Review: Under the baton of James Conlon, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus presented “Elijah” in performances April 11-13, of which I heard the last. Like the oratorio on its surface, which is to say in its entirety, what I heard was altogether above reproach. The only question was why it was undertaken at all.
Read the full story »Shrouded in dreams and illusion, Goodman’s ‘Sweet Bird of Youth’ teeters into nightmare
Review: ★★★★
The New Season: With Logan Center opening and fresh vision, UC Presents spreads wings
16th in a series of season previews: It’s shaping up as a banner season for the University of Chicago Presents, with many of its 2012-13 concerts slated for the new Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts and the Chicago premiere of Andre Previn’s Piano Trio No. 2 coming up in a series strewn with ensemble debuts.
Opening Carnegie Hall season, Muti and CSO match the celebrity sparkle of a packed house
Report from NYC: “Carmina Burana”
The New Season: Chicago Shakespeare offers a walk ‘In the Park with George’ and a premiere
15th in a series of season previews: Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s 2012-13 season will extend artistic director Barbara Gaines’ deep exploration of the Bard with “Henry VIII” as associate artistic director Gary Griffin adds a Sondheim encore to last year’s hit production of “Follies.” And Gaines will direct what she calls “the funniest play I ever read” in the Chicago premiere of David Ives’ comedy “The School for Lies,” a romping modern spin on Molière’s “The Misanthrope.”
The New Season: Lookingglass will celebrate 25th anniversary with pair of world premieres
14th in a series of season previews: In its first 24 seasons, Lookingglass Theatre has brought 58 world premieres to its stage. In observing its 25th anniversary, the company will bring that number to a tidy five dozen – and throw in the Chicago premiere Rajiv Joseph’s “Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo” for good measure.
CSO and musicians reach tentative agreement; 3-year pact secures concerts, October tours
Report: CSO board’s approval due soon.
As CSO contract talks break down, musicians’ strike forces last-minute concert cancellation
Update: Talks resume with mediator.
Muti and the CSO launch season with a bang sparked by off-beat, over-the-top mix of works
Review: Symphony orchestra seasons typical open with some form of sizzle, maybe a mix of warhorse masterwork and superstar soloist. But music director Riccardo Muti went the opposite direction, kicking off the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s new season Thursday night with a complete sleeper of a program, an evening of little-known works and with no soloist at all. It was terrific. ****
Profiles’ ‘Sweet and Sad’ laces remembrance of 9/11 into a family’s tangle of joy and grief
Review: ★★★★
Chicago Opera’s stage magic is a bit rough, but fine singing delivers a charming ‘Flute’
Review: The Chicago Opera Theater production of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” leaves one with two distinct impressions. For the most part, its young cast sings with stylistic savvy, fetching beauty and engaging spirit – all shaped with unfailing sensibility by conductor Steuart Bedford.★★★
CSO resident composer Mason Bates receives $250,000 Heinz award in arts and humanities
He receives prize Oct. 11 in Pittsburgh.
Chicago angels boost young actors with gift of training at Stratford Shakespeare Festival
Dorcas Sowunmi succeeds E.B. Smith.
The New Season: ‘Sweet Bird’ lifts Goodman into a lineup feathered with 3 world premieres
13th in a series of season previews: Three world premieres punctuate an ambitious slate of nine productions at the Goodman Theatre in the coming season. Two other shows are Chicago premieres. The red-letter lineup begins with Tennessee Williams’ “Sweet Bird of Youth,” following up on last season’s high-profile account of Williams’ “Camino Real.”
The New Season: Northlight’s latest adventure caroms from Guthrie’s America to a lonely bar
12th in a series of season previews: Northlight Theatre director BJ Jones prides himself on leading patrons down far-ranging highways and byways, to places that may feel familiar and comfortable – and other destinations a long way from Kansas. The company’s 2012-13 season of five plays covers just such a map, from Ireland and the Civil War-torn South to Woody Guthrie’s vision of America and a world premiere in a shared orbit of loneliness.
The New Season: Tested Remy Bumppo gets Albee’s blessing to stage surreal ‘Seascape’
11th in a series of season previews: When Remy Bumppo Theatre was a fledgling enterprise, 16 seasons ago, founding artistic director James Bohnen sought permission from Edward Albee to stage his “Seascape,” a back-to-the-future study in marriage as an evolving proposition. Albee turned down the untried company – which makes the playwright’s newly bestowed approval all the sweeter.
Role Playing: James Ridge thrives in cold skin of Shakespeare’s smiling serpent, Richard III
Interview: He’s the very devil in the guise of a cherub, this smiling and murderous Richard III embodied by James Ridge in the American Players Theatre production of Shakespeare’s royal tragedy. Ridge’s duplicitous Richard echoes Lady Macbeth’s cold counsel to Macbeth in his own bloody quest for a crown: “Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t.”
Chicago Opera picks another Queen for ‘Flute’ after visa flap dethrones new Irish sensation
Even queens get caught in red tape.
The New Season: Revised ‘Hair’ in the wings, ATC adds radio ‘Wizard’ to ‘Wonderful Life’
Tenth in a series of season previews: Without a doubt, American Theater Co. has found wonderful life in the concept of repertory presentation of related plays. So for its 28th season, ATC will double down on the idea by pairing John Patrick Shanley’s “Doubt” with John Peilmeier’s “Agnes of God” and combining its traditional radio-play staging of “It’s a Wonderful Life” with “The Wizard of Oz.”
The New Season: Adaptable Lifeline Theatre reshapes three novels into stage premieres
Ninth in a series of season previews: In a sense, Lifeline Theatre’s 30th anniversary season will be a year like any other year. The difference with Lifeline is that business as usual means a full slate of world premieres.
The New Season: To be or not to be (truthful) proves question of the year at Writers’ Theatre
Eighth in a series of season previews: Words, words, words. Are they the stuff of truth or the fabric of prevarication? Writers’ Theatre will bookend its 2012-13 season with both possibilities, swinging the spotlight from Shakespeare’s Hamlet in his quest for veracity to Corneille’s feigning manipulator in “The Liar.”
The New Season: Court Theatre maps journey from Wilson’s ‘Jitney’ to a Molière bonanza
Seventh in a series of season previews: What begins in September as an ambitious and far-flung season at Court Theatre, with August Wilson’s “Jitney,” ends next spring with nothing less than a prodigious Molière double-header, back to back productions of “The Misanthrope” and “Tartuffe.”
The New Season: Raven Theatre cuts fresh loaf of Americana with Odets’ ‘Big Knife’
Sixth in a series of season previews: Technically, it may not be a Chicago premiere, but Clifford Odets’ “The Big Knife,” which opens Raven Theatre’s 30th anniversary season, would be a rarity on any stage and artistic director Michael Menendian is eager to revive this sober tale of glitzy Hollywood’s dark side.
The New Season: Modern retelling of Iphigenia legend will raise the curtain for Next Theatre
Fifth in a series of season previews: The Chicago theater community has become good at Really Old Tales Retold, especially the ancient Greek myths and legends. Evanston’s Next Theatre opens its 2012-13 season with Charles Mee’s “Iphigenia 2.0,” about a king who plans to sacrifice his daughter so the gods will allow his fleet of war ships to set sail for Troy.
The New Season: Re-energized and refocused, American Blues Theater opens with a premiere
Fourth in a series of season previews: The world premiere of James Still’s “Illegal Use of Hands” kicks off American Blues Theater’s 2012-13 season, which marks both the company’s 27th year on the Chicago scene and, in its reconstituted form, its fourth.
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