Theater and Stages
In a basement theater, the musical ‘Amelie’ builds a Parisian wonderland full of whimsy and kindness
The musical, staged by the Jeff Award-winning Kokandy Productions, requires actors like Aurora Penepacker to act, sing and play instruments.
The free theater series, staged in partnership with the city’s cultural affairs department, will kick off later in July with the children’s show “BOOK UP” in 12 area parks.
The sprawling, multigenerational drama of diaspora and the preservation of cultural tradition unfolds over the clattering trays and hissing burners in the kitchen of the Devon Canteen, a family-owned Sindhi restaurant on a stretch of Devon Avenue known for decades as Little India.
A world-premiere jukebox musical at Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire delivers a disappointingly shallow dose of nostalgia.
This summer is the first time the Goodman Theatre has staged the musical, based on the classic Alice Walker novel.
Arya Daire and Anish Jethmalani, on stage in ‘Dhaba on Devon Avenue’ at Writers Theatre, explain the street’s significance to South Asians in Chicago.
Tickets go on sale Wednesday for the “The Big Reveal Live Show,” running for three nights in Chicago this August.
Directed by Audrey Francis, Noah Diaz’s play is a delicate, whimsical and evocatively elusive work of imagination about illness and death. And money. And acting, sort of. And “The Wizard of Oz.”
In a new remount of Charles Newell’s critically acclaimed 2011 production, Timothy Edward Kane brings blistering rage to this one-man tour de force.
What book writer David Lindsay-Abaire, composer Jeanine Tesori and director Jessica Stone get so right is the way they blend the extreme with the ordinary, the aching with the whimsical, the relatable with the ridiculous.
“42 Balloons” has a lot of retro style, the type that blends nostalgic fondness with a whole lot of self-conscious winking.
“Purpose” made its pre-Broadway world premiere at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre in 2024. Young picked up the award for best actress in a featured role in a play for her performance in the production.
Christopher Wheeldon’s delightful adaptation of the Lewis Carroll classic tale is a cornucopia of artistry, color, whimsy, merriment, zaniness and, well, fun.
Jack Godfrey turned to the true story of one man and his homemade, weather balloon-powered flying machine that resulted in a 45-minute flight.
The Chicago Blues Festival, Tony Award-winning musical “Kimberly Akimbo” at CIBC Theatre and Ribfest Chicago are among the highlights in the week ahead.
Piven headlines two shows at the Vic Theatre as part of his first comedy tour following the death of his mom Joyce Piven in January.
John Hildreth’s stage adaptation takes a far less terrifying and exponentially more campy approach to the H.G. Wells classic.
Pulitzer Prize winner Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ “Purpose,” a family drama that received its world premiere at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre in 2024, is up for six Tony Awards, including best new play.
“42 Balloons” at Chicago Shakespeare, the Sueños Music Festival in Grant Park and the 40th Belmont-Sheffield Music Fest are among the highlights in the week ahead.