Kaplan News

Check out photos below of all the stars on the red carpet!

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. Monday night's Jeff Awards at the Drury Lane, and 'Amazing Grace' at the BOAT! Plus 2014's other Broadway In Chicago shows, The Grinch at the Chicago Theatre, local productions of 'Parade,' 'Camelot' and 'Mary Poppins,' the new 'A Christmas Memory,' and the sold-out Humanities Festival tribute to the Tonys!

Her Story Theater's Shadow Town II: The JOHNS, written and directed by Mary Bonnett, premieres today, October 16 and runs through November 23, 2014 at the Mayer Kaplan Theatre, Skokie, IL.

Pittsburgh CLO has announced that the 2013 Tony Award-winner for BEST MUSICAL, KINKY BOOTS, will make its Pittsburgh premiere as part of the 2015 Summer Season at the Benedum Center.

Downtown's community theatre, Cincinnati Music Theatre (CMT), invites you to join them as they proudly present Charlie Harper as YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN in the monstrous, musical version of the classic film by Mel Brooks, running November 7-15, 2014 at the Aronoff Center's intimate Jarson-Kaplan Theater (see full performance schedule below).

The Joffrey Ballet celebrates its 20th anniversary of calling Chicago home in the 2014-15 season and its annual fall engagement brings the Joffrey Premiere of a newly envisioned Swan Lake to Chicago for the first time, choreographed by one of ballet's most acclaimed choreographers, Christopher Wheeldon. Continuing Joffrey Artistic Director Ashley Wheater's endeavor to bring re-imagined story-ballets to Chicago audiences, this performance represents the first time The Joffrey Ballet has ever performed a Swan Lake in its almost 60-year history. Swan Lake is presented at the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University, 50 E. Congress Parkway, in 10 performances only, today, October 15 - 26.

Artistic Directors David Finckel and Wu Han have announced plans for The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center's 45th anniversary season. The 2014-2015 Season offers an extraordinarily vibrant palette of diverse and innovative programming performed by a vast and impressive roster comprised of 109 of the world's finest chamber music artists. The season begins tonight, October 15, 2014, and runs through May 15, 2015. Performances take place in Alice Tully Hall, the Rose Studio, and the Kaplan Penthouse.

Pittsburgh CLO Academy is proud to announce that its students will perform Anything Goes at the New Hazlett Theater on November 15 at 2:00 & 7:00pm. The cast members are all enrolled in the school's Musical Theater Production class and are being directed by Pittsburgh CLO Academy faculty members Justin Fortunato, Scott Sambuco, and Bob Neumeyer.

At the gala 46th Annual Equity Jeff Awards held at Drury Lane Oakbrook on Monday, October 13, awards were spread among numerous theatres honoring a season of outstanding productions. From Writers Theatre, "The Dance of Death", a battle of wits between a tyrant and his manipulative wife, received the Production-Play award for a large theatre, along with its two principal actors Larry Yando and Shannon Cochran. "The Normal Heart", Larry Kramer's tale of the early indifference in N.Y. about the HIV/Aids crisis, presented by TimeLine Theatre Company, was honored with awards for Production-Play for a midsize theatre and for Director Nick Bowling.

Bang on a Can: From the Margins, a concert featuring recent MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship recipient Steve Coleman & Friends, will take place at the Jewish Museum on Thursday, November 6 at 7:30pm. Tied to the Museum exhibition From the Margins: Lee Krasner I Norman Lewis, 1945-1952, which features innovative works by two powerful abstract painters, the performance will highlight the relationship between Abstract Expressionism and jazz in mid-century New York City. This program is the second concert of the Jewish Museum and Bang on a Can's partnership to produce a series of dynamic musical performances at the Museum from June 2014 to May 2015, inspired by the Jewish Museum's diverse slate of exhibitions.

The 46th Annual Jeff Awards ceremony honoring excellence in professional theatre produced within the immediate Chicago area is tonight, October 13 at Drury Lane Oakbrook, 100 Drury Lane, Oakbrook Terrace.

This insider's look into what it takes to work behind the scenes in the theater skewers the business practices and often shady backstage politics of regional houses but has at its heart a genuine love for those who have answered the siren's call to create and present art.

The Chicago Humanities Festival (CHF) announced casting today for A Night at the Tonys, this year's William and Greta Wiley Flory Concert, an annual cabaret performance, taking place on Monday, Nov. 3, 2014 at 7:30 p.m. at Francis W. Parker School (2233 North Clark Street) as part of the 25th Anniversary Fall Festival: Journeys, Oct. 25-Nov. 9.

Tonight, October 9th, Broadway Sessions celebrates the music of Carner and Gregor, Loesel and Burkell, Joey Contreras, Jeff Thomson, Drew Gasparini and Adam Overett.

POP NATION, a theatrical social event merging music, theater and the nightclub experience, will begin performances at Hudson (356 W. 58th Street at 9th Avenue) on November 14th with opening night set for January 8th. POP NATION has original music and lyrics by Damon Intrabartolo (bare, 'Superman Returns,' 'X Men 2') and book by Kenny Finkle (Indoor/Outdoor).

BROADWAY SESSIONS is described as an evening of musical performances, games and open mic featuring a new Broadway guest each week. The show is created and hosted by Ben Cameron (Bway Wicked, Aida and Footloose) and features musical director Joshua Stephen Kartes on piano.

At an outdoor cafe, a man is accosted by a balding stranger who wants something and 'wasn't sent here to negotiate.' His victim runs away but is almost hit by a car; meanwhile, the stranger comes over and injects him. The guy wakes up being rushed into surgery - but 'Mr. Wyatt' is then found in a pile of garbage with a missing heart. It's all the work of Dr. James Covington, #89 on THE BLACKLIST.

A number of program changes and additions have been made to the performances, screenings, and events of Lincoln Center'sWhite Light Festival 2014 and Great Performers 2014-2015 series. See below!

From November 3-9, 2014 the Gold Coast Arts Center, in conjunction with the Town of North Hempstead, will present the 4th annual Gold Coast International Film Festival (GCIFF), and everyone's invited-again-to join us for this special week of films, parties, panels, and glamour!

THE SONGWRITERS' SALON, produced by Write Act Rep, John Lant Producing Artistic Director, and conceived and Directed by Colton Pometta, is a cabaret series that will feature 3-5 musical theatre composers and lyricists on the first Thursday of each month. It's a casual and open playground for artists to meet and share new work.