While many Chicago bars are closed on Monday nights or hardly doing any business, there is one spot that packs them in. No, it’s not for Monday Night Football or a Cubs game. They come to Sidetrack Video Bar (3349 North Halsted Street) for Showtune Mondays.
Sondheim shared his own memories of his early days with Oscar Hammerstein II who taught him the art of theatre with emphasis on lyric writing. I heard many new stories particularly about how Sondheim, at age 17 was involved with Rodgers & Hammerstein’s production of Allegro in 1947.
While in Chicago, You must see, Tommy Gun’s Garage, “Chicago’s only original Speakeasy Dinner Theater”. You’re an actor too when you come to Tommy Gun’s Garage.
Annual Jeff Equity Awards TimeLine Theatre’s much-extended production of “The History Boys” took top honors in the midsize theatre Play category and walked off with 5 statues, the most of any production honored at the festive ceremony held at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie.
Colm Feore may not be well-known name in the U.S., even though he now plays Henry Taylor in the successful TV series 24, but he is certainly a renown and celebrated actor in Canada. In his 16th season at the Festival, he takes on two complex, challenging roles and nails them both. While repertory theater features actors in multiple roles, this often means taking a lead role in one play with smaller roles in other productions. Not for Feore. He is the star of two blockbusters.
As with their previous festival subjects, King Lear and Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet is another tale of family relationships and the demands of filial obligations. Highlights of the program, which will cover 13 sessions over three weeks,
Evanston resident and Yale law graduate, Anne Nicholson Weber has sought answers concerning the effects of film and TV on theatre. She has interviewed 24 theatre/film/TV experts allowing them to express in their own words: “How can theatre thrive in a culture dominated by film and television?”
Editor’s note: Tom Williams originally published this Chicago Critic list in 2002. Musical-theatre reputations and revival histories have changed considerably since then, so several titles once described as overlooked are now firmly established classics. We’ve cleaned up the original archive, corrected creator credits and added brief context while preserving Tom’s 25 selections. Some of these … Read more
by Tom Williams 1. Show Boat by Jerome Kern & Oscar Hammerstein II 2. Les Miserables by Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schonberg & Herbert Kretzmer 3. My Fair Lady by Frederick Loewe & Alan Jay Lerner 4. Gypsy by Jule Styne & Stephen Sondheim 5. Oklahoma by Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II 6. Crazy For … Read more
The opening ten minutes of a Broadway Musical are critical. Every great show has a great opening. Even if a musical gets the opening correct, the show can still fall apart. But, get the opening wrong and the show surely will fail. The audience’s expectations are sent in the wrong direction and once they realize that they have been misled, they will feel cheated.