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Chicago Tribune
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Theater for summer 2025: Our top 10 from '42 Balloons' on Navy Pier to Amy Morton back at Steppenwolf
As our chilly, dusty spring turns into summer, Chicago theaters have a stellar line-up of warm-weather attractions for you and your out-of-town guests to enjoy. Here are 10 shows opening between Memorial Day and Labor Day that look especially promising. Live entertainment can be found all over town, of course, but Chicago Shakespeare Theater will be especially busy this summer with two new shows likely to attract international attention. Before I list my picks, I'll add my annual reminder that some here may disappoint, and that 10 shows hardly do the full seasonal slate justice. You can also find an Ethiopian Circus at Chicago Shakespeare this summer, not to mention magic and comedy all over town, some familiar musicals in the city and suburbs, and a new Second City e.t.c Stage. revue, to name just a few more. And we've also not included the likes of American Players Theatre in Spring Green, Wisconsin, just a short drive away. '42 Balloons' at Chicago Shakespeare Theater: Arguably the highest profile Chicago show this summer, '42 Balloons' is a pre-Broadway tryout from producer Kevin McCollum ('Six') in Chicago Shakespeare's Yard on Navy Pier. First produced at The Lowry in Salford, Manchester, in the United Kingdom and penned by the British writer-composer Jack Godfrey, '42 Balloons' is the real-life story of 'Lawnchair Larry' Walters, a Vietnam veteran who, in 1982, made a quixotic, solo 45-minute flight above Southern California in, of all things, a lawn chair, as lifted by more than 40 helium-filled weather balloons, reaching 16,000 feet. Expect an all-new pop score themed to the power ballads, funk and glam rock sounds of the much-maligned 1980s. 'Diana the Musical' at Theo Theatre: Although a flop on Broadway, this campy musical from Joe DiPietro was to be rethought and retooled in Chicago-style fashion by Fred Anzevino, the longtime artistic director of Theo and a man who deeply appreciated all the former Princess of Wales did during the AIDS crisis. Alas, Anzevino died while in rehearsals for a show now dedicated to his memory. For all its excesses, 'Diana' did have a better score than a lot of critics first realized, so I'll be interested to see how it works as director Brenda Didier and the other Theo artists work to honor a man who did so much for small productions of musicals in Chicago. 'Iraq, But Funny' at Lookingglass Theatre: The list of theatrical comedies about Iraq is short, but Lookingglass Theatre, experiencing a rebirth this season after a long hiatus, is adding to the canon with this semi-autobiographical show about five generations of Assyrian women, as penned by ensemble member Atra Asdou and starring Asdou, Susaan Jamshidi, Gloria Imseih Petrelli, James Rana and Sina Pooresmaeil. Asdou describes her show as a 'raucous satire,' and the narrator is 'a British guy.' Intriguing. 'You Will Get Sick' by Steppenwolf Theatre Company: The title might not suggest summer frolics but few will care, since 'You Will Get Sick' represents the return of the much-loved Amy Morton to the Steppenwolf stage after an absence of eight years (since her appearance in 'Hir' in 2017). Since then, she's been one of the main characters on the massively popular Dick Wolf TV show 'Chicago P.D.,' which has been good for her and the franchise's global viewers but less good for Chicago theatergoers. Morton returns to the mainstage of her home theater in a much-acclaimed play by Noah Diaz about a young man and his caregiver, a role first played off-Broadway by Linda Lavin. Co-artistic director Audrey Francis directs. 'Kimberly Akimbo' at CIBC Theatre: Chicago gets its first look at the first national tour of the justly acclaimed Broadway musical from 2022 about the 16-year-old title character who has a rare genetic disorder — meaning that she ages very quickly and has the appearance of a 62-year-old woman, even as she is just trying to go to junior prom. The gorgeous score is by the incomparable Jeanine Tesori with a book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire, after his own play. This affirmative and teen-friendly piece, fundamentally, is the quirky story of a stranger in the strange land of her own body. And it's far more life-affirming than its plot might first suggest. 'Dhaba on Devon Avenue' by Writers Theatre: I'm a sucker for locally set plays and this summer attraction at Writers Theatre in Glencoe is set on Chicago's famously rich and diverse Devon Avenue, the Far North Side artery and early epicenter of the Indiana diaspora in the Midwest. Homing in on a big dilemma for family restaurants, playwright Madhuri Shekar writes about a small Indian eatery that has to contend with the economic struggles of the restaurant business at large and generational change within a hard-working family that has long served hungry diners on Devon. 'Beauty and the Beast' at Cadillac Palace Theatre: This 1994 live adaptation of the beloved animated movie was a seminal event in the launch of Disney Theatricals, a producing entity that went on to create 'The Lion King,' 'Aladdin' and many others. The first Broadway project of the mighty mouse basically set about putting the movie on stage, replete with the fabulous songs by Alan Menken, the late Howard Ashman and Tim Rice. It was masterfully done and never repeated, even by Disney, who then turned to distinctively theatrical artists like Julie Taymor. This summer, Disney is bringing back this title in a whole new touring production. I'll be fascinated to see what decisions they make for the tale as old as time. Better yet, the Chicago great Kathy Voytko is playing Mrs. Potts. 'Twisted Melodies' at Northlight Theatre: The talented and longtime Chicago actor Kelvin Rolston Jr. has written this new show for himself about the late Chicago-born musician, singer and composer Donny Hathaway, known for his soul music and R&B hits, as well as his duets with Roberta Flack. Expect to hear Hathaway classics like 'I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know,' 'The Ghetto' and 'The Closer I Get to You.' The highly experienced Ron OJ Parson directs this show about a musical giant who, alas, lived only for 33 years. 'Billie Jean' at Chicago Shakespeare Theater: In one of the biggest shows of the post-Wimbledon summer, Chicago Shakespeare Theater explores the life and times of the tennis icon and LGBTQ activist Billie Jean King, who lived for many years in Chicago. I'm told King is involved with a show likely to have a future beyond Chicago. Penned by the popular and prolific Lauren Gunderson, 'Billie Jean' will be directed by Marc Bruni and already has a commercial producer attached. How the show will handle the action on the court itself remains to be seen but you can expect a celebration of King's ground-breaking achievements in and out of the great game. 'Things With Friends' at American Blues Theater: The high-profile writer Kristoffer Diaz ('Hells Kitchen,' 'The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity') is now an ensemble member at American Blues and he has given them the coup of producing the world premiere of his latest play, 'Things With Friends.' Therein, we meet Adele and Burt throwing a dinner party for their dearest friends, even as the George Washington Bridge and Brooklyn Battery Tunnel have collapsed into their respective rivers. Things apparently go from there.
Chicago Tribune
21-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
What to do in Chicago: ‘Queer Eye' live, Yuridia in concert and the Joffrey Ballet
Mo Amer: The stand-up comedian and co-creator of the Peabody Award-winning Netflix show 'Mo' — a semi-autobiographical take on being a Palestinian refugee in Texas — appears at The Chicago Theatre. In a recent appearance on 'The Daily Show,' Jon Stewart heaped praise on Amer: 'The thing about art that you did so well was, you told your story. It's just one story, but boy, is it resonant.' 7:30 p.m. Feb. 22 at the Chicago Theatre, 175 N. State St.; tickets at 'Queer Eye: The Fab Five Live': If you can't wait for Season 10 of the Emmy-winning 'Queer Eye,' you're in luck. A December live show featuring Karamo Brown, Jeremiah Brent, Antoni Porowski, Tan France and Jonathan Van Ness has been rescheduled for this weekend. Expect audience participation. 7:30 p.m. Feb. 23 at the Chicago Theatre, 175 N. State St.; tickets $53.50-$103 at Yuridia: Mexican pop star Yuridia brings her 'Sin Llorar' tour to the Rosemont Theatre. Nicknamed 'La voz de un ángel,' the singer will showcase songs from her previous seven albums as well as the forthcoming 'Pa' luego es tarde Vol. 2.' 8 p.m. Feb. 22 at the Rosemont Theatre, 5400 N. River Road, Rosemont; tickets $39-$139 at Frequency Festival: Constellation offers a lineup of contemporary and experimental musicians, including the Mivos Quartet, Welsh violinist Angharad Davies, the U.S. debut of UK turntablist Mariam Rezaei and pianist Pat Thomas, and Chicago's Ensemble Dal Niente. 'Circus Quixote': After a yearlong pause, the Lookingglass Theatre has reopened with a 'truly splendiferous' new lobby, according to a Tribune review, and 'a rich, circus-infused show designed to remind everyone of its crucial historical role in the Chicago theater aesthetic.' Through March 30 at Lookingglass Theatre in the Water Tower Water Works, 163 E. Pearson St.; tickets $35-$80 at 'The Uncanny Attic — Chapters A-D': LookOut, Steppenwolf Theatre's series presenting the work of local artists, continues with an absurdist dark comedy inspired by Edward Gorey. The performance will feature a morbid dose of puppetry, clowning, dance, live music and stop-motion animation. 8 p.m. Feb. 21-22 in Steppenwolf's 1700 Theater, 1700 N. Halsted St.; tickets $5-$35 at West Loop Contemporary Fine Art Expo: Forty-three fine artists will offer their work for sale. From cityscapes to abstract collage, see what you can snag. Art shipping services will be available. Through Feb. 23 in Stephen M. Bailey Auditorium, Plumbers Hall, 1340 W. Washington Blvd.; tickets $20-$60 at 'Golden Hour': Featuring a world premiere of 'Andante,' a new piece by 'Anna Karenina' choreographer Yuri Possokhov and the audience favorite 'Under the Trees' Voices' by Nicolas Blanc, the Joffrey Ballet presents 'Golden Hour.' Dani Rowe's 'Princess and the Pea' and Cathy Marston's 'Heimat' also will be performed. Through March 2 at Lyric Opera House, 20 N. Wacker Drive; tickets $36-$192 at St. Charles Singers: The chamber choir will host its second annual 'Choral Connections,' a community outreach project that draws together mixed-voice vocal ensembles from six suburban high schools to perform along with the St. Charles Singers. Batavia, Fremd and St. Charles North high schools will perform on Feb. 21, and West Aurora, Kaneland and Glenbard North high schools will perform Feb. 22. Each choir will sing a set of their own, and then the concerts will conclude with joint performances of Elaine Hagenberg's 'Measure Me, Sky!' and Shawn Kirchner's 'I'll Be on My Way.' 7:30 p.m. Feb. 21-22 at Baker Memorial United Methodist Church, 307 Cedar Ave., St. Charles; tickets $12-$25 at 'Pipilotti Rist: Supersubjektiv': This 2001 video artwork opens on the fourth floor of the Museum of Contemporary Art this weekend for a run through the end of summer. Rist transformed digital video she took during a month-long trip to Japan into a dream-like presentation accompanied by an ambient electronic soundtrack, made in collaboration with composer Anders Guggisberg. Through Sept. 14 in the Turner Gallery at MCA Chicago, 220 E. Chicago Ave.; 312-280-2660 and
Chicago Tribune
11-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Review: In Lookingglass Theatre's ‘Circus Quixote,' the magical parts don't always make a whole
With a beautiful — truly splendiferous — new lobby at the Water Tower Water Works, Lookingglass Theatre has come back to life with a rich, circus-infused show designed to remind everyone of its crucial historical role in the Chicago theater aesthetic. Huzzah for that. I've long thought the history of Chicago theater rests on a three-legged stool: The improv tradition of Second City, the in-your-face acting made famous by Steppenwolf Theatre, and the decades of innovative work by Lookingglass, as incubated at Northwestern University, that made Chicago a center for turning non-dramatic works of all kinds (novels, poems, notebooks) into fresh, beautiful, physical shows. The new production, 'Circus Quixote,' a new adaptation by David and Kerry Catlin of Miguel de Cervantes' 'Don Quijote of La Mancha,' is very much in that wheelhouse, given this 17th century work's foundational role when it comes to the development of the novel, especially in Spain. Characters such as Aldonza/Dulcinea (Laura Murillo Hart), Sancho Panza (Eduardo Martinez) and Don Q himself (Michel Rodríguez Cintra) all are familiar to fans of the musical 'The Man of La Mancha,' but this is a Lookingglass show so nobody is about to start warbling 'The Impossible Dream.' We're dealing with the source here, in all of its quixotic glory. It would be more poetic, for sure, to declare this comeback show a great triumph, but the truth is that 'Circus Quixote' has its issues, although in my book that does not make its appearance any less welcome. Lookingglass' Achilles heel over the years has been to get lost in details instead of focusing on what really matters in and around the theater. I would not say that tendency is vanquished here. If you looking at the piece on a moment-by-moment basis, it's quite delightful, given the oodles of creativity evidenced in Courtney O'Neill's fabulously inventive design (a great wall of books, among other things), the spectacular and witty puppets from Grace Needlman (part of the reason why Act 2 is much stronger than Act 1), the circus experiences devised by the great Sylvia Hernandez-DiStasi (unevenly present, but welcome every time) and the general joie de vivre and love of adventure that the director David Catlin long has brought to his work with this company. There are some wonderful individual pieces of staging, so clever that I started to realize just how much I have missed what this theater company can do. But a show based around a quest needs an empathetic, charismatic lead to show the audience the way and define the desired takeaway. And despite charm and talent, Cintra does not command the center of the experience, or at least he did not at the Friday performance I saw. Frankly, I'm not convinced the adaptation helps him enough in that quest. There are a pair of competing narrators in the piece, including Cervantes (Martinez), and that little battle over who has the right to tell whose story, while interesting and very Lookingglass, often pulls focus from our dreamy main man here. ('The Man of La Mancha' actually contained some lessons there.) On that same theme, for a show that is so sophisticated in its vision of storytelling, it demurs when it comes to really looking audiences in the eye and telling them what they are watching, and why. There's a lot of air in the piece. There's also some tonal inconsistency. At times, it feels like we are watching a Spanish 'Spamalot,' at others, more of a cirque-like dreamscape, at still others, a philosophy seminar. Such eclecticism is baked into the novel, granted, and also in the circus itself. But there's still a fine line between tonally eclectic and tonally inconsistent and this show needs a firmer focus on the former. This is Cervantes, y'all. A contemporary audience needs some help. What's at stake in individual moments is perfectly clear. The stage drips with talent (both Andrea San Miguel and Ayana Strutz are especially strong) and myriad forms of invention. But what are we to feel? There's the rub. Are we celebrating hope and endurance for its own sake or witnessing the cautionary tale of a cockeyed optimist? It could be all of the above by all means, but the show hasn't yet linked its individual scenes to a fully clear position. I still found the piece admirable (those theatrical moments are that skilled and sweet). The big issue here, given the richness of the material, strikes me as eminently fixable. By the time you go — and this company deserves support in its comeback — perhaps fixed it will have been. The lodestar is perfectly reachable. Chris Jones is a Tribune critic. cjones5@ Review: 'Circus Quixote' (3 stars) When: Through March 30 Where: Lookingglass Theatre in the Water Tower Water Works, 163 E. Pearson St. Running time: 2 hours, 25 minutes
CBS News
28-01-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Chicago's Lookingglass Theatre celebrates renovated space, return to stage
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Chicago's famous Lookingglass Theatre on Monday celebrated its new design and path forward. The Tony Award-winning theatre company held a ribbon cutting Monday for its newly-renovated lobby, bar, and café at the Water Tower Waterworks, at 163 E. Pearson St. Lookingglass cofounder David Schwimmer, whose involvement with the theatre predates his role as Ross Geller on "Friends" by six years, was at the venue to share the announcement Monday. Schwimmer revealed the revamped lobby in the nearly 155-year-old Chicago Avenue Pumping Station complex as the theatre prepares to return to the stage after the COVID-19 pandemic and a long hiatus. "Lookingglass was forced to close our doors, pause operations for 19 months, and let the majority of our staff go. It was devastating," Schwimmer said. "But this is Chicago — the City of Big Shoulders — and its strength, resilience, and work ethic inspires us. We decided to regroup, rebuild, and today, reopen." Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker was also present for the ribbon-cutting. "The best way out of division and chaos may be by bringing people together to share experiences and find common bonds in the imagination of gifted playwrights and across actors, and so many others that bring Lookingglass to life," Pritzker said. The Lookingglass is also renaming its theatre space the Joan & Paul Theatre in honor of longtime supporters Joan and Paul Rubschlager — whose name also graces the Rush University Medical Center building that houses the Rush MD Anderson Cancer Center. The first show in the revamped space is "Circus Quixote," based on the early-17th-century Miguel de Cervantes novel "Don Quixote." As described by the theatre, the production goes "tiltingly, acrobatically into the dreamy madness of Don Quixote and his impossible folly-filled quest to bring good-deed doing back into the world — whether the world wants it or not!" "Circus Quixote" debuts on Thursday. The Lookingglass was founded in 1988 by Schwimmer and seven other Northwestern University students. Its space in the old pumping station first opened in 2003. The Chicago Avenue Pumping Station is located opposite Michigan Avenue from the famous Chicago Water Tower. It was completed in 1869, according to published reports, and it survived the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 along with the Water Tower itself. Before the Lookingglass, the Chicago Avenue Pumping Station was home to the"Here's Chicago!" exhibition — which featured a 13-minute film showcasing the city that ran several times a day in the space from 1983 until 1996. Part of the pumping station remains in use for its original purpose as a water utility, pumping 250,000 gallons of water to the city's North Side each day.
