(03/17/2022) - Over the course of a four-hour release from a mental ward, and in front of thousands on live TV, the irrepressible and witty Oscar Levant, played by Emmy Award-winning and Tony Award-nominated actor Sean Hayes, lays bare the necessity of insanity in the making of brilliant work and the cost he is willing to pay to entertain the masses.
(03/13/2022) - Music Theater Works’s production of the Tony-Award winning La Cage Aux Folles, music and lyrics by Jerry Herman, book by Harvey Fierstein, directed by Producing Artistic Director Kyle Dougan and music directed by Kyra Leigh with choreography by Christopher Chase Carter is now playing through April 3.
(03/11/2022) - Puccini's Tosca brings together three of opera’s most richly drawn characters—a glamorous opera singer, a revolutionary artist, and a sinister police chief—into a potboiler of doomed love, political intrigue, and murder, all powered by some of the most gripping and passionate music ever composed for the stage.
(03/11/2022) - Steppenwolf Theatre Company is presenting its world premiere production of King James by ensemble member Rajiv Joseph, staged by acclaimed Tony and Obie Award-winning director Kenny Leon (Broadway’s A Raisin in the Sun; NBC TV’s “Hairspray Live!”) in Steppenwolf’s Downstairs Theater, now through April 10, 2022.
(03/11/2022) - As BroadwayWorld previously reported, the North American tour of Six, the new musical by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss. The tour of Six will launch with a return engagement of the show to Chicago and will play at Broadway In Chicago's CIBC Theatre from March 29-July 3.
(03/04/2022) - Idle Muse Theatre Company has announced the cast for its world premiere production of Upon This Shore: A Tale of Pericles and the Daughters of Tyre, adapted and directed by Artistic Director Evan Jackson+, now playing through April 3 at The Edge Off-Broadway Theater, 1133 W Catalpa Ave. The performance schedule for Upon This Shore… is Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m.
(02/25/2022) - Hell in a Handbag Productions will continue its 20th anniversary season with a revival of its popular comedy The Drag Seed, an unauthorized parody of the 1956 psychological horror-thriller film The Bad Seed.
(02/25/2022) - Griffin Theatre Company welcomes back live audiences this winter with the North American premiere of David Greig’s sci-fi thriller Solaris, adapted from the novel by Stanisław Lem and directed by Scott Weinstein.
(02/25/2022) - This national tour at Chicago's Cadillac Palace gives us a show that is just as heartwarming as it is sobering, reminding us that we belong to each other.
(02/19/2022) - The inaugural production is Sweat, Lynn Nottage’s acclaimed modern-day drama about life in an American Rust Belt town being battered by the constant threat of company shutdowns. Sweat is the winner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play and a landmark achievement of American theater. Performances are March 9th - April 24th, 2022. There are two press openings: Wednesday, March 16, and Thursday, March 17 at 7 p.m.
(02/18/2022) - This spring, the nostalgia of 1950s late-night talk-shows takes the stage in the world premiere of Good Night, Oscar—Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Doug Wright’s exploration of the nexus of humor and heartbreak, the ever-dwindling distinction between exploitation and entertainment, and the high cost of baring one’s soul for public consumption.
(02/18/2022) - Goodman Theatre is now presenting their major revival of Mary Zimmerman’s The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci—three decades after the play premiered in the Goodman’s Studio Series (at the Art Institute of Chicago). Movement and music unite to deliver a poetic glimpse into the mind of history’s ultimate Renaissance man.
(02/18/2022) - The North American Touring Company of the Tony Award-winning Best Musical Moulin Rouge! The Musical is now in rehearsal at Open Jar Studios. The show premieres March 19th in Chicago at the James M. Nederlander Theatre.
(02/16/2022) - Get a first look at Drury Lane's production of Evita! This Tony Award-winning musical features lyrics by Tim Rice and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and was originally directed by Harold Prince.
(02/16/2022) - Steppenwolf Theatre Company will present its world premiere production of King James by ensemble member Rajiv Joseph, staged by acclaimed Tony and Obie Award-winning director Kenny Leon (Broadway’s A Raisin in the Sun; NBC TV’s “Hairspray Live!”) in Steppenwolf’s Downstairs Theater, March 3–April 10, 2022 (opening March 13).
(02/15/2022) - Broken Nose Theatre, one of Chicago’s premier Pay-What-You-Can theatre companies, is pleased to welcome back live audiences this winter with the world premiere of Eric Reyes Loo’s drama This Is Only a Test, directed by Toma Tavares Langston.
(02/10/2022) - Award-winning Porchlight Music Theatre latest mainstage production the “Best Musical” Tony Award-nominated Blues in the Night, conceived by Sheldon Epps, with the music of Bessie Smith, Johnny Mercer, Harold Arlen, Vernon Duke, Gordon Jenkins, Alberta Hunter and others, is now playing through March 13 at The Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn St.
(02/10/2022) - The Marriott Theatre, 10 Marriott Dr. in Lincolnshire, is kicking off the New Year with WEST SIDE STORY, the revolutionary Tony Award-winning musical that forever changed American theater running now through March 27, 2022.
(02/05/2022) - Paramount Theatre presents the Midwest regional premiere of this uproariously funny, surprisingly touching and simply inspirational musical comedy. Previews start Wednesday, January 26, 2022. Performances run now through Sunday, March 13. Paramount Theatre is located at 23 E. Galena Blvd. in Aurora. Single tickets, $36-$79, are on sale now.
(01/29/2022) - Chicago playwright and TimeLine Theatre Company Member Tyla Abercrumbie weaves a mother’s past with her daughters’ present in Relentless, a centuries-spanning tale of family, legacy, and progress set in the Black Victorian age, receiving its world premiere after a nearly two-year delay. TimeLine Company Member Ron OJ Parson directs Abercrumbie’s startling new work, which was developed through the company’s Playwrights Collective and now serves as the first production in TimeLine’s 25th Anniversary season.
(01/26/2022) - BroadwayWorld has an exclusive first look at the cast of Ain't Too Proud in action! Leading the cast of Ain't Too Proud as The Temptations are Jalen Harris as 'Eddie Kendricks,' Harrell Holmes Jr. as 'Melvin Franklin,' James T. Lane as 'Paul Williams,' and joining directly from the Broadway company are Marcus Paul James as 'Otis Williams,' and Elijah Ahmad Lewis as 'David Ruffin.'
(01/15/2022) - Roger and Hammerstein's seminal work of musical theatre Oklahoma! has long been a favorite of those who grew up with the 1955 film starring Shirley Jones and Gordon MacRae with it's incredibly catchy company numbers and timeless message of following one's heart no matter the cost.
(01/13/2022) - Compass Theatre has announced its return to the stage with the production of Wellesley Girl, written by playwright Brendan Pelsue and directed by James Fleming, Friday, Jan. 7 - Saturday, Feb. 5, 2022, at Theater Wit, 1229 W Belmont Ave.
(01/07/2022) - Paramount Theatre is beyond proud to present the Midwest regional premiere of the musical comedy, Groundhog Day: The Musical. Previews start Wednesday, January 26, 2022. Opening Night is Friday, February 4, at 8 p.m. Performances run through Sunday, March 13.
(01/03/2022) - Pegasus Theatre Chicago will present the 35th Annual Young Playwrights Festival, streaming Jan. 6 - Feb. 6, 2022 and a virtual opening night ceremony, Sunday, Jan. 9 at 2 p.m. CST. This year’s world premieres, written by high school students and given a staged professional production, share judgment in the material, mundane and mystical worlds.
(12/27/2021) - Book your next Botox session in advance because The Play that Goes Wrong is guaranteed to produce permanent laugh lines in all audience members. This incredible farce at Chicago's Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place is the perfect way to let go and truly escape both the drama and banality of everyday life. Though the humor largely centers around slapstick high jinks, this isn't your father's slip-on-a-banana-peel gag reel. Instead, this show combines perfectly timed prop and set mishaps with a wildly clumsy cast creating the perfect comedic storm.
(12/16/2021) - Based on the classic film, Irving Berlin's Holiday Inn follows retired song-and-dance man Jim's efforts to bring entertainment to his small Connecticut town. With the help of talented schoolteacher Linda, he turns his farmhouse into an inn and puts on spectacular shows celebrating all holidays.
(12/07/2021) - WHEN HARRY MET REHAB is running now through January 30 at the Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln Avenue. A comedy that takes sobriety seriously, WHEN HARRY MET REHAB is based loosely on the real-life experiences of Chicago sports radio personality, Harry Teinowitz.
(12/02/2021) - Hell in a Handbag Productions will continue its 20th anniversary season with the return of one of its most popular holiday musicals: Christmas Dearest, featuring book and lyrics by Artistic Director David Cerda*, music by Cerda and Scott Lamberty and direction by Derek Van Barham.
(11/30/2021) - The Beatrix Potter Holiday Tea Party, a seasonal rite of passage for countless Chicago toddlers and their parents, returns to Chicago Children’s Theatre November 20-December 24, marking the return of live performances at Chicago’s largest professional theater devoted to children and families.
(11/24/2021) - Get a sneak-peek at Goodman Theatre’s A Christmas Carol back on stage in the heart of the Chicago Loop following a year of darkened stages.
(11/18/2021) - Turning to the stage to raise funds for the funerals of their dearly departed members, these sisters sing, tap, and puppet their way through a variety show where we learn about their personal stories and the apparently unpredictable life of a nun.
(11/16/2021) - Mercury Theater Chicago Executive Producers Walter Stearns and Eugene Dizon, Artistic Director Christopher Chase Carter and Managing Director Shane Murray-Corcoran reopened the theater with the first Mainstage production of the 2021-2022 Mercury Theater Chicago season, Sister Act, based on the 1992 film.
(11/11/2021) - The North American tour of Rogers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma! began performances at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis, MN on November 9, 2021 and will continue to play over 25 cities during the 2021-2022 season including stops in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Chicago and Nashville, and more.
(11/10/2021) - Steppenwolf Theatre Company will welcome audiences back for in-person performances for the first time in 20 months with its acclaimed and extraordinary revival of Bug by Pulitzer Prize and Tony award-winning ensemble member Tracy Letts, in the Downstairs Theater November 11 – December 12, 2021 (opening November 14).
(11/09/2021) - Set in 1997, Radio Golf is the final play of August Wilson’s American Century Cycle, a series of ten plays documenting the African American experience throughout the twentieth century. The production marks Two River Theater's sixth play from the Cycle and will run now through November 21, 2021 in Two River’s Rechnitz Theater.
(11/09/2021) - Paradise Square began its pre-Broadway engagement on November 2, at Chicago's James M. Nederlander Theatre. Get a first look at the cast in action in these all new production photos!
(11/07/2021) - A boy and girl falling in love, a vengeful mother-in-law hunting an alleged kidnapper, and ... a group of Freemasons completing their initiation rituals? Mozart's The Magic Flute is full of surprises at Chicago's Lyric Opera. For opera fans, the greatest surprise of all may be the show's unusual production style which relies exclusively on a projected animated backdrop for both set and props, hearkening back to the Nickelodeon era of the 1910s. Spectators who delight in edgy and creative reinterpretations of classic pieces will be sure to enjoy this production-but those who appreciate the extravagance of the traditional opera may find it wanting.
