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Chicago Tribune
07-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Review: A full-throated ‘Parade' marches into the CIBC Theatre with a fresh emphasis on human fragility
All these years of reviewing Broadway productions followed by first national tours of the same title have taught me that the casts that take to the road often are the better of the two. Why? First, because musicals on Broadway have to worry too much about stars, Instagram followings and a host of other political factors, as well as the artistry. Second, because directors and casting directors typically don't know who is really right, or wrong, for a role until after the production is up and running. And, third, because Broadway shows have ensemble members and understudies who not only study the show night after night and figure out its artistry and mechanics but often were always better than the leads anyway. When they move up on a tour, they can be quite astonishing. I'm only talking about Equity shows and first tours here, not tired bus and trucks or cheapened one-nighters. And this only applies when the original director and other artists are actually involved in the tour, which is not always the case. If you see 'restaged by' on the program title page, watch out. But for 'Parade,' which is a magnificent tour featuring far more organic and high-quality singing and acting than the nonetheless award-winning 2023 Broadway revival, all of that applies. Spectacularly so. Director Michael Arden clearly is still in charge. And I've seen enough of Jason Robert Brown in a rehearsal room over the years to know he does not mess around when performers are working on his music (I went all the way to Green Bay, Wisconsin, 25 years ago to see the first tour of 'Parade' and found Brown in the pit, conducting his own score). All of that is self-evident at the CIBC Theatre, where I really can't praise the two lead performers, Max Chernin and Talia Suskauer, highly enough. Not only is their singing glorious (as is that of many others in this cast, including, especially Ramone Nelson, Trevor James and Robert Knight), but the two performers essaying the married couple of Leo and Lucille Frank have both a self-obfuscating humility and a rigorous lack of sentimentality encapsulated in their performances. That's crucial to the telling of this somber, real-life story of a Jewish pencil factory manager in 1913 Atlanta who was first accused of murdering one of his young workers. He was railroaded at his sensationalized trial by the smoldering antisemitism founded in the South in the first decades of the 20th century and then lynched by a mob. Alfred Uhry's 1998 book took enormous pains to avoid obvious melodrama and while it would go much too far to suggest that the show claims Frank was complicit in his own injustice, it does make very clear that his personality, his chilly remove, his myopia, sure didn't help. As a result, 'Parade' gains a genuinely tragic patina; you leave the theater not just with a renewed sense of the constant ubiquity of ignorance and evil but also of people ill-equipped to understand even the most basic of facts. Even about themselves. Chernin makes that very clear. And although Suskauer is playing a woman who truly loves her husband, she also makes clear the cost of her husband's wound-tight self-sufficiency on what Lucille had hoped for in her marriage. One watches loyalty undercut by personal disappointment. Most importantly, thanks to these performances, you see both of these characters change and evolve, which I did not think was the case on Broadway. Playwrights were more likely to see the importance of forging such complexity in 1998 than I now usually find to be the case, but then the late Uhry ('Driving Miss Daisy') was a masterful and sometimes under-appreciated writer. And he came from Atlanta himself, so he knew the kinds of characters he was writing about here. Like all shows, 'Parade,' which has been seen several times in Chicago since its creation, beginning at the now-defunct Bailiwick Repertory Theatre in 2004, is subject to the precise moment at which it is experienced. When it comes to issues of antisemitism, the world has changed drastically even since the Broadway revival opened in March 2023. The themes of 'Parade,' have, to say the least, intensified. Saying shows feel newly relevant now is a cliche best avoided in theater reviews, unless unavoidable. (As here). But I think Arden's direction has changed, too. On Broadway, the just post-COVID-19 revival felt nervous of causing offense and ended up pandering in places to those easy, stereotypical views of the South. The scrunched design is the same and I still have my issues there. But this time, everything about the show is far subtler, more balanced and far richer in nuance. Although it sounds counterintuitive, that actually means its revelations of the consequences of fear of the other are all the more impactful, all the more devastating. Rodgers and Hammerstein understood this years ago. Brown and Uhry, too. One last note. Major tours like this of serious, analog musicals emphasizing lyric singing and potent characterizations are being squeezed by jukebox shows, digital spectacles, 90-minute kiddie pop and those that feature branded, music industry names. The road is far tougher post-COVID-19. If you support the idea of these pieces in Chicago, it behoves you to go and see the rewards for yourself. Two weeks only. Review: 'Parade' (4 stars) When: Through Aug. 17 Where: CIBC Theatre, 18 W. Monroe St. Running time: 2 hours, 40 minutes Tickets: $35-$125 at 312-977-1700 and
Chicago Tribune
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
‘Hamilton' will return to Chicago in 2026 following Kennedy Center cancellation
The Broadway musical 'Hamilton' will return to Chicago in 2026, the producer Jeffrey Seller announced Sunday at a Chicago Humanities Festival event. The first national touring company of Lin-Manuel Miranda's smash hit will play the CIBC Theatre (18 W. Monroe St.) from March 4 to April 26, 2026. Group tickets are now available; individual tickets will go on sale later this year, presenter Broadway in Chicago said. Those dates roughly coincide with the previously planned dates for the show to play the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Seller had announced the cancellation of those dates after President Donald Trump announced plans to install himself as Kennedy Center chairman and change the arts center's programming to be more in line with his administration's priorities. Beginning in 2016 and concluding in 2020, 'Hamilton' had a dedicated, 171-week run in Chicago, the first city to present the show after its Broadway opening. The Chicago company played to more than 2.5 million people and grossed more than $400 million at the Chicago box office over three and a half years. It was an economic driver in the Loop, with more than half of its audience coming from more than 100 miles away. Updated 'Hamilton' timeline: From Miranda's 'joke' to Obama's White House to Broadway to Chicago and back A touring production of the musical came back in 2023 for a fall run at the Nederlander Theatre. This new engagement will represent a promised return. Seller was in Chicago for an event at the Francis Parker School to talk about his new memoir, 'Theater Kid.'
CBS News
16-04-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Alton Brown comes to Chicago's CIBC Theatre for "Last Bite" tour
Food host and TV personality Alton Brown is coming to Chicago for one day only on his "Last Bite" tour. Brown stopped by CBS News Chicago Wednesday morning to tell us what fans can expect from "Alton Brown Live: Last Bite," the differences between his television work and performing for a live audience, why this is his last tour, and what he plans to do next in his career. Brown also talked about what it means to return to Chicago, where his very first show "Good Eats" originally aired. "Alton Brown Live: Last Bite" will be at the CIBC Theatre Saturday, April 19 for two performances. You can purchase tickets at .
