Linda Fortunato News

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. Excitement grows for 'La Revolution Francaise!' Also, Black Ensemble Theater and Raven Theatre take on more recent history, and 'Spamalot' opens northwest and southeast. 'Triassic Parq' and 'Goblin Market' play the city, 'Shrek' and 'Avenue Q' play the 'burbs, and 'Crazy Ex-Girlfriend' and 'My Little Red/Green Coat' sing from small screens!

A massive hit on Broadway, playing over 1,500 hysterical performances seen by more than two million people, Monty Python's SPAMALOT continues Theatre at the Center's exceptional 25th Anniversary Season.

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 a Super September Preview! We've got the low-down on 16 musical productions you will want to see this month, from city to suburbs, big theaters to small, premieres and old favorites galore! 'Side Show,' 'Dogfight,' 'Next To Normal,' 'Oklahoma!,' 'Spamalot,' 'Blood Brothers,' 'October Sky,' CST's 'Ride The Cyclone' and much 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. Today's fire at The Second City, and last week's Jeff Award nominations! Plus 'Glory Days' and the Refuge Theatre season, new musicals in focus with Schonberg and Boublil, Chicago Children's Theatre and more, Joan Curto, Hershey Felder, 'Bat Boy,' and Theatre At The Center's 2016 season!

One of the Midwest's leading, professional equity theaters, Theatre at the Center, 1040 Ridge Road, Munster, is gearing up for an exciting 2016 season filled with a rich array of productions from Hitchcock remakes to Gershwin-filled musicals to Annie sequels. The season kicks off in February with the thrilling and fast-paced play Alfred Hitchcock's THE 39 STEPS. This Tony Award-winning comedic spoof of the Alfred Hitchcock 1935 film runs February 18 to March 20. The champagne flows and the gin fizzes May 5 through June 5 with the Chicago area premiere of George and Ira Gershwin's new musical hit NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT, the hilarious musical comedy set in the Roaring Twenties. When two newly single men find themselves as roommates, all hell hilariously breaks loose in Neil Simon's classic THE ODD COUPLE, running July 14 to August 14. Catch all the unexpected action of six friends in small town North Carolina September 15 through October 16 with the popular Rock 'n' Roll, Blue Grass, Countrified musical revue, PUMP BOYS AND DINETTES. Annie's story didn't end where you thought it did. Find out what really happened with Daddy Warbucks' quest to remain with the newly-adopted Annie in the sequel to ANNIE, ANNIE WARBUCKS, running November 17 through December 18.

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. Idina Menzel and Broadway In Chicago will shake Millennium Park this weekend! The Improvised Sondheim Project, the 'Grease' sing-along and 'Urinetown' have two performances, while 'H2$,' 'Miss Saigon' and 'South Pacific' each play three weekends. Plus dueling 'Spamalot's, and the sixth anniversary of 'The Showtune Mosh Pit!'

A massive hit on Broadway, playing over 1,500 hysterical performances seen by more than two million people, Monty Python's SPAMALOT continues Theatre at the Center's exceptional 25th Anniversary Season.

Peninsula Players Theatre, America's Oldest Professional Resident Summer Theater and Door County's theatrical icon, continues its 80th season tonight, July 29, through August 16 when it presents Ken Ludwig's hilarious comedy, 'Lend Me A Tenor.'

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 Regional Summer Musical Theater Guide! All you need to know about musicals on the boards this summer at 17 theaters within a one-day drive.

Peninsula Players Theatre, America's Oldest Professional Resident Summer Theatre and Door County's theatrical icon, presents its 80th season, running tonight, June 16 through October 18, 2015.

Peninsula Players Theatre, America's Oldest Professional Resident Summer Theatre and Door County's theatrical icon, announces company members for its 80th season, running June 16 through October 18, 2015. The mix of plays includes a world premiere comedy, a classic thriller, a madcap comedy, a sweet and prickly Irish love story and a nun habit-forming musical comedy.      

The deeply moving, enchanting new Broadway musical for all ages BIG FISH continues Theatre at the Center's exceptional 25th anniversary 2015 season. With a book by John August and music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa, BIG FISH is based on the Columbia Pictures film screenplay of the same name by John August and Daniel Wallace's 1998 novel, Big Fish: A Novel of Mythical Proportions. Artistic Director and multiple Jeff Award-winner William Pullinsi lends his expertise in the first professional locally-produced staging of the beloved musical running through June 7th at 1040 Ridge Road in Munster. Click below to watch scenes from the show!

As yet another sign of the Chicago area's dominance in the world of the American musical theater, I need only point to the fact that it is undoubtedly the only market that has hosted three different productions of the Andrew Lippa musical "Big Fish," at three different tiers of the industry and three different geographical locations.

The deeply moving, enchanting new Broadway musical for all ages BIG FISH continues Theatre at the Center's exceptional 25th anniversary 2015 season. With a book by John August and music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa, BIG FISH is based on the Columbia Pictures film screenplay of the same name by John August and Daniel Wallace's 1998 novel, Big Fish: A Novel of Mythical Proportions. Artistic Director and multiple Jeff Award-winner William Pullinsi lends his expertise in the first professional locally-produced staging of the beloved musical running now through June 7th at 1040 Ridge Road in Munster. The show opened yesterday, May 10, and BroadwayWorld has photos from the festivities below!

The deeply moving, enchanting new Broadway musical for all ages BIG FISH continues Theatre at the Center's exceptional 25th anniversary 2015 season. With a book by John August and music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa, BIG FISH is based on the Columbia Pictures film screenplay of the same name by John August and Daniel Wallace's 1998 novel, Big Fish: A Novel of Mythical Proportions. Artistic Director and multiple Jeff Award-winner William Pullinsi lends his expertise in the first professional locally-produced staging of the beloved musical running May 7th through June 7th at 1040 Ridge Road in Munster with press opening on Sunday, May 10 at 7 p.m.

Sean Graney, who recently returned to Chicago to resume his post as Artistic Director of The Hypocrites, informed the Joseph Jefferson Awards Committee that he just learned the theater company had been operating under an Equity CAT-N contract for the duration of the 2014-2015 Non-Equity season.  Over the past year, requests for judging its productions were made to the Non-Equity Wing without the committee having knowledge of the company's Equity status. The Jeff Committee was aware that two of the productions had Equity performers (as indicated in the program); however, the committee has now confirmed that these were not guest contracts.  As such, the company's productions are not eligible for consideration in the Non-Equity Wing, and all related Non-Equity Jeff Award nominations have been rescinded.  The productions in question will be shifted to the Equity Wing for awards consideration during its current season, which commenced on August 1, 2014 and will end on July 30, 2015.

The Jeff Awards Committee today announced 118 nominations in 24 categories for the 42nd Annual Non-Equity Jeff Awards for productions that opened between April 1, 2014, and March 31, 2015. The Non-Equity Awards honor excellence in Chicago theatres not under a union contract. Jeff judges attended opening nights of 133 productions offered by 56 Non-Equity producing organizations. The Jeff Committee recommended 62 of those shows, making them eligible for Non-Equity Jeff Award nominations. Of the 62 Jeff Recommended productions, 46 received nominations, representing 23 theatre companies.

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 the big guns! New openings at the Drury Lane, Marriott, ChiShakes, Second City, Porchlight, Theatre At The Center, Mercury Theater, Jedlicka and Big Noise theaters, plus 13 world premieres from the Chicago Musical Theatre Festival!

The deeply moving, enchanting new Broadway musical for all ages BIG FISH continues Theatre at the Center's exceptional 25th anniversary 2015 season. With a book by John August and music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa, BIG FISH is based on the Columbia Pictures film screenplay of the same name by John August and Daniel Wallace's 1998 novel, Big Fish: A Novel of Mythical Proportions. Artistic Director and multiple Jeff Award-winner William Pullinsi lends his expertise in the first professional locally-produced staging of the beloved musical running May 7th through June 7th at 1040 Ridge Road in Munster with press opening on Sunday, May 10 at 7 p.m.

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Braodway. It's the Top Ten Hot Topix for the last half of 2014, and the BroadwayWorld Chicago Awards Celebration on Wednesday, January 7th, 2015!