborated with a linguist, a cardiothoracic surgeon, a landscape designer, and an architect on a new performance In Plain Clothes at the Dance Center; finally, catch Hubbard Street before they head off on tour: don't miss their fall season Global Tapestry at the Harris. See Slowdown for details on all three of these shows.
The Side Project describes their 43-seat theater in Rogers Park as "hyper intimate;" when I went to see The Cure at Troy there last Friday I was literally inches away from the actors. It was exhilarating. The play, an adaptation of Sophocles' Philoctetes by Seamus "I made Beowulf fun again" Heaney is about a guy with a smelly, gangrenous foot who gets duped out of his magic bow by Neoptolemus, son of Achilles. After realizing that he'd have to be a giant asshole to trick a crippled warrior out of a bow used to hunt food, Neoptolemus starts to feel really bummed out. But he takes it anyway. See Slowdown for details.
Improv Kitchen's new season starts today; reviews have been mixed in the past, but hopefully the new show irons out some of the kinks. UPDATE: The new "flagship" show, "The Unfinishe... Project," doesn't premier until Oct. 4.
Roustabout, the current prime-time show being presented by the Neo-Futurists, has had its run extended through October 14. Recommended by the Reader, Newcity and the Sun-Times, Roustabout takes as its basis a circus train wreck that occurred in Hammond, Indiana in 1914, and speculates on the lives of the performers that were killed in the wreck (with a dash of the self-aware commentary that Neo-Futurist productions are known for). Reservations are available through the Neo-Futurist Website.
With the nominations for the Jeff Awards announced last week, the Tribune's Chris Jones today addresses the elephant in the room—or perhaps, the lack of elephant: how did Steppenwolf, which spent its 30th anniversary season producing a slate of new plays by major authors ("more world premieres than any major theater in America last season," says Jones), come away with only one Jeff nomination?
We're in the midst of the Rhinoceros Theatre Festival, and I just want draw your attention to Gazooly, which stars a good friend of mine. Opens tonight at 9:30pm at the Prop Theater, 3502-04 N. Elston.
NPR's Present at the Creation provides unique insight to some Chicago-related icons. Our fair city pops up in some obvious place like Animal House, A Raisin in the Sun , and Nighthawks, but it's also there for Cracker Jacks!
Sun-Times theater critic Hedy Weiss, lambasted by the Dramatists Guild for reviewing (poorly) the Stages 2006 musical theater workshop at Theatre Building Chicago, gave her side of the story in a letter posted late yesterday on Romenesko. Weiss says she was expressly invited as a reviewer and given extensive press materials including photos for publication; she also says that both the Sun-Times and Tribune have reviewed Stages in the past, and suggests that trouble arose only because her review this year was negative and the Tribune's critic was on vacation. Meanwhile another Romenesko reader thinks that if the workshops were worth the "prime-ticket ticket pricing" of $85, they were worth being reviewed.
On August 16 Sun-Times theater critic Hedy Weiss published a piece reviewing the eight new musicals at Theatre Building Chicago's Stages 2006 festival. Trouble is, the musicals at Stages are presented in workshop, in the early stages (get it?) of development, and they're not meant to be reviewed as final products (TBC says Weiss was explicitly reminded of this). What's more, Weiss stated up front that she didn't see any of the new works in full. The review's ignited a firestorm of criticism in the national theater community, culminating in an open letter to the Sun-Times from the president of the Dramatists Guild demanding an apology, with supporting comments from a score of major playwrights.
We usually just let you know when the Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival is actively making people laugh, but check this out: the 2007 Festival is currently accepting applications for sketch group participation.
It's time for the New York International Fringe Festival, and as usual Chicago theater is well-represented in the 16-day festival. There are nine plays being performed in the Fringe festival by Chicago theater groups, from the well-established Neo-Futurists (whose founder, Greg Allen, is presenting his revue of lost Samuel Beckett works) to relatively young upstarts Don't Spit The Water. Alert your NYC hipster friends that they need to check out Chicago's finest in the festival, which runs through August 27.
The Bastion came to town earlier this summer (it's related to New York's Apiary) to cover the comedy and improv scene, and they're doing a heck of a job (and not in the GW Bush sense).
Know how to belly dance? The Lyric Opera wants you ...to audition for a role in an upcoming performance of Salome.
It's one of the great stories in recent Chicago theater history: Second City legend Del Close leaves his skull to the Goodman Theatre, on the condition that they use it in a production of Hamlet. But today the Tribune reports that the skull may not actually be his. Their evidence: the skull has more teeth than Close did when he died; the screws holding the skull together are rusty, indicating the skull is decades old; and the skull bears the markings of an autopsy that Close's body never had. Still, the story makes the point that it's the legend of Del Close's skull that's important to the theater, and the fact that Close did write the request in his will that makes the story memorable.
One thing you can say about the gays: we love our funny girls (and I don't mean Barbra). No surprise, then, that the Gay Games are bringing with them a cavalcade of comediennes. The next week finds shows around town by Margaret Cho, Sandra Bernhard, Kate Clinton, Suzanne Westenhoefer, and Mo'Nique, plus two nights of the triple-bill Queer Queens of Comedy (click links for Slowdown entries). If you prefer your gay comedy local (not to mention multi-gendered), check out GayCo's best-of show, just opened for a Gay Games run at the Theatre Building.
This American Life may be in New York, but host Ira Glass returns to Chicago next week to headline a benefit for The House Theatre of Chicago. Peter Sagal of Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me fame will be the MC of the event, compellingly titled The First Annual Gathering of The Secret Order of the Magic Pearl. Full details are available at The House Theatre's blog.
If you missed seeing the short works of Beckett performed in various nooks and crannies of the MCA last January, or Curious Theater Branch's continued celebration of Beckett this spring, you've got one more chance to catch Eh Joe, Play, Text for Nothing and other short plays when they are remounted this week at Theater on the Lake. See Slowdown for more details.
Chicago supports a dynamic community of theater companies who specialize in physical theater. What's that? Well, have a look for yourself: click here to see a clip of Plasticene's Palmer Raids, and here to see an exceprt from sprung theatre's capsize. If you like what you see, check out 500 Clown, The Building Stage, Kapoot, Lucky Plush, and Local Infinities, or sign up for a class at the Actor's Gymnasium.
On the Reader this week and online too: an excellent feature article on 4 Star Courier, a messengering service comprised of messengers who own, run and do business like it should be done. If you have any say in what company delivers your documents on time, consider 4 Star. They do excellent work.
The MCA recently announced their 2006-07 performance season. Highlights include Martha Graham Dance Company, in a rare Chicago appearance, and Blast Theory: Can You See Me Now?, an interactive chase game. Blast Theory runners on Chicago streets use GPS and cell phone technology to track players down.
About Face Theater announced today that their production of Mary Zimmerman's M. Proust will extend through July 16. The play is told from the privileged perspective of Celeste Albaret, Proust's housekeeper, sick nurse, and surrogate mother (creepy!). For more information, visit the website or read my full review.
The Neo-Futurist theater company have announced the lineup for what has become a hugely entertaining annual summer series: on-stage readings of bad film scripts (aka "It Came From The Neo-Futurarium!"). Highlights of this year's "films": a recreation of the 1978 classic "KISS Meets The Phantom of the Park"; a sci-fi double feature performed by the sketch comedy troupe Schadenfreude; and a tribute to the Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan debacle. See the full schedule and purchase tickets at the Neo-Futurists' Website. But hurry, because the film fest starts in just 2 weeks.
Commemorating its 50th anniversary, tomorrow the Joffrey Ballet kicks off a busy week of performances, dance instruction, workout sessions and other events, "Come Dance with Us." High points include free ballet and modern dance programs at the Harris Theater and Pritzker Pavillion, a late-night SummerDance session on the Chase Promenade, and numerous performances throughout Millennium Park by students associated with the Joffrey. Individual events are listed in Slowdown; click here for a complete schedule.
Chicago Plays, the theatre handbill published by the League of Chicago Theatres, will cease publication this August, leaving 190 theaters without a guide.
If you haven't seen the House Theatre's acclaimed show The Boy Detective Fails yet, here are a couple of enticements to persuade you to check it out: the Wes-Anderson-style film prologue that's shown before the start of the play; and news of an upcoming talkback with Chicago author Joe Meno, whose forthcoming novel is the basis of the play (details of the talkback event are in Slowdown).
The performance group Goat Island announced today that the show that they are currently creating will be their last. Members of the internationally renowned theater company, which has been creating work locally for 20 years, made the announcement at a work in progress showing of their yet to be named performance, which takes as its inspiration the Hagia Sophia, and other buildings which have served both secular and religious purposes over the course of their histories.
TUTA (Serbian for "chamberpot") is a theater company that has built a reputation locally for its visually stunning productions. TUTA now presents the American premiere of Huddersfield by Ugljesa Sajtiac, as part of a series of plays by a young generation of writers who grew up in the Balkans during the bloody 1990s. (In the fall, TUTA will produce Milena Markovic's Tracks). See Slowdown for details on the play and a related panel discussion.
The Duchess of Malfi may have been written by one of Shakespeare's contemporaries, but it's got a lot in common with The Sopranos. In an RSC production I saw a few years back, the Duchess found her husband and her children strung up on hooks in an industrial meat locker. No matter how Writers' Theatre chooses to present the play's thickly twisted plot, there's sure to be a lot of blood. Their new production opens tonight; see Slowdown for details.
It's drinking time again! A group of Neo-Futurist alumni is presenting the third version of the play Drinking and Writing, subtitled "To Cure A Hangover." Along with the play, which will be performed at bars around Chicago for the next few weeks, the Drinking and Writing team is putting together a pub crawl on Memorial Day to find a cure for the common hangover, and their second annual Drinking and Writing Festival on June 10, which will include readings, a two-drink-minimum writing contest, and lots of beer tasting. See Slowdown for all these events, and the Drinking and Writing Website for tickets.
If you're busing tables and saving your pennies while waiting for a call back from an audition, here's a chance to have a cheap night out. The first Sunday of every month, get tickets to the 7pm performance of Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blindfor $5 with proof of industry (such as a headshot or resume). The Neofuturists' signature show is in its eighteenth year. All other tickets are $7 plus the roll of a six-sided die.
After sampling scenes from Caffeine Theatre's repertory, free coffee gets you through Stage Left's late night symposium on political theater. By midnight, you've switched to booze and hit the dance floor, taking a break at 2am to try ceramics with a less-than-steady hand. The next morning, Industry of the Ordinary serves up pancakes, helping you get over your hangover. Are you imagining things or is your breakfast telling you that it loves you? At the 34-hour mark, the pancake cooks mount an expedition to climb the chimney. They hoist a flag and you cheer, shortly before passing out. See Slowdown for details on Hyde Park Art Center's opening event.
Get stuck in the Gold Coast during rush hour tonight, and you might just see performance artist Bill Shannon fly by on a skateboard, propelling himself forward with steel crutches. Shannon has been skating in traffic for 15 years, and now shares that experience with audiences at the MCA who will trail him in a CTA bus tricked out with video screens and a DJ. When asked how Chicago traffic compares to other cities, he noted that Windy City drivers tend to pass in the far right lane and drive really quickly due to the length of Chicago blocks and good visibility. See Slowdown for more details.
Art Chicago may have moved out of the park, but with the Nova Art Fair opening and the Version festival ongoing this weekend, there's no shortage of cool work to check out. This weekend you can see art raw in a converted warehouse in Bridgeport, or at Belmont on the train. You can see it in a bar, or in the suites of a hotel. You can even see it all night long.
Want a primer on fake hair, but aren't ready to commit to a full course? Head to Navy Pier Saturday evening for a free demonstration by Chicago Shakespeare Theater's wig and costume artists. It's part of a slew of free events being offered by the theater to celebrate its twentieth anniversary, though many (including this one) require reservations; see details in Slowdown.
DePaul University recently announced the creation of Wigs and Hair Chicago, a certificate program for those who'd like to learn how to make moustaches, side burns, and fancy hairdos for the stage.
If I had $45, I'm not sure that I would spend it on a ticket to The Golden Truffle, Redmoon's first "musical spectacle". But you might; previews start tonight. The steep price of admission includes a four-course truffle tasting menu from Lincoln Park based Vosges Haut-Chocolat. Goldstar Events and Hot Tix were both offering discounted tickets earlier this week.
The building at 2851 N. Halsted is the current home of ComedySportz; in its life as a theater since the 1970s, 2851 has been home to the St. Nicholas Players (founded by David Mamet and William H. Macy), Steppenwolf, and Organic-Touchstone. Next month it'll meet its final fate: the wrecking ball. 2851 and its surrounding buildings are being razed to make way for a 44-unit condo development, because we all know there's a shortage of new condo developments on the North Side. Read the eulogies by Chris Jones and Hedy Weiss, and consider attending the farewell party this Sunday; details in Slowdown.
The Sweetest Swing in Baseball, the first of three plays by Rebecca Gilman that Eclipse Theater stages this season, is not in fact about baseball, but about a visual artist who has a few choice things to say to her critics and art dealers when her work is panned. Needless to say, critical response to the play has been a bit prickly.
Experimental theater group Lucky Pierre has posted a working script of Rock & Roll: Impatience, a new performance about metal band AC/DC, on their website. The show previews later this month.
The Sun-Times reports on the completion of the 2006-07 Broadway in Chicago season. Besides the previously announced Color Purple tour and pre-Broadway Pirate Queen, the offerings range from fantastic (Cherry Jones in the Pulitzer-winning Doubt) to middling (Mamma Mia again? Really?) to frightening (Michael Crawford in concert to rechristen the LaSalle Bank Theatre). But here's the potentially best-worst: Linda Evans and Joan Collins reunite for the "backstage comedy" Legends! (exclamation point theirs). One can only hope for a catfight in the lily pond.
Considering that the new Broadway musical version of The Color Purple is directed by Chicago's own Gary Griffin (as first reported here three years ago), and the lead producer is named Oprah Winfrey, it's only natural that the show's national tour should start in Chicago, as the producers announced this weekend. The show will play a six-month run at the Cadillac Palace starting in April 2007 before taking off for other major cities, but as Chris Jones reports in the Trib, if sales are good it could leave an open-ended run here á la Wicked.
The Goodman Theatre launches its David Mamet Festival tonight with the opening of A Life in the Theatre, which runs through 9 April. The Festival also features Mamet’s Romance, coming on 17 March, three programs of one-acts, a children’s play, and—not least—a Mamet write-alike contest. Prizes include free theater tickets, so Mamet-loving playwrights should get busy…the deadline is 10 March.
Just heard from the Neo-Futurists: there are still a few slots available for their fundraising event, in which a group of participants get to put on their own version of the theater company's long-running show Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind. If you feel like turning the events of your own life into a play, and performing that play in front of your family and friends (for one night only), please see the DIY TML page on the Neo-Futurists' Website. But hurry, because the playwriting course starts a week from tonight!
The House Theatre, currently in the middle of staging Valentine Victorious (the third play in a time-travelling trilogy), suffered a setback this weekend when the writer and star of the show, Nathan Allen, broke his hand during Friday's show. He finished out the weekend, but it remains to be seen whether he'll need surgery or can finish out the run. Valentine Victorious runs at the Viaduct Theater through March 11; go and see for yourself whether Nathan is victorious!
Looks like the Steppenwolf has jumped on the blogging bandwagon.
The former Shubert Theater, the smallest (and formerly dingiest) of the downtown theaters, had been closed and remodeled for a fall reopening as the LaSalle Bank Theatre. Now the open is set for May, and builders are finding hidden treasures throughout, including a second level to the lobby.
New York Times theater critic Charles Isherwood checked in on Chicago last weekend, visiting the Goodman, Steppenwolf, and... the