Liz Lauren News

After runs in Chicago and on Broadway, Good Night, Oscar arrives at the Barbican Centre in London this month. The show, starring Sean Hayes as the titular character, follows famed character actor and pianist Oscar Levant on an unforgettable night as a guest star on Jack Paar’s late-night television talk show. Recently, we had the chance to speak with Ben Rappaport, who plays the role of Jack Paar in Good Night, Oscar. We discussed what it’s been like to be a part of the show since 2022, how he has worked on the role and how it feels to be bringing the show to the West End.

Jeanine Tesori and Lisa Kron’s FUN HOME is a musical journey in sketches through the memories of Alison Bechdel. Based on the graphic memoir of the same name — and so called because the Bechdel family business was a funeral home — Porchlight director Stephen Schellhardt’s production brings each scene sharply to life. 

Porchlight Music Theatre is presenting the Tony Award-winning and Pulitzer Prize-nominated musical Fun Home, now playing through March 2, at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts. Check out photos here!

Photos and video have been released from James Ijames’s Pulitzer Prize-winning, five-time Tony Award-nominated play Fat Ham at the Goodman Theatre. Check out the photos and video here!

James Ijames’s Pulitzer Prize-winning, five-time Tony Award-nominated play Fat Ham is now playing at The Goodman Theatre. See photos from the production here!

The first locally staged production of Disney’s Frozen the Broadway Musical is receiving its Midwest Regional Premiere at the historic Paramount Theatre in downtown Aurora. See photos here!

The Marriage of Figaro returns to Lyric Opera of Chicago for eight performances only, November 9–30, 2024. Check out photos and video of the production.

Check out photos and video of Irving Berlin’s White Christmas, on stage at Marriott Theatre this holiday season, previewing on Wednesday, October 30, opening Wednesday, November 6 at 7:30pm and running through December 29.

Namir Smallwood’s performance as Kenneth is a real testament to his superb abilities as a performer and the intimacy of PRIMARY TRUST becomes more profoundly emotional thanks to him.

Photos and video are now available for the Chicago-premiere production of Primary Trust by Eboni Booth——helmed by BOLD Artistic Producer Malkia Stampley, in her Goodman directing debut.

Goodman Theatre’s season-opening production of INHERIT THE WIND centers on a fictionalized version of the 1925 “Scopes Monkey” trial — at its heart, a debate on creationism vs. evolutionism. Though playwrights Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee make it clear they’re on the side of evolution, it’s still a treat to watch this production’s Matthew Harrison Brady (Alexander Gemignani) and Henry Drummond (Harry Lennix) go head-to-head in a verbal spar.

The jury of its peers finds Inherit the Wind at Goodman Theatre worthy of a one-week extension, adding six more performances of Henry Godinez’s major revival of Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee’s 1955 classic courtroom drama. See photos and video highlights from the production.

It’s a joy to experience GREAT COMET end-to-end, and for musical theater lovers that want to hear a complicated score flawlessly performed, this is the ticket. This GREAT COMET soars.

Mary Zimmerman will return to Berkeley Rep this fall with The Matchbox Magic Flute. Learn more about the production and see how to purchase tickets.

Check out production photos for Paramount Theatre's The Fully Monty, running now through October 6, here!

See photos of the colorful and interactive The Lizard Y El Sol—Goodman Theatre’s second “Theater for the Very Young Production” that’s developed for audiences under age five and their adult friends and family.

I think LOTR die-hards will appreciate the world-building and the visual spectacle of this production, but the material needs editing and more focus and refinement on key moments and characters.

Check out production photos from Chicago Shakespeare Theater's The Lord of the Rings – A Musical Tale, running now through September 1.

Check out production photos for Million Dollar Quartet, custom-produced for Paramount’s new Stolp Island Theatre, here!

Check out production photos for Marriott Theatre for Young Audiences's DON'T LET THE PIGEON DRIVE THE BUS! THE MUSICAL! here!