Light Opera Works News

BoHo Theatre will present the musical Kiss of the Spider Woman, by John Kander, Fred Ebb, and Terrence McNally, based on the novel by Manuel Puig, as the final production in its 2012/2013 season. The production will run tonight, May 31st through June 30th at Theater Wit in Lakeview.

Here's a listing of the top ten places that are really burning it up in theater this summer, in Chicago and the region nearby. Seek them out, and enjoy!

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. It's our annual Summer Musical Theater Guide! This week, Part One: Chicagoland. Check out 'The Jungle Book,' 'Kiss Of The Spider Woman,' 'Next To Normal,' 'The Color Purple,' 'Spelling Bee,' 'Cabaret' and a whole lot more!

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. RIP 'Smash,' plus the seven local shows closing soon, replaced by BET's 'Howlin Wolf' show, LOW's 'Pinafore' and the five fall touring shows, plus benefits for Midwest New Musicals, Porchlight, Pride Plays and more!

A chorus line of dancing knights, flatulent Frenchmen, killer rabbits and one legless knight will kick off Starlight Theatre's 63rd Season during Monty Python's Spamalot, May 31-June 6.

H.M.S. PINAFORE, Gilbert and Sullivan's musical comedy of manners, has been a calling card of Light Opera Works ever since the company presented it as its inaugural production in 1981. The Pinafore sails once more onto the stage of Evanston's Cahn Auditorium in a new production, with 26-piece orchestra, June 8 to 16. The score includes: 'I'm Called Little Buttercup,' 'When I Was a Lad,' 'I Am the Captain of the Pinafore' and many others.

Drury Lane Theatre, 100 Drury Lane, begins its exciting 2013 season with a grand scale production of the Tony Award-winning musical OLIVER!, running through June 2, 2013. Click below to watch interviews with the cast and creative team on opening night!

Theatre Under The Stars (TUTS) is excited to announce the cast for the outrageous musical comedy Spamalot, running May 14 - 26 at the Hobby Center for The Performing Arts. Lovingly ripped off from the classic film 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail,' this three-time Tony Award winning show spoofs the Arthurian legend amidst a chorus line of dancing divas and knights, flatulent Frenchmen, flying cows, killer rabbits and one legless knight. The show will be a co-production between TUTS and Kansas City Starlight Theatre.

Paying homage to one of the greatest movie musicals of all time, What a Glorious Feeling comes to Theatre at the Center April 25 through June 2 at 1040 Ridge Road, Munster, with a press performance April 28 at 7 p.m. Creator Jay Berkow conceived the intimate show, which he calls 'a play with music' and an 'exploration of creative and romantic temperaments' set in the heyday of the MGM movie musicals.

BoHo Theatre will present the musical Kiss of the Spider Woman, by John Kander, Fred Ebb, and Terrence McNally, based on the novel by Manuel Puig, as the final production in its 2012/2013 season. The production will run May 31st through June 30th at Theater Wit in Lakeview. Kiss of the Spider Woman is directed by BoHo Artistic Director Peter Marston Sullivan, director of such previous BoHo hits as Floyd Collins and Big River. The production features Nathan Carroll as Molina, Evan Tyrone Martin as Valentin, and Jennifer Grubb as Aurora the Spider Woman. Kiss of the Spider Woman represents the Bohemian Pillar of Love.

Li'l Buds Theatre Company takes you on journey back in time as we bring the Victorian world and imaginative world of Beatrix Potter to life. This delightfully joyous dramatization of the beloved story of Peter Rabbit is brought to life by young Beatrix Potter age 13, a lonely yet imaginative girl who spends her day sketching and creating stories about the animals she studies.

Paying homage to one of the greatest movie musicals of all time, What a Glorious Feeling comes to Theatre at the Center April 25 through June 2 at 1040 Ridge Road, Munster, with a press performance April 28 at 7 p.m. Creator Jay Berkow conceived the intimate show, which he calls 'a play with music' and an 'exploration of creative and romantic temperaments' set in the heyday of the MGM movie musicals. A revealing portrait of the late dancer-actor-director-choreographer Gene Kelly, this Chicago premiere production of What a Glorious Feeling will be directed by Theatre at the Center Artistic Director William Pullinsi with Choreography by Jeff Award-winning choreographer Danny Herman. Herman has choreographed over 50 productions nationally, including The National Tour of Dreamgirls, A Little Night Music and Another Midsummer Night at the Goodman, Elmer Gantry at Ford's Theatre and over a dozen productions at Candlelight Playhouse, including 5 Guys Named Moe and Song and Dance.

Drury Lane Theatre, 100 Drury Lane, begins its exciting 2013 season with a grand scale production of the Tony Award-winning musical OLIVER!, previewing April 4, opening Thursday, April 11, and running through June 2, 2013. OLIVER! features an all-star cast of 35, led by Heidi Kettenring as 'Nancy' (National Tour of Disney's Beauty and the Beast, Broadway in Chicago's Wicked, the World Premiere of Hero at Marriott Theatre, and Sweeney Todd at Drury Lane Theatre); Jeff Award winner John Reeger as 'Fagin' (The Iceman Cometh and A Christmas Carol at the Goodman Theatre, Amadeus at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Hamlet at Court Theatre, and Chicago at Marriott Theatre); J.D. Rodriguez as the 'Artful Dodger' (National Tour of A Christmas Story) and Brady Tutton as 'Oliver Twist' ('Tiny Tim' in A Christmas Carol at Drury Lane Theatre). The production is Directed and Choreographed by multi-Jeff Award winner Rachel Rockwell (Ragtime, The Sound of Music and Sweeney Todd at Drury Lane Theatre). Rockwell will direct both her mother, Glory Kissel, who stars as 'Mrs. Bedwin' (Pericles at the Goodman Theatre and Anyone Can Whistle at Ravinia), and her son, Jake Helm, who plays an orphan. Her husband, Garth Helm, provides Sound Design.

Light Opera Works artistic director Rudy Hogenmiller will star as the Master of Ceremonies in CABARET, August 10-25, at Cahn Auditorium in Evanston. It will mark Hogenmiller's first stage appearance anywhere since assuming the artistic director title in 2005.

Li'l Buds Theatre Company takes you on journey back in time as we bring the Victorian world and imaginative world of Beatrix Potter to life. This delightfully joyous dramatization of the beloved story of Peter Rabbit is brought to life by young Beatrix Potter age 13, a lonely yet imaginative girl who spends her day sketching and creating stories about the animals she studies.

Theo Ubique's warmly-received production of Aspects of Love, the musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Don Black and Charles Hart, will be extended through Sunday, May 19, 2013. Theo Ubique Artistic Director Fred Anzevino announced the extension on Monday, April 1.

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. Big doings at Broadway In Chicago, 'Othello: The Remix,' world premieres from Pride Plays, The Second City and two from composer Kevin O'Donnell, 'Spamalot,' 'I Can Get It For You Wholesale' and so much more!

LinkUp Artist Thom Pasculli combines movement and theater in an evening length production. Core of the PUDEL, by Pasculli, is inspired by the legend of Faust is a journey of soul-searching in its most literal sense. When Faust sells his soul to the devil he believes it to be worthless, but it is the devil who must convince him otherwise. Academics, Christians, and witches alike have all tried and failed to describe the mysteries of the soul... So shall we. Core of the PUDEL runs tonight, March 23-25 at Links Hall (3435 N Sheffield Ave).

On Saturday, April 6, 2013, Light Opera Works will host its annual spring benefit at the North Shore Country Club in Glenview, Illinois. Proceeds will benefit Light Opera Works programming, including the 2013 season, the Musical Theater Summer Workshop, student half-price tickets and Family Talk Backs.

BoHo Theatre presents Hauptmann, an examination of truth and media indictment, by lauded Chicago playwright John Logan. The production runs tonight, March 22nd through April 21st at the Heartland Studio in Rogers Park.