The air is humming at Lyric Opera of Chicago these days. And no matter who you to talk to, there is a feeling that something great is coming. That something would be the highly-anticipated coproduction of “West Side Story” presented by the Lyric, the Houston Grand Opera, and Glimmerglass Festival, directed by Francesca Zambello and featuring Corey Cott as Tony, Mikaela Bennett as Maria, Amanda Castro as Anita, Brett Thiele as Riff and Manuel Stark Santos as Bernardo.
No matter whether you place your priorities on acting, singing or dancing—and everyone has to dance—the cast for the upcoming Broadway at Lyric show requires top-tier triple threat talent to deliver the magnificent Leonard Bernstein/Stephen Sondheim score with Jerome Robbins original choreography recreated by Julio Monge. James Lowe will conduct members of the Lyric Opera Chorus and Orchestra.
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Early in the CONVERSATION with Dana Tretta and Christopher Kale Jones about their roles in the superb Mercury Theater Chicago production of “Little Shop of Horrors” directed by L Walter Stearns with musical director Eugene Dizon, we learn just how fiendishly desperate—and painfully real—things are for the star-crossed lovers. Jones plays Seymour Krelborn, the orphaned employee who lives at Mushnik’s Skid Row Floral Shop in the macabre 1982 hit with music by Alan Menken and book and lyrics by Howard Ashman. Seymour has dreams of capturing the affections of his sweet co-worker Audrey played by Tretta, who is mired in an abusive relationship with Dr. Orin, a dentist who lives his life gleefully inflicting pain on others. With Mushnik’s business withering on the vine, the two convince him to showcase an odd little plant, known as ‘Audrey II, that Seymour has been nursing back to life. The trouble is as Audrey II’s influence and appetite grows, everyone else starts looking like the next course on the menu.
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An exciting new season is around the corner for Joffrey Ballet and it includes a double dose of the phenomenal Christopher Wheeldon. First up, Swan Lake returns to the Auditorium Theatre beginning October 17th. The Nutcracker, Wheeldon's reimagined holiday classic, set during the construction of the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, opens December 1st and runs through December 30th, aligning with exhibits and other events capping a year-long celebration of the Exposition’s 125th anniversary.
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With over twenty-five years in Chicago theatre, a vast knowledge of Broadway musicals and a new big move to a downtown location, Michael Weber, Porchlight Music Theatre’s Artistic Director, appears to be just getting started.
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Ever feel like you want to throw your cell phone away, but then realize you need to call someone to tell them where you are? Was the last time you ended an argument with a Google search around lunchtime today? How many pairs of shoes did Amazon send to you before you actually wore them? If you are a keen social observer like Bill Dyszel, there is a good chance that you already know how amazingly dependent we are on the internet, that highway of information and practical applications that make life so easy we often forget to actually live it in real time.
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The genesis of the idea for Critical Conversations, the spirited new Spertus Institute series debuting March 18th, was framed by another series of critical conversations between President & CEO Dr. Hal M. Lewis and former trustee, the late Eric Joss. They envisioned a series that would bring together strongly divergent perspectives on hot-button issues of the day under the Spertus philosophy that, above all, the conversations strive not to change opinions, but to enhance understanding of individual viewpoints with civility and respect for one another.
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On any given day in the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun Times or countless other publications in print or online, you will see powerful images by photographer Michael Brosilow. These are not breaking news photos, but they are breaking stories in a theatrical world that Brosilow has been a part of for over 32 years, capturing the rich textures, brilliant colors and the extraordinary personalities who create the work that appears on Chicago stages, and many others, across the country. He sees it before we do and his images last long after the play has drifted out of our memory.
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To hear Bob Doepel reflect on Chicago Scenic Studios, the company he founded almost 40 years ago, you might think that it just happened to come together. In truth, Doepel has elevated the process of making things come together, often under impossible deadlines, on projects that materialize overnight, to an art form.
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With 250 theaters serving an audience base of over 5 million, Chicago has one of the most respected and thriving theatre communities in the country. According to the League of Chicago Theatres, the combined budgets total more than $250 million, creating 15,000 jobs in 115 venues which translates to over 64,000 seats. And, the landscape is growing.
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Rich Daniels and The City Lights Orchestra return to the Auditorium Theatre on November 17th for ELLA & LENA: The Ladies and Their Music, a centennial concert celebration of Ella Fitzgerald and Lena Horne. Chicago vocalist and producer Joan Curto will be joined by many of Chicago’s top artists including E. Faye Butler, Beckie Menzie, Tammy McCann, Paul Marinaro, Tom Michael and Sophie Grimm with a 17-piece orchestra featuring songs from the Great American Songbook.
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