Averis I Anderson News

Not so far away is Paramount Theatre’s 2023-24 season finale, the Broadway smash hit Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. Nominated for seven Tony Awards, with two wins, plus a Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album, Paramount will pull out all the stops in this season-finale jukebox musical celebration of one our most beloved music icons ever. See photos from the production!

The season will conclude in the summer of 2022 with a 50th Anniversary production of Stephen Schwartz and John-Michael Tebelak’s musical GODSPELL, directed by the company’s newly appointed Managing and Casting Director Christopher Pazdernik and choreographed by Jeff award-winner Jenna Schoppe (She/Her).

Three Evanston-based performing arts organizations - Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre, Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre, and The Musical Offering – have joined forces to create the EVANSTON PERFORMING ARTS COLLECTIVE (EPAC), a consortium with the mission of “Celebrating Life, Community and the Arts.”

Mercury Theater Chicago announced today the cast and crew of the spectacular musical comedy PRISCILLA QUEEN OF THE DESERT, running in the Venus Cabaret Theater from March 20 through June 28.

Emerald City Theatre (ECT) concludes its 2018 - 2019 Season this spring with the Chicago premiere of Corduroy, a new stage adaptation by Barry Kornhauser of Don Freeman's classic books, directed by ECT Artistic Associate Jamal Howard. Corduroy runs Friday, March 1 - Saturday, April 20 at the Athenaeum Theatre Main Stage, 2936 N Southport Ave.

THE VIEW UPSTAIRS, a musical by Max Vernon, whose musical KPOP won Best Musical honors in off-Broadway's Lortel Awards and was also nominated for seven Drama Desk awards, is inspired by real life events of the 1973 arson attack at the UpStairs Lounge, a vibrant gay bar in New Orleans. Now accepted as a targeted anti-gay attack, the arson resulted in the deaths of 32 people and was, until the 2016 Orlando Pulse Nightclub shooting, the deadliest assault on a gay club in U.S. history. The show is inspired by and pays tributes to many of the patrons that frequented the venue.

THE VIEW UPSTAIRS, a musical by Max Vernon, whose musical KPOP won Best Musical honors in off-Broadway's Lortel Awards and was also nominated for seven Drama Desk awards, is inspired by real life events of the 1973 arson attack at the UpStairs Lounge, a vibrant gay bar in New Orleans. Now accepted as a targeted anti-gay attack, the arson resulted in the deaths of 32 people and was, until the 2016 Orlando Pulse Nightclub shooting, the deadliest assault on a gay club in U.S. history. The show is inspired by and pays tributes to many of the patrons that frequented the venue.

THE VIEW UPSTAIRS, a musical by Max Vernon, is inspired by real life events of the 1973 arson attack at the UpStairs Lounge, a vibrant gay bar in New Orleans, and pays tribute to many of the patrons that frequented the venue. Now accepted as a targeted anti-gay attack, the arson resulted in the deaths of 32 people and was, until the 2016 Orlando Pulse Nightclub shooting, the deadliest assault on a gay club in U.S. history. 

Complete cast and crew were announced today for Circle's Chicago premiere production of THE VIEW UPSTAIRS, a musical by Max Vernon, whose musical KPOP last week won Best Musical honors in off-Broadway's Lortel Awards and is also nominated for seven Drama Desk awards. THE VIEW UPSTAIRS, which opened off-Broadway in February 2017, is inspired by real life events of the 1973 arson attack at the UpStairs Lounge, a vibrant gay bar in New Orleans. Now accepted as a targeted anti-gay attack, the arson resulted in the deaths of 32 people and was, until the 2016 Orlando Pulse Nightclub shooting, the deadliest assault on a gay club in U.S. history. The show is inspired by and pays tributes to many of the patrons that frequented the venue.

BoHo Theatre closes out its successful 2017 season with the passionate musical MARIE CHRISTINE by Michael John LaChiusa at the Theater Wit, directed by Lili-Anne Brown. Taking inspiration from the life of Marie Laveau, the famed Voodoo Queen of New Orleans, MARIE CHRISTINE is a visceral reimagining of the Greek myth of Medea. LaChiusa is the acclaimed writer and composer of THE WILD PARTY and HELLO AGAIN. MARIE CHRISTINE is playing at Theater Wit through December 10, 2017. Click below to watch excerpts from the show!

BoHo Theatre closes out its successful 2017 season with the passionate musical MARIE CHRISTINE by Michael John LaChiusa at the Theater Wit, directed by Lili-Anne Brown. Taking inspiration from the life of Marie Laveau, the famed Voodoo Queen of New Orleans, MARIE CHRISTINE is a visceral reimagining of the Greek myth of Medea. LaChiusa is the acclaimed writer and composer of THE WILD PARTY and HELLO AGAIN. MARIE CHRISTINE is playing at Theater Wit through December 10, 2017. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

BoHo Theatre closes out its successful 2017 season with the passionate musical MARIE CHRISTINE by Michael John LaChiusa at the Theater Wit, directed by Lili-Anne Brown.

BoHo Theatre closes out its successful 2017 season with the passionate musical MARIE CHRISTINE by Michael John LaChiusa at the Theater Wit, directed by Lili-Anne Brown.

The Artistic Home will follow up its highly acclaimed and Jeff recommended production of By the Bog of Cats - a contemporary Irish take on Medea - with a much cheerier updating of a classic. Their summer production for 2017 will be David Ives' comedy in verse, The School for Lies.

The Artistic Home will follow up its highly acclaimed and Jeff recommended production of By the Bog of Cats - a contemporary Irish take on Medea - with a much cheerier updating of a classic. Their summer production for 2017 will be David Ives' comedy in verse, The School for Lies. As Ives did with The Liar, his 'translaptation' of Corneille's Le Menteur, he honors the French 17th Century practice of writing in verse, but uses contemporary language even as he maintains the Moliere play's original setting of Paris in 1666.

The Artistic Home will follow up its highly acclaimed and Jeff recommended production of By the Bog of Cats - a contemporary Irish take on Medea - with a much cheerier updating of a classic. Their summer production for 2017 will be David Ives' comedy in verse, The School for Lies.

 Pride Films and Plays will again host its annual Nominee Night cabaret showcasing many of the musical theater performers nominated in the Non-Equity Jeff Awards. The nominees were announced on April 24 and the awards will be presented June 5, 2017 at the Atheneaum Theatre. This year's cabaret will for the first time be performed in the Broadway, Pride Arts Center - the new home the company acquired in summer 2016. The theater is located at 4139 N. Broadway, Chicago. Audience members will have the opportunity to purchase raffle tickets for a door prize drawing for $400.00 in airfare from Southwest Airlines.

The Jeff Awards announced, via a special video presentation, a total of 127 nominations in 26 categories for the 44th Annual Non-Equity Jeff Awards for productions that opened between April 1, 2016, and March 31, 2017.  Hosting the video presentation were Alexis Roston and Lillian Castillo, who will be this year's Mistresses of Ceremonies at the Awards event on June 5 at The Athenaeum.

Pride Films and Plays' production of the Tony Award-winning musical, Priscilla: Queen of the Desert, opens tomorrow, January 17, and continues through February 12, 2017 as the company's inaugural production in their two-stage Pride Arts Center. The musical will be performed in The Broadway, the center's 85-seat theatre at 4139 N. Broadway.  BroadwayWorld brings you a first look at the cast in action below!