Salute to Vienna celebrates more than 21 years of New Year’s concerts, rounding off the holiday season with entertaining, light-hearted performances in 23 North American cities this year. More than 60,000 concert-goers will party like it’s 1899 between December 27 and January 3, when Salute to Vienna will kick off 2017 in the 81-year old tradition of Vienna’s world famous “Neujahrskonzert”
Here are the 12 Best stage performances for 2016:
The top 12 musicals of 2016 in Chicago by Tom Williams
Top 12 Plays of 2016
By Tom Williams
Lookingglass Theatre sure knows how to mount a little show – a two-hander actually into a complex superbly staged piece of emotional storytelling. Credit playwright/director Doug Hara’s love of the basic nature of theatre-that is storytelling into a captivating 85 minutes of stage craft. This two person show is called (by the playwright0 ” A love story…and a murder mystery…and a science-fiction fantasy…and a fairy tale adventure.” Hara also sees it as a philosophical exploration of what it means to be “alive.”
The Phantom of the Opera overwhelmed me once again with its stagecraft, its melodic score and its wonderful singing. I enjoyed this production. The opening night audience gave it a roaring standing ovation that was amazing since it was playing Chicago for the eight time! Worldwide, over 130 million people have see Phantom of the Opera in the more than 90,000 performances; there are currently 6 productions running worldwide.
The story, part fable, part frontier ghost story and parable, takes us from a campfire to wondering through the woods as the group fears a bear attack. When Tobias, the pragmatic hunter, decides to protect the community from the bear, he ventures into the woods in search. His imaginative son Elliot, who loves storytelling, wonders out into the forest to aid his father, he disappears.
The dazzling costumes, the fabulous set design and the vivid video projections are a refreshing addition to the world-class dances that The Jeffery always provides. At about two hours, this fast-paced whimsical ballet is kid-friendly and adult approved. If you are worn-out by the old version of The Nutcracker, take heed, the world premiere Chicago based concept will blow you away.
concept here is a 1960-70’s rural Austrian (?) home where the children are putting on an opera – Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Using the house’s front porch as a stage with lawn chairs filled with friends and neighbors including children, the group is ready for a ‘home-grown’ opera. What a stretch!
In their 105the revue, the new management at The Second City has presented their six creator/performers a mixed bag of sketch comedy titles: The Winner…of our Discontent which asks if its broken, should we fix it? With post-election drama filled with rich comic possibilities, I was amazed at the lack of biting comedy in the group’s sketch bits about the election?. True there were some funny bits like the Cubs bat boy bit and the three guys watering the lawn but there were also several bits that just didn’t produce laughs.