Latest news with #GoodmanTheatre
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Iconic '90s Actress, 61, Stuns Fans With Natural Aging Appearance
Iconic '90s Actress, 61, Stuns Fans With Natural Aging Appearance originally appeared on Parade. , 61, has stunned fans with her natural aging appearance. Recently, the Mad About You and As Good as It Gets actress opened up about opting out of living up to Hollywood's beauty standards as she ages. 🎬 SIGN UP for Parade's Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox 🎬 "It felt impossible not to internalize the way you're supposed to look," Hunt said during an interview with Flow Space published on June 4. And [there was] a certain amount of misery and shame around not looking exactly that way,' she said while speaking to Flow Space. The Twister star continued, "I realized, 'This could quietly ruin your whole life.' I made a decision: I'm not playing. Not gonna [let it] take up a lot of space in my mind." Instead, Hunt follows the approach of eating "what you want and love every bite, period." She has decided to skip Botox and other cosmetic procedures, opting to age naturally. The What Women Want actress has shared recent photos of herself on social media, and fans love her refreshing choice. "You still Beautiful Helen," one fan declared in the comments of another post. Another shared, "Helen looking hot af 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥." "Helen you are beautiful ❤️🌹," someone else echoed. In a snap from March, Hunt debuted bangs, to which one Instagram user declared, "You are beautiful Helen!!! Love your hair ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️." A different follower commented, "Gorgeous as always, Helen❤️." Earlier in 2025, Hunt started in the play Betrayal at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago alongside Robert Sean Leonard and Ian Barford. On TV, the actress most recently appeared in Hacks. She has two upcoming acting projects, per IMDb, In Cold Light and Tower Stories. Next: Iconic '90s Actress, 61, Stuns Fans With Natural Aging Appearance first appeared on Parade on Jun 5, 2025 This story was originally reported by Parade on Jun 5, 2025, where it first appeared.
Chicago Tribune
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
‘Downton Abbey' star will bring her play about Ava Gardner to Chicago
Elizabeth McGovern, the American actress best known for playing Lady Cora in the British TV and movie franchise 'Downton Abbey,' will star in a show headed to Chicago that is based series of real-life interviews given by the Hollywood actress Ava Gardner. Titled 'Ava: The Secret Conversations,' the show was written by McGovern and is directed by Moritz Von Stuelpnagel. Aaron Costa Ganis also appears in the piece, which will run Sept. 24 to Oct. 12 at the Studebaker Theater in Chicago's Fine Arts Building. Karl Sydow is the producer of this commercial production, managed by Pemberley Productions, which has brought several shows to Chicago. McGovern becomes the third 'Downton Abbey' star to work in Chicago theater, following Brendan Coyle, who appeared at the Goodman Theatre, and Lesley Nicol, whose solo show was performed at the Greenhouse Theatre Center. 'Ava: The Secret Conversations' has previously been seen at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles and NY City Center in New York. It is drawn from the series of interviews Gardner gave to the British writer Peter Evans (played by Ganis) between 1988 and 1990, wherein the Golden Age star spoke of her various marriages to Mickey Rooney, Artie Shaw and Frank Sinatra, as well as her famously turbulent relationship with Howard Hughes. Evans had been hired to write Gardner's autobiography, but she ended up firing him. His book detailing the interview was not published until 2013, and has been re-imagined by McGovern for the stage. McGovern will also be seen this fall on screen in 'Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale.'
Chicago Tribune
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Review: In ‘The Antiquities' at the Goodman Theatre, what becomes of our future selves?
If you view all of those Silicon Valley kids messing around with artificial intelligence for fun and profit as kindling flames that will not only disrupt but destroy the human race, then 'The Antiquities' is your kind of show. At one point in playwright Jordan Harrison's dystopian drama at the Goodman Theatre — a play that has more to say in 95 minutes than most TV shows manage in eight seasons — a character who looks uncomfortably like Sam Bankman-Fried is messing around with AI somewhere in the early years of the 21st century, trying to make its interface as reassuringly human and intimate as possible but blithely clueless as to the consequences of his actions. And since 'The Antiquities' ping-pongs between multiple different eras from the 19th to 21st centuries (there are a lot of short scenes), Harrison is able to provide snapshots of the earliest days of techno-danger (such as the AOL dial-up moment) and their connection to his imagined future where humans can no longer find any purpose in their lives. As one of the defunct notes, sadly: 'If they can do everything that makes me me, what's the point of myself?' I'm not yet willing to admit defeat to Siri or ChatGPT, but I did read a report before starting this review that Apple was working on technology that would allow people to control its products with their thoughts. All very pro-humanoid, of course. 'The Antiquities' suggests a different future where it is the products that do the controlling. I kept thinking about George C. Wolfe's famous dramatic satire 'The Colored Museum.' This play could be called 'The Human Museum.' Or, 'How Humans Wrought Their Own Destruction.' I've long been of the view that if you are going to take yourself to the theater, with all the attendant hassle, you should see something that either provides you with a blissful escape from reality or something with sufficient stakes that it really engages the brain. As co-directed by David Cromer, who has had huge success this spring with 'Good Night, and Good Luck' and 'Dead Outlaw' (see the common theme?), this Goodman Theatre production certainly falls into the latter category. And it is superlatively acted by an ensemble cast that first performed this show at Playwrights Horizons in New York: Marchánt Davis, Layan Elwazani, Andrew Garman, Helen Joo Lee, Thomas Murphy Molony, Aria Shahghasemi, Kristen Sieh, Ryan Spahn and Amelia Workman. All are unstintingly committed. But Sieh is the standout, emitting a complex blend of sardonic acceptance, cynical verbosity and submerged emotional longing. It's kind of a hot combination these days, given the number of theater and TV shows out there worrying about the future and imagining that humans will have a lot more competition. In the Broadway musical 'Maybe Happy Ending,' for example, we meet two robots for whom battery life is a proxy for mortality. In 'The Antiquities,' we learn of not only the hubris and carelessness that might get us to that point, but also the existential crises that will then afflict the non-humanoids running the world. I mean, it's logical that said beings will wonder to each other if it was better to be able to live and die than live forever. After all, we will have created them. They are likely to have some of our neuroses and our penchant for nostalgia. They're likely to wonder what it must have been like to deal with the limitations of an aging, non-renewable body. Wherein we have no choice but to reside. Maybe these bots will arrive at the conclusion that only by understanding humans will they be able to understand themselves. If this kind of contemplation of an evening is not your thing, this is not your kind of show. Unlike 'Maybe Happy Ending,' neither Harrison nor Cromer coats any of these implications with any sentimentality or romanticism. No love balm or sweet ballads here. Rather, they offer chilly but intensely detailed snapshots of specific causal moments on the heedless path to destruction. For those of us of a certain age, the show's several scenes in the 1980s and 1990s put those memories into more of a linear context, or that at least was my experience watching this piece. Oh, that was the start of that, you find yourself thinking, as you watch a family marveling over their first dial-up and their one computer talking to another. I think the most interesting aspect of this play is how logically it arrives at its central conclusion that humans will no longer have self-worth or control, assuming things continue as they are going. Big tech, of course, sells every innovation as beneficial to us carbon-based masters of our own universe; 'The Antiquities' very much suggests otherwise. Simply put, your head will spin for 95 minutes. And then you'll worry more about the human trajectory, maybe arriving (as did I) at the notion that we really do spend our time obsessing over entirely the wrong things. Review: 'The Antiquities' (4 stars) When: Through June 1 Where: Goodman's Owen Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St. Running time: 1 hour, 35 minutes Tickets: $33-$73 at 312-443-3800 and
Chicago Tribune
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
David Cromer's astonishingly busy spring with George Clooney, ‘Dead Outlaw' and now ‘The Antiquities'
No American theater professional has had a spring like David Cromer, the longtime Chicago theater director who opened two Broadway shows in New York in a matter of weeks, 'Good Night, and Good Luck' starring George Clooney and based on the 2005 movie, and the musical 'Dead Outlaw.' Both have been successes. Cromer was nominated for a Tony Award for his work on 'Dead Outlaw' and, last week, 'Good Night, and Good Luck' became the first play in the history of Broadway to gross more than $4 million in a single week. On Monday, Cromer opens yet another show, 'The Antiquities' at Chicago's Goodman Theatre. Penned by Jordan Harrison and co-directed by Caitlin Sullivan, the Goodman production restages a futuristic show seen last year off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons in New York. Cromer flew in and out of Chicago briefly for technical rehearsals but sat down with his favorite Lou Malnati's pizza for an interview at the Goodman. Our following conversation has been edited. Q: How goes the spring? The spring is very busy. I'm happy as a clam. I'm lucky. Q: So many shows. A: I would like to be conservative in my agreeing to things, but I don't see that happening if opportunities are afforded to me. It's just hard to say no to things you think you want to do. 'Good Night, and Good Luck' was simply an opportunity I could not pass up, but even though George Clooney was in it, we still had to wait for a theater so we didn't know the timing. We also didn't know when 'Dead Outlaw' was going to happen. But then, I also wanted still to do 'The Antiquities.' Q: Why? A: It's a play about, blah, blah, blah, the human condition. Q: Like so many of them are. A: Like so many of them are. But it has a brilliant, speculative sci-fi construct that I was really excited by. It reminded me of Kurt Vonnegut although it is totally original. We spent several years doing workshops during COVID. It is about things I care about. I am never good at talking about what those things are, but I think we finally came around to the idea that it is about how every generation thinks they lost something by being in the generation they are in. 'We used to not be on our phones all the time.' They used to complain that comic books rotted people's brains. So there has always been an attack on the present and a deification of the past on our way to saying that things are getting worse. Then there's the idea that if technology comes to mean that we don't die anymore, then that would also become something we felt we were missing: 'We used to try to live more because we were going to die.' Q: Big death-themed spring for you, what with 'Dead Outlaw.' A: We have to be more comfortable with death because we don't have a choice. Valuing life is important but having a good relationship with death could be useful. Both shows are about that. The thing that keeps us striving is seeking to avoid death: seeking of pleasure, happiness, things that nurture us. Doing plays is part of that. Q: Was 'Good Night, and Good Luck' a life-changing artistic experience for you? Talk about a colossal canvas. A: I loved having that amount of technology and resources and 25 actors. There were 'yeses' to choices we wanted to make on that show that would not otherwise have happened. I don't think I ever do specifically political theater, and I don't think I have ever done a show about an important point in history since 'Angels in America' in Chicago. So, yes. It was a brand new experience. I don't imagine I ever will do a play in a theater that size again. Q: There was a very bracing and shocking video of very timely media clips. Who came up with that? It had content that only occurred weeks ago. A: George (Clooney) and Grant (Heslov). It had been written into the original screenplay. But they decided not to do it the last minute because it felt out of scale with the film they were doing and didn't feel right. The focus of the film had more to do with how the media was changing. And the focus of this production changed more to how fascism was on the rise again. Q: You did see a lot of changes in the use of video technology on Broadway this year. A: Video used to be so strange in a show. I think it took a long time for people to figure out had to use it well. But let me say, in like 1985 at Wisdom Bridge Theatre, I went to see Robert Falls' 'Hamlet' and, at the end, Fortinbras came in with live video of the bloodied bodies. I remember being dazzled by that. And that was 43 years ago. Q: With Clooney you were around a mega-celebrity for the first time, creatively. What was that like? A: He made it very easy. I don't know how well I handle things like that. I am always intimidated and I think there will be impatience with my flakiness, especially given how George has a million projects going all the time, things at every level. Artistically, he is incredible dry and subtle and does not like any broad stuff. He was always upping the ante on keeping it simple with me and making me feel like I was being very baroque and melodramatic. But he understands his place in show-business and takes it very seriously and goes out of his way to make people feel comfortable. Edward R. Murrow liked to be influential and famous, too. But he did feel like he was doing public service. I get emotional every time I read his words. The show certainly makes money but it also gives us words to remind us that we have been here before. Q: What do you believe you added the most? A: I wanted us to spend more time with the CBS reporters, to show people how the sausage was made. I also wanted those screens to come out because I felt people were going to come to the show to see George so we should make sure that they were really able to see George. Q: And 'Dead Outlaw'? A: I didn't think it was going to be that interesting a story at first, more of a 'Ripley's Believe it or Not.' But I also knew it was David (Yazbek) and Itamar (Moses), so I was smart enough to just keep my mouth shut and say yes to everything. Q: What's next? A: I am doing a play called 'Caroline' at MCC (in New York) by a Chicago writer, Preston Allen. I am doing some workshops of a musical adaptation of the movie, 'Weekend.' And I am doing a second workshop this summer of 'Fire and Rain,' the James Taylor musical, which Tracy (Letts) is writing. … He has had a script for a while. He has already done a rewrite. Q: This is a biographical show? A: No. It's an original story. It rhymes a little bit with James Taylor's life. It starts in 1970 and takes place in North Carolina for a little while, which is where he lived when he was young. It's about these young people who are in a band together, and their families. It's called 'Fire and Rain' and has to do with finding out you aren't going to see somebody again which is the hook of the song. Tracy and James spent about a year talking with each other and talking about music. James was very specific. He didn't want the story of his life or of all his struggles. So it's very much a Tracy Letts play with James Taylor songs. There is a moment in the script when one of the characters becomes famous. But one of the things we have talked about is how there are many talented people who do became famous. So maybe it could be more about, what is a life in art that does involve success and fame? Is that necessarily a tragedy? Are there not other ways to live your life than being successful and famous? Q: No vacations coming? A: I can have a vacation when I am dead.
Chicago Tribune
29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Review: ‘Bust' at the Goodman Theatre begins with a leap of imagination
A Black man finds himself in confrontation with the police as anxious neighbors watch from their apartment, horrified at the escalating confrontation, grabbing their phones to document what is happening. A crescendo begins to rise as if this all-too-familiar event will end with violence as so many others have. But then there's a flash and bang and the man disappears into thin air. No one knows where he went. He didn't run off. He just seems to have vanished as if by magic, leaving the police officers scratching their heads, perplexed by what just happened. When you watch that intriguing opening scene of Zora Howard's 'Bust,' an accomplished new play produced at the Goodman Theatre in concert with both the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta and the commercial producer Sonia Friedman, what shoots into your head is how skillfully this gifted writer has come up with a metaphor for a solution to this most vexing and dangerous of ubiquitous American confrontations; if one of what typically are two angry parties could immediately be transported out of the situation, as if by a 'Star Trek'-like teleporter, lives would be saved. Mysteries deepen as 'Bust' progresses, and we learn that these magical disappearances are not limited to one occurrence. Before the end of this two-hour play, Howard has revealed the destination, too, evoking the famous 'Somewhere' number in 'West Side Story,' broadening her themes to explore not just a notable method of violence-interruption but the danger of pent-up anger and bottled-up feelings, all in service of the truth that shootings traumatize not just those directly involved, but the witnesses and the entire community. And that confrontations with unintended consequences create an endless cycle of repetition and pain. That description makes 'Bust' sound like a heavy night of theater, which is not entirely incorrect. But Howard strives to leaven the experience with comedy, whether that flows from the exuberant spirits of Reggie (Ray Anthony Thomas) and Retta (the especially excellent Caroline Stefanie Clay) watching the confrontation, or the slew of mostly young high schoolers (variously played by Bernard Gilbert, Victoria Omoregie, Ivan Cecil Walks and Renika Williams-Blutcher) wondering about this disappearance thing, only to find that Reggie and Retta's grandson, Trent (Cecil Blutcher), might also be a candidate for finding his way to the other side. 'Bust' is one of several dramatic works (such as 'Pass Over' and the opera 'Blue') written about police shootings that were first developed during the pandemic, post-George Floyd era, a time of trauma and unrest when few Black writers in the nonprofit American theater felt inclined to be fair to police. And, indeed, the white officer here (played by Mark Bedard) is a stereotype of a racist Alabama cop, sans a reasonable bone in his body. His immigrant partner, Ramirez (Jorge Luna) is also somewhat stereotypically drawn, replete with concern for his large family, unease with his job and other standard-issue tropes that I'm not convinced most Latino cops would appreciate. The play's Black characters are drawn with diversity, vivacity and, above all, complexity. I'd argue 'Bust' would be a yet better play if it threw out those stereotypes and created complex figures from those cops. For example, the play seems to either not know or not care how often police officers act out of fear, justified or not, for their personal safety, especially when they don't know someone's location. As any clear-eyed specialist in these matters will tell you, that often explains why things go so terribly wrong. 'Bust' just treats these cops as either expediently trying to keep their job (the Latino officer) or being aggressively racist (the white officer). What a play this would be if had the courage to eschew such melodrama. It might really have the capacity to make an even bigger impact. Director Lileana Blain-Cruz's production is an exuberant and exciting affair, although the set sometimes gets in the way of the power of the work, sending the actors upstage or trapping them in a raised box in the work's most primal moments. The performances are very much present and alive and that serves to reflect the play's notion that vibrant Black life gets assaulted from without. But when the scenes set in a familiar landscape feel so heightened as to not be truthful, which happens occasionally, that diminishes the power of the semi-mythical landscape the play posits as balm and a salve for the Black soul. It other words, too much of a departure from reality diminishes the crucial contrast with the other side, the somewhere, wherein lies Howard's most potent political observation and artistic longing lies. That could and should be fixed. Act 2 of 'Bust' is mostly excellent, especially the scenes where the actor Keith Randolph Smith, who I've admired for decades, lays out the price always paid by Black Americans, whether engaged in an assaultive world or choosing to inhabit somewhere different, somewhere of their own design. Therein, Howard really hits a chord: She's writing about anger and trauma, for sure, but also about the perennial dilemma as to whether to engage and struggle, politically and within a family, or disengage for greener personal pastures. Who has not wondered about that? Chris Jones is a Tribune critic. cjones5@ When: Through May 18 Where: Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St.
