Chicago News Desk - Page 4

Chicago Cabaret Professionals (CCP) and Drury Lane Theatre Water Tower Place, 175 E. Chestnut Street, announce two new Musical Mondays concerts due to the smash hit success of the monthly cabaret concert series launched earlier this year. All shows in the Musical Mondays at Drury Lane series begin at 7:30 p.m. at Drury Lane Theatre Water Tower Place.

500 Clown Theater,, founded in 2000 and made a non-profit in 2007, presents its holiday hit ?500 Clown Christmas? for a limited holiday 2008 engagement during the first season of programming at North Central College?s Meiley-Swallow Hall.

The popular and crowd-pleasing Storytelling series in the Village Players Blackbox Theatre continues with a four night festival of holiday storytelling, featuring different performances every night!

Just in time for the holiday season, Village Players Theatre in Oak Park brings audiences A White Christmas! This dazzling musical revue is perfect for a date night, a family event, or an outing for the entire neighborhood!

Victory Gardens Theater is offering two chances to go behind-the-scenes of The Snow Queen, the company?s smash hit holiday musical, sledding back into town for her third go-around as Chicago's #1 alternative to traditional holiday fare.

Strawdog Theatre Company?s annual holiday benefit, ?Strawdog Yuletacular 2008,? will feature a retro-style variety show with comedic sketches, a holiday cooking demonstration, a raffle and silent auction, and live, big-band style music provided by Strawdog?s guest band, The Jenn Rhoads Project.

Bailiwick Repertory artists and friends will gather at the Bailiwick Arts Center , 1229 West Belmont, on December 29th to bid FAREWELL TO 1229: Fifteen Years of Great Musicals from POPE JOAN to HUNCHBACK. The special benefit performance features musical selections POPE JOAN, PARADE, A MAN OF NO IMPORTANCE, DR. SEX, Q, KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN, JERRY SPRINGER ? THE OPERA, THE CHRISTMAS SCHOONER and THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME.

THE BOWERY BOYS, a new musical, will make its highly anticipated world premiere at the Marriott Theatre, 10 Marriott Drive; previewing December 10th, opening December 17th, and running through February 15th. Inspired by the works of Horatio Alger Jr. and George M. Cohan, THE BOWERY BOYS? book and lyrics are by David H. Bell, with music by Jeremy Cohen.

Brett Batterson, executive director of the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University (ATRU), is pleased to announce the return of Too Hot to Handel: The Jazz-Gospel Messiah to Chicago's National Historic Landmark Auditorium Theatre. For two performances only, Friday, December 12 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, December 14 at 3 p.m., the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University, 50 East Congress Parkway, will be filled with the sounds of this soulful reinvention of Handel's Messiah. This joyful musical experience is quickly becoming one of Chicago's favorite annual events. Tickets are now on sale.

FOILED AGAIN, a cabaret act featuring Allison Bazarko, Rob Lindley, Anne Sheridan Smith and Jeff award-winning Doug Peck as musical director, will perform for the WILMETTE THEATRE EDUCATION PROJECT's holiday benefit: December 15, 2008, at 7:30 PM

Hell in a Handbag Productions is proud to present one twisted take on two classic tales. Silent Night of the Lambs mixes one part thriller (The Silence of the Lambs) and one part holiday TV special (Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer) to create a twisted recipe that only Hell in a Handbag would dare to cook up for Chicago audiences.

A special signed performance of the holiday musical A Wonderful Life, sponsored by Munster High School's American Sign Language Club, will be hosted on December 5 at 8 p.m. at Theatre at the Center, 1040 Ridge Road. Tickets for the interpretive section of the theatre are available by contacting Lynn Schumacher at lcschumacher@munster.k12.in.us by November 12. All other tickets can be purchased through the Box Office at 219.836.3255 or Tickets.com at 800.511.1552.

Victory Gardens Theater is offering two chances to go behind-the-scenes of The Snow Queen, the company?s smash hit holiday musical, sledding back into town for her third go-around as Chicago's #1 alternative to traditional holiday fare.

THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS, the hit drama presented by Fellowship for the Performing Arts at The Mercury Theater, 3745 N. Southport Avenue, will feature special Wednesday night talk-backs with Max McLean (co-creator and star) and Jeffrey Fiske (co-creator and director) from November 5 through December 10 (there is no show on November 26.) The production, which had sold-out runs in New York and Washington, D.C., recently made its Chicago premiere and runs through January 4. During the talk-backs, McLean and Fiske will foster audience discussions about the show?s provocative themes and answer questions about how they adapted C.S. Lewis? classic novel into a hit stage production. The talk-backs schedule may be subject to change.

'Lillian Hellmania!',a festival celebrating the playwrights' work, will run in Chicago at Eclipse ('The Autumn Garden'), Shattered Globe ('The Little Foxes,' 1/8-3/8/09), and City Lit ('Scoundrel Time,' 1/30-3/8/09).

American Theater Company (ATC) continues its 2008-09 season with the sixth annual production of It's a Wonderful Life: The Radio Play adapted from Frank Capra's classic film and directed by Damon Kiely. The production will run December 4 -December 28, 2008, at American Theater Company, 1909 W Byron St, Chicago, IL. Press opening is Monday, December 8, 2008 at 7:00 p.m.

In just one night, learn the Sparkle Sisters secrets to keeping their curves! From Sondheim to Berlin, this hilarious musical evening will inspire you to find your own inner sparkle through a cabaret revue of story songs. 7 Secrets of Highly Effective Chicks will make audiences laugh, cry and go home happy.

Steppenwolf Theatre Company continues its 2008-2009 season, an exploration of the imagination, with The Seafarer by Conor McPherson, directed by ensemble member Randall Arney. The production, featuring ensemble members Francis Guinan, Tom Irwin, John Mahoney and Alan Wilder, runs December 4, 2008 ? February 8, 2009 in Steppenwolf's Downstairs Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted St. Additional casting will be announced shortly. Single tickets for The Seafarer go on sale Thursday, September 25 at 11 a.m.

Theatre at the Center's Theatre for Young Audiences, 1040 Ridge Road, Munster, Indiana, will present The Christmas That Almost Wasn't, the 'behind the scenes' story of Christmas written for children, by children performed by Child's Play Touring Theatre. The Christmas That Almost Wasn't will run December 1 through December 15.

Steppenwolf Theatre Company continues its 2008-2009 season, an exploration of the imagination, with The Seafarer by Conor McPherson, directed by ensemble member Randall Arney. The production, featuring ensemble members Francis Guinan, Tom Irwin, John Mahoney and Alan Wilder with Randall Newsome, runs December 4, 2008 - February 8, 2009 in Steppenwolf's Downstairs Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted St. The press performance is Saturday, December 13 at 3 p.m.