Photo: Michael Brosilow

Mixing historical figures like General William Tecumseh Sherman along with fictional counterparts who expose a greater range of the impact of Sherman’s march across Georgia and the Carolinas that devastated the South and hastened the end of the Civil War, Frank Galati’s faithful adaptation of E. L. Doctorow’s acclaimed novel “The March” manages to assemble twenty-six actors playing thirty-nine roles onto the stage, across dozens and dozens of days and places, all without driving the audience batty in the process, though it does take a couple of scenes to adjust to the pace of change. Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s the press release from Steppenwolf:

Steppenwolf Theatre Company Announces 2011/12 Subscription Season

CHICAGO (March 2, 2011) – Steppenwolf Theatre Company is pleased to announce its 2011/12 Subscription Season.  Season subscriptions go on-sale to the public on Wednesday, March 2 at 11 am.   Read the rest of this entry »

William Petersen and Ian Barford/Photo: Michael Brosilow

Frank Galati’s production of Beckett’s canonical play is visually elegant, with an effectively angular and alienating set, mostly faithful to the script and loaded with gifted performances. Unfortunately, many of the most affecting elements have been lost in this production, which turns it from an absurd tragic farce into something that resembles a family drama—and that serves more as a showcase for actors than a vehicle for Beckett’s text. The pace is the biggest problem; actors sprint through the first half of the script, leaving little time to linger on dark humor and striking lines, and instead spend great energy on demonstrative gestures and facial expressions rather than seeming to enjoy the language or each other. When it finally slows down, there’s no emotional foundation built. William Peterson makes a dynamic Hamm, but he dominates the stage with so much body language that it’s easy to forget he’s paralyzed, making the threat of him ending nil. Similarly, Martha Lavey as Nell, who’s literally dying, is the liveliest person onstage—in a play about being stuck and waiting for the end, the energy and dynamic arc feels misplaced. (Monica Westin)

At Steppenwolf, 1650 N Halsted, (312)335-1650. Through June 6.

Musical theater is such a collaborative art form that it is rare for all of the elements to be so perfectly aligned to make a show really work on every level.  In the 1990s, that happened twice: with “Rent” and with “Ragtime.”

The brainchild of Canadian producer Garth Drabinsky who had just had a mammoth success restaging “Show Boat” on Broadway and across the world, Drabinsky wanted to mount a new, uniquely “American” musical (only in Canada) and sought the rights to E. L. Doctorow’s popular novel.

Doctorow, who had been burned when he allowed the book to be made into a 1981 Milos Forman film that reduced the threads of the novel to a single character and became a comeback vehicle for retired film star James Cagney, had learned his lesson and would only allow the adaptation if Doctorow himself were given full creative control over every aspect of the production, which to Drabinsky’s everlasting credit, he gave.

The carefully crafted end result was a show that in many ways surpassed Doctorow’s book in its pure heart and emotional power, giving audiences an opportunity to actually feel the struggles, dreams, triumphs and tragedies of three diverse American families through a sensational Stephen Flaherty score that mirrors the music idioms of the early twentieth century. Read the rest of this entry »

Tara DeFrancisco, No. 36

In this town of performers—theater makers, dancers, comedy creators—you’d think it’d be pretty easy to assemble a list of artistic influencers and innovators. And it is. The challenge is paring that list down to a mere fifty. It’s a testament to the wonders of the performing-arts culture in Chicago that we easily came up with about 200 names when we set out to create this year’s version of The Players. Unfortunately, we’re only listing a fraction of those worthy of your attention, but that’s the problem with an abundance of riches. Hopefully you’ll see a handful of recognizable names and a whole lot more you’ll start noticing from this point on. We’ve retooled the criteria for this year, focusing on onstage artistic achievement, rather than the backstage influence of artistic directors, executive directors and the like—who will get their day again next year. Let the arguments begin. Read the rest of this entry »

The Addams Family at The Oriental/Photo: Samuel Adams

By Brian Hieggelke

As the wind blows the snow sideways this December evening, the weatherman is telling Chicagoans to stay bunkered; the deserted downtown streets reflect their obedience. All save the sidewalk near the intersection of State and Randolph, as TV crews jockey for faces on the red carpet in front of the Ford Center for the Performing Arts Oriental Theatre, where more than 2,000 patrons, including a who’s who of backstage Broadway, are gathering for the world premiere of a new musical featuring a AAA list of talent, onstage and off. “The Addams Family,” with multiple Tony winners Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth in its leads, a book from the librettists of “Jersey Boys” and so on, is certainly Broadway bound, but tonight—tonight—Chicago is the center of theater in the world.

That’s the story of Chicago theater in the zeroes: the decade in which it grew up and got big. Whether it’s the launch and monumental success of Broadway In Chicago, the maturation and astonishing quality of a remarkable number of small and mid-sized companies or the increasing demand for Chicago product and Chicago talent on Broadway, Chicago theater has fully come into its own. Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s the press release announcing the Jeff noms for Equity:

Chicago Theatres Shine in Outstanding Jeff Nominated Productions of 2008-2009 Season

Goodman Theatre and Drury Lane Oakbrook
Top List of Award Nominees

50 Years of The Second City to be Spotlighted
at The Jeff Awards

Thursday, August 27, 2009 – Chicago, IL.   The Jeff Awards today announced 179 nominations in 35 categories for Chicago Equity theatrical productions which opened between August 1, 2008, and July 31, 2009. The Jeff Awards sent judges to the opening nights of 141 productions offered by 57 producing organizations. From these openings, 98 Equity productions were “Jeff Recommended,” which made them eligible for award nominations.

The 41st Annual Jeff Awards ceremony, honoring excellence in professional theatre produced within the immediate Chicago area, will be held on Monday, October 19, at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie, 9501 Skokie Boulevard. A pre-show Appetizer Buffet will run from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., and the Awards Ceremony, directed by Michael Weber, will begin at 7:30 p.m. The Second City, celebrating 50 years as a producer, will play a featured role at the Jeff Awards ceremony. Advance purchase tickets, which include the ceremony and the pre-show buffet, are $75 ($55 for members of Actors’ Equity Association, United Scenic Artists, Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, and The Dramatists Guild of America). The evening is black tie optional and the public is cordially invited to attend. To purchase tickets, visit the Jeff Awards website at www.jeffawards.org. For more information, contact Equity Chair Diane Hires at equitywing@jeffawards.org. Read the rest of this entry »

Frank Galati and Jon Michael Hill/Photo: Michael Brosilow

Don’t let the bare stage fool you.  Stripped down to the concrete blocks of the foundation, Tina Landau’s playing space for “The Tempest” (at the Steppenwolf) is more like a blank canvas painted with undulating video, eye-popping costumes and a sonic barrage of thunderclaps.

The visuals aren’t arresting so much as extravagant, and there is fun in that—to a degree.  Too often the choices feel random and I found myself asking: why?

The disparate narratives of Shakespeare’s play—the marooned, scheming noblemen; the budding romance; a slave who plots his revenge; the existential pangs of an old man—exist in separate worlds.  As for an overall theme?  You got me.  I’m still drowning in imagery that refuses to sort itself out.  Landau’s vision is flashy, but it doesn’t reveal the essence within.  It is the theatrical equivalent of a rave, where sensory-overload becomes the end rather than the means.  I suspect many will disagree with this sentiment.

Though busier as a director than an actor these days, when Frank Galati takes the stage it makes an impact.  His Prospero lords over this remote isle like a hippie with a god complex.  Read the rest of this entry »

Frank Galati (center) and the cast of Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s production of The Tempest/Photo: Michael Brosilow

By Dennis Polkow

No.  Shakespeare. Ever.  Despite Steppenwolf being the oldest ensemble theater in Chicago, there has curiously been no Shakespeare performed by the company across its nearly thirty-five-year existence.  Until now, that is, with the staging of the Bard’s last play, “The Tempest.”  Why the long drought in the first place, and why end it now?

“Ever since I’ve been in the ensemble,” says Tina Landau, Steppenwolf ensemble member since 1997, who is directing “The Tempest” and is upstairs during a company dinner break two hours before the first preview of the show, “many ensemble members have been longing to do Shakespeare.  Five years ago, I pitched ‘The Tempest’ as one of three plays that I most wanted to do and through a confluence of the right timing and the right season—particularly with this year’s overall theme of the imagination—it finally all came together.” Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s the press release from Victory Gardens:

VICTORY GARDENS ANNOUNCES 2009-2010 SEASON

37th season kicks off with two overlapping Ignition Festival premieres, one
in Victory Gardens’ new 2nd floor Studio Theatre, and ends with Kevin
Anderson and Francis Guinan in newest work by Joel Drake Johnson Read the rest of this entry »