4,921 stories by "Chris Jones"
Mysteries and thrillers like this one are having a sudden, surprising renaissance in Chicago theater.
Some eight years after its London bow, the "Harry Potter" stage play is coming to Chicago next September, and sticking around.
This new musical focuses on a group of real, young, neurologically atypical persons in Columbus, Ohio, all preparing together for their prom.
I admire the way director Danny Kapinos' production is willing to trust the audience with this 1960s musical.
The relatively unknown Jasmine Amy Rogers turns in an astonishing performance at the heart of "Boop! the Musical" in its pre-Broadway opening, directed by Jerry Mitchell.
Everything this longtime British magician does on stage is rooted in personal storytelling " there's an uncommon warmth and openness amid all the illusions and deception.
This is a contemporary folk tale inspired by the music and sounds of Scotland, earlier seen at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Playing a single woman visited by the ghost of Elvis, Brenda Barrie apparently has decided she is doing Eugene O'Neill and proceeds accordingly. She's very funny, too.
Few titles command the affection of "The Wiz," and the show's most fabulous songs, including "Ease On Down the Road," have been sung now for close to 50 years.
The impressive new two-theater complex will stage the upcoming "It's a Wonderful Life: Live in Chicago!," slated to open on Dec. 10.
Any fan of Jim Henson shouldn't miss this truly splendid addition to the seasonal attractions on offer in Chicago's Loop.
Granted, Roald Dahl's dark and complex stories from the 1960s are not easy to adapt into family musicals.
What you are seeing here is the Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein "Cinderella," retooled a bit for modern sensibilities.
Everyone involved in the production reveres the title's old-school Jim Henson legacy.
Yes, there's a digital set in this revival of Eric Idle's hilarious musical and much of the audience doesn't know the material. But 'tis but a scratch.
There's no better time to get out and support Chicago theater than the festive season, when warm holiday performances abound.
John Hoogenakker is a fine Henry II, all cynical and weary. I'd forgotten how much talk there is in this script about aching bones and death.
Here was a band that could have represented Germany at its best, a combination of Jews and Gentiles singing in perfect harmony.
This show bills itself partly as a 90-minute theater piece, partly as a concert and partly as a party.
No. 1 reason here is Kaitlyn Davis, a vulnerable, unpretentious actress who knows just how to play Carole King.
In one corner, you have D'Agata, author of a piece about a suicidal kid jumping off the top of a Las Vegas hotel. In the other corner, you have Jim, who gets the job of fact-checking it.
My objections? Oh, an incoherent and crass book and tasteless jokes about "Creepy Old Guys" and so on. But Isabella Esler is a huge young talent as Lydia.
This show about killers and wanna-be killers of presidents is profoundly cynical, often an effective point of view for a musical, but somehow always troubling here.
Opening soon, the latest in a string of pre-Broadway musicals that director Jerry Mitchell has first brought to life in Chicago.
Selina Fillinger's comedy has become the most-produced play at American regional theaters this season. It's not hard to see why.
