The Chicago actor Fredric Stone spelled his first name in such a way as to confound careless critics and curse copy editors. "I used to tease him about that," said Chuck Stransky, a friend o…
Saturday "The American Revolution": Presented by Theater Unspeakable, seven actors share a small stage and re-create the entire fight from Lexington to Yorktown, using only their bodies and …
"A Shayna Maidel" âœâœâœâœ Barbara Lebow's 1980s play "A Shayna Maidel" is a much richer work than I ever realized, especially in director Vanessa Stalling's exquisitely acte…
On Thursday, Goodman Theatre announced the addition of "St. Nicholas" to its 2018-19 season. Directed by Simon Evans, the revival will star Brendan Coyle, who earned an Emmy nomination as Mr…
In Milan, she was dubbed "La Silicona." In New York, she gets paid to enter a room " lips first. In Chicago, Amanda Lepore landed at the airport in head-to-toe leopard print, right on time f…
When you consider that just a few months ago dancers of the Joffrey Ballet were standing at the lip of the Auditorium Theatre's stage in their underwear as part of Alexander Ekman's "Midsumm…
If you doubt that the ferocious passion of one gifted performer for one iconic role can propel an entire young cast to raise its game to the rafters, then you have not seen E. Faye Butler at…
On Wednesday, Steppenwolf for Young Adults announced full casting for its upcoming production of "We Are Proud to Present a Presentation About the Herero of Namibia, Formerly Known as South …
On Wednesday, Midsommer Flight announced casting for its upcoming production of "Twelfth Night," its annual "pay-what-you-can" holiday production. Ian Damont Martin, artistic associate with …
When the national tour of Jerry Zaks' hit Broadway revival of "Hello, Dolly!" arrives in Chicago next week, Betty Buckley will play the starring role of Dolly Gallagher Levi, the matchmaker …
On Tuesday, Aurora's Paramont Theatre announced casting for its production of "The Wizard of Oz." Elizabeth Stenholt will play Dorothy, while Kyle Adams stars as Scarecrow/Hunk; Carl Draper …
What's more dangerous than a heretic? A pagan. At least, that's the view propounded by Jan, the young Czech sorta-dissident in Tom Stoppard's 2006 "Rock 'N' Roll." First seen locally in 2009…
Every great city with a great ballet company deserves a great "Swan Lake," and until recently, Chicago didn't really have a full-scale production to call our own. Sure, the pre-professional …
On Monday, American Players Theatre announced its 40th summer season, which will run June 8 to October 6, 2019. It will be followed by a ninth show playing late October through November. Two…
With "Avenue Q" going gangbusters on his main stage, L. Walter Stearns of the Mercury Theater is stuffing a full-blown, surround-sound "Pippin" inside his spiffy new cabaret-and-cocktails sp…
As 50 percent of the Weather Girls, Martha Wash is a platinum-selling recording artist responsible not only for the iconic disco anthem "It's Raining Men" but also for many of the potent sou…
On Friday, Red Theater Chicago announced the cast for "An Oak Tree" by Tim Crouch. Directed by Jeremy Aluma and starring Gage Wallace, a different, second actor will join the cast during eac…
On Friday, Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre announced the cast for "The Full Monty," the first show in its new theater on Howard St. Founding artistic director Fred Anzevino will be stage directo…
I first saw Pearl Cleage's "Flyin' West," a potboiler of a show set in an all-black frontier town in 1898, in Montgomery, Ala. It was 1998 and Cleage " a prolific novelist as well as a playw…
Given it's in the 30s outside, all the sudden, is it not too soon to talk about the holidays? The city on Friday announced a schedule of holiday events for Millennium Park and the surroundin…
If break dancing and bossa nova had a baby, it might look something like the style of Ephrat Asherie Dance, which performs its evening-length Chicago debut titled "Odeon" through Saturday at…
On Thursday, Sideshow Theatre Company, in partnership with the Greenhouse Theater Center, announced casting for the world premiere of J. Nicole Brooks' " HeLa," directed by artistic director…
The U.S. airline industry " essentially an oligarchy " has come to love the word "discipline." Abandoning its past practice of adding competitive routes and bigger planes on a whim, the like…
On Thursday, Theatre at the Center announced castomg for its production of "Miracle On 34th Street: the Musical." Director Linda Fortunato has cast Roger Mueller as Kris Kringle, Stella Rose…
Friday "Masque Macabre": In this immersive theater piece, the handlers of a "bad boy" entrepreneur give him one last big bash before his past catches up to him. Through Oct. 31 at Strawdog T…