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Of mortal frailty and monstrous transgression: Broadway in Chicago spotlights ‘The Humans’

Feb 6, 2018 – 9:02 am
The Humans

Review: In the midst of Stephen Karam’s abrasive family drama “The Humans,” presented on tour by Broadway in Chicago at the Cadillac Palace Theatre, the question of monsters comes up. Monsters in dreams. And someone speculates that if humans dream of monsters, perhaps what strikes terror in the imagination of horrid fantastical creatures is the image of a human. It’s a fleeting exchange, but it lies right at the core of this group portrait of people grappling with dreadful reality, hideous betrayal, terrifying truths about themselves. ★★★★

In a ‘Curious Incident,’ a special boy grapples with the twists, turns and illogic of growing up

Dec 13, 2016 – 10:03 am
curious-incident-of-the-dog-in-the-night-time-feature-image-joan-marcus

Review: Christopher is determined to a) solve the mystery of who has killed his neighbor’s dog and b) take a math advance-placement exam. The story that takes flight is music for the soul. Now playing through Dec. 24 at the Oriental, this brave and wonderful Broadway in Chicago national touring production is about the dignity of the adolescent passage, as seen through the eyes of a brilliant boy in constant danger of sensory overload, and his ever-present companion, a pet rat. ★★★★

‘Hamilton,’ energized by spirit of America’s founding, opens Chicago run in stylish blaze

Oct 21, 2016 – 3:51 pm
Hamilton
REGIONAL/NATIONAL TOURSMUSICAL
PRIVATEBANK THEATRE
18 WEST MONROE, CHICAGO, 60603
From bastard orphan to Washington's right hand man, rebel to war hero, loving husband caught in the country's first sex scandal to Treasury head who made an untrusting world believe in the American economy, an exploration of a political mastermind and scrappy young immigrant who forever changed America: Alexander Hamilton.




Starring: Karen Olivo, Mandy Gonzalez, Joshua Henry, Jonathan Kirkland, Miguel Cervantes, Alexander Gemignani
MUSIC: LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA
BOOK: LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA
LYRICS: LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA

Review: “Hey yo, I’m just like my country, I’m young, scrappy and hungry and I’m not throwing away my shot” is the clarion call of young friends in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tony Award-winning musical “Hamilton,” a contemporary re-imagining of our own history. The Broadway show’s first regional clone has opened at Chicago’s PrivateBank Theatre, where it will be for many months, probably years. ★★★★★

‘The SpongeBob Musical’ is deep-sea delight for kids, with a whale of a payoff for parents

Jun 21, 2016 – 5:44 pm
The Sponge Bob Musical
Oriental Theatre

Character	Original Chicago Cast
SpongeBob SquarePants	Ethan Slater
Patrick Star	Danny Skinner
Squidward Tentacles	Gavin Lee
Sandy Cheeks

The design team includes scenic and costume design by David Zinn, lighting design by Kevin Adams, projection design by Peter Nigrini and sound design by Walter Trarbach. - 

FEATURING ORIGINAL SONGS BY
YOLANDA ADAMS • STEVEN TYLER AND
JOE PERRY OF AEROSMITH • SARA BAREILLES
JONATHAN COULTON • DIRTY PROJECTORS
ALEX EBERT OF EDWARD SHARPE & THE MAGNETIC ZEROS
THE FLAMING LIPS • JOHN LEGEND • LADY ANTEBELLUM
CYNDI LAUPER • PANIC! AT THE DISCO
PLAIN WHITE T’S • THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS • T.I.
AND A SONG BY DAVID BOWIE
WITH ADDITIONAL LYRICS BY JONATHAN COULTON
CO-CONCEIVER
& DIRECTOR
TINA LANDAU
 
BOOK
KYLE
JARROW
 
MUSIC
SUPERVISION
TOM KITT
 
CHOREOGRAPHER
CHRISTOPHER
GATTELLI

Review: Ah, to be 10 years old again, and to take in “The SpongeBob Musical” in all its innocent, fanciful charm, its splendorous undersea-world colors, its goofy but (mostly) good-hearted characters. If you’re 10, the “pre-Broadway world premiere” of “SpongeBob” will for sure get five stars, or maybe starfish, like this: Starfish, Starfish, Starfish, Starfish, Starfish. In real stars: ★★★★

In ‘Bullets Over Broadway,’ that rat-a-tat-tat could be tommy gun or sound of tap shoes

Apr 19, 2016 – 1:39 pm
Feature 1

Interview: Cheech is just a garden variety thug, a gangster, a hit man – who proves to be the creative genius behind a hapless playwright in the musical “Bullets Over Broadway.” And Jeffrey Brooks, who plays this heavy with the fine dramatic touch, says Cheech is also “the most real character of them all, the one with the most heart.”

What good is sitting alone in your room? Willkommen to a beautiful, bleak ‘Cabaret’

Feb 16, 2016 – 9:00 am
Cabaret
Providence Performing Arts Center

CABARET
Book by Music by
Joe Masteroff John Kander
Based on the play by JOHN VAN DRUTEN and stories by CHRISTOPHER ISHERWOOD
starring
Randy Harrison Andrea Goss
Shannon Cochran Alison Ewing Mark Nelson Ned Noyes Kelsey Beckert Sarah Bishop Margaret Dudasik Hillary Ekwall Lori Eure
Andrew Hubacher
Set Design by Robert Brill
Orchestrations Michael Gibson
Hair & Wig Design Paul Huntley
Technical Supervisor Larry Morley
Associate Managing Director
Steve Dow
Executive Producer Sydney Beers
Lee Aaron Rosen
Aisling Halpin Leeds Hill Joey Khoury Tommy McDowell Evan D. Siegel Dani Spieler Steven Wenslawski
Musical Supervisor/Vocal Arrangements
Patrick Vaccariello
Associate Choreographer & Choreography Recreated by Cynthia Onrubia
Directed by
BT McNicholl
Originally Co-Directed & Choreographed by
Rob Marshall
Originally Directed by
Sam Mendes
Costume Design by William Ivey Long
Dance & Incidental Music David Krane
Casting
Jim Carnahan, C.S.A. Jillian Cimini, C.S.A.
Tour Booking Agency The Booking Group Meredith Blair
Director of Marketing
& Audience Development
Robert Sweibel
General Manager Richards/Climan, Inc.
Lighting Design by Peggy Eisenhauer Mike Baldassari
Music Director Robert Cookman
Production Stage Manager John M. Atherlay
Press & Marketing Direction Type A Marketing
Director of Development Lynne Gugenheim Gregory
Sound Design by
Keith Caggiano
Based on the Original Broadway design by Brian Ronan
*Generously underwritten by Margot Adams, in memory of Mason Adams Roundabout Theatre Company is a member of the Broadway League and League of Resident Theatres. RoundaboutTheatre.org
National Tour Launch: January 26 - 31, 2016
Lyrics by
Fred Ebb
Founding Director Gene Feist
Adams Associate Artistic Director*
Scott Ellis

Emcee.............................................................................................................................. RANDY HARRISON The Kit Kat Girls:
Rosie ......................................................................................................................... HILLARY EKWALL Lulu...................................................................................................................................DANI SPIELER Frenchie........................................................................................................................AISLING HALPIN Texas. ................................................................................................................. MARGARET DUDASIK Fritzie ..............................................................................................................................ALISON EWING Helga...............................................................................................................................SARAH BISHOP
The Kit Kat Boys:
Bobby .................................................................................................................................... LEEDS HILL Victor...................................................................................................................ANDREW HUBACHER Hans .............................................................................................................................. EVAN D. SIEGEL Herman.................................................................................................................. TOMMY McDOWELL
Sally Bowles ...........................................................................................................................ANDREA GOSS Clifford Bradshaw .......................................................................................................... LEE AARON ROSEN Ernst Ludwig................................................................................................................................NED NOYES Customs Official .......................................................................................................... TOMMY McDOWELL Fräulein Schneider ..................................................................................................... SHANNON COCHRAN Fräulein Kost..........................................................................................................................ALISON EWING Rudy ..................................................................................................................................... EVAN D. SIEGEL Herr Schultz ...........................................................................................................................MARK NELSON Max .............................................................................................................................. TOMMY McDOWELL Gorilla ................................................................................................................................. AISLING HALPIN Boy Soprano (recording).......................................................................................................... ALEX BOWEN Customs Official (recording) ........................................................................................................ FRED ROSE

Review: If there are two words not commonly associated with touring Broadway shows, they are daring and courageous. Both apply in stunning fashion to “Cabaret,” a not-to-be-missed experience presented by Broadway in Chicago at PrivateBank Theatre. ★★★★★

Love with knife in heart or tongue in cheek, Valentine’s Day brings out kiss and scratch

Feb 13, 2016 – 6:40 pm
La voix humaine Racette

Critic’s Pick: In a tribute to the downside of love, Chicago theaters send superb “anti-Valentines.” If you favor sarcastic greeting cards on the subject of romance, and aloof lyrics about love affairs “too hot not to cool down,” here are some shows that serve up the subject of love on Cupid’s big day with an appropriate grain of salt.

Disney’s “Aladdin” North America tour starts in 2017 at Broadway In Chicago Cadillac Palace

Jan 26, 2016 – 5:45 pm
Disney's 'Aladdin' is coming to Chicago (Deen van Meer for Broadway in Chicago)

12-week engagement runs April 11 – July 2, 2017

Musical ‘Pippin’ shines as a high-energy revue, but circus atmosphere covers a meager plot

Aug 3, 2015 – 6:43 pm
Feature 1

Review: The musical “Pippin” is an eye-popping crazy-quilt of commedia dell’ arte, dazzling choreography and Cirque du Soleil acrobatics draped over a thin plot about finding the meaning of one’s life. The show’s most appealing qualities come together in the national tour now playing the Cadillac Palace Theatre. But as a musical drama that aspires to something more than glitzy revue, this once-forgotten venture wanders well wide of the mark. ★★★

Versatile ‘Jersey Boys’ actress knows Chicago, and some crazy quick-change parts in musical

May 14, 2015 – 3:47 pm
Feature 2

Interview: New Orleans native Leslie Rochette, who plays – among a lightning paced scramble of other roles – Frankie Valli’s daughter Francine in the tour production of “Jersey Boys” currently at the Cadillac Palace Theatre, seems to have found a second home in Chicago. Knowing the richness of Chicago’s theater scene, Rochette made a bee-line for Columbia College to study theater, graduating in 2008. When the first national tour of “Jersey Boys” hit Chicago in 2012, Rochette was in the ensemble, and now she’s back as one of three women in the cast who all fill multiple parts.

‘First Wives Club’ delivers the songs and stars, but the new musical is still looking for its heart

Mar 14, 2015 – 11:17 am
First Wives Club Broadway in Chicago

Review: “The First Wives Club,” the movie, was a sweet revenge caper for three of the funniest forty-something women in the business. Now Faith Prince as Brenda the loudmouth, Christine Sherrill as the aging star Elise and Carmen Cusack as the ditherer Annie star in the Broadway-bound musical comedy “First Wives Club,” playing at the Oriental Theatre. The musical is a work in progress but it has several heady things going for it, including these leading ladies, who fall together in a D-line when their husbands try to dump them. ★★

New musical ‘Amazing Grace’ recounts the story of perfect storm that redeemed a slave trader

Oct 19, 2014 – 12:23 am
Grave_stone_of_John_Newton feature image

Preview:The acute historical irony is that the hymn “Amazing Grace” — which is the subject of the Broadway-bound musical that opens Oct. 19 at Chicago’s Bank of America Theatre — was written by an English sailor, John Newton, who had prayed in terror during a storm at sea while engaged in the evil of the triangle slave trade.

Theater 2014-15: Packed Broadway in Chicago season brings 3 premieres and hit ‘Newsies’

Sep 23, 2014 – 1:10 pm
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16th in a series of season previews: Is Broadway in Chicago flourishing, or what? Whether you look at this high-profile presenter’s 2014-15 season in terms of sheer quantity or with an eye to its scope of appeal, the fall lineup alone – never mind what’s to come in the season’s second half — pops off the page with three premieres and the mega-hit “Disney’s Newsies.”

To wisdom of memorable songs, Sting’s musical ‘The Last Ship’ adds mystery of grace

Jun 28, 2014 – 1:14 pm
The Last Ship, Sting's new musical, at Broadway in Chicago

Review: It’s not often that a composer introduces his first Broadway-bound musical at the age of 64, but then Sting is the sort of artist who never stops spreading his wings. The great rock singer-songwriter has picked up collaborators from his work in film and television and he has even suffered the prolonged torture of a Disney animated movie that morphed so completely his songs were largely cut. Who better to tackle the cut-throat business of the Broadway musical?★★★★

Alex in wonderland: Minding Streisand’s mall proves trip into loopy luxury in ‘Buyer & Cellar’

Jun 2, 2014 – 10:51 am
Urie Streisand collage

Review: At last it’s summer, the season for ice-cream cones and books with fun as their chief nutritional value. It’s also prime for a Broadway in Chicago show on this fancifully ridiculous premise — that Barbra Streisand, who has designed a “shopping mall” in the basement of her own home, drives a hard bargain to purchase a doll, which she already owns, from the fella she has hired to tend the shops. And he says No. ★★★

Solo comedy ‘Buyer & Cellar’ creates fantasy image of Barbra Streisand & her private mall

May 10, 2014 – 9:21 am
sub feature

Preview: Actor Michael Urie has never seen Barbra Streisand’s personal mall built into the lower level of her home – no, seriously, a street of ornate shops filled with her collections of antiques, dolls, gowns, etc. – but he says that after his long-running one-man comedy “Buyer & Cellar,” in which he plays the mall’s imaginary minder, he either will receive a personal invitation or he will be banned.

‘Motown the Musical’ launches tour in Chicago, and hometown headliner thinks that’s Supreme

May 7, 2014 – 10:54 am
Allison Semmes is Diana Ross in MOTOWN THE MUSICAL First National Tour 2014

Preview: It was no great leap for Chicago native Allison Semmes to take on the role of Diana Ross for the national tour of “Motown the Musical,” which launches May 8 at the Oriental Theatre. Semmes grew up listening to the Supremes and other Motown sounds on her mom and dad’s vinyl LPs: “My parents say when I was about 3 years old, I was harmonizing with the vacuum cleaner.”

In ‘Starcatcher’ romp, goofy pirate lends a hand and Peter (Pan) learns no man is an isth-s-mus

Apr 7, 2014 – 10:08 am
A bit of rope defines tight quarters for Molly (Megan Stern), her nanny (Benjamin Schrader) and Alf (Harter Clingman). (Jenny Anderson)

Review: Despite the exuberant ridiculousness of “Peter and the Starcatcher” — a show that channels Groucho Marx and Gilbert & Sullivan and Monty Python as it traces the backstory of the boy who became Peter Pan — you will turn misty at the end. To be an adult at Broadway in Chicago’s Peter Pan “prequel” is to be pricked with the realization that, for just about everybody in the world except Peter, and maybe Equity actors, one’s youth relentlessly fades. ★★★★

‘Starcatcher’ turns clock back to an adventure before Peter Pan could fly, before Capt. Hook

Mar 31, 2014 – 10:16 pm
Black Stache (John Sanders, center) knows that where there's a key, there must be a treasure chest. (Broadway in Chicago)

Preview: John Sanders, who portrays the psychopathic Black Stache in the Peter Pan back-story play “Peter and the Starcatcher,” can’t stop talking about the physical demands of the touring show, which comes to the Bank of America Theatre on April 2 under the aegis of Broadway in Chicago.

‘Heartbeat of Home’ shows new face of Ireland when dance cultures meld in touring spectacle

Mar 3, 2014 – 5:31 pm
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Preview: Jamaican-born dancer Teneisha Bonner is a seasoned theater veteran, but she admits she had no idea of the world-widening experience awaiting her in the multi-ethnic dance spectacle that is “Heartbeat of Home.” The new extravaganza, from the same team that created “Riverdance,” makes its U.S. debut in Chicago on Tuesday night at the Oriental Theatre for a run through March 16.

Co-stars of ‘Ghost The Musical’ agree: Magic dwells in unchained illusions, mystic melody

Jan 6, 2014 – 3:46 pm
Katie Postotnik and Steven Grant Douglas play   lovers distanced by death in a national tour of 'Ghost The Musical' at the Oriental Theatre. (Joan Marcus)

Preview: Onstage romance doesn’t come more charged or emotionally draining than the supernatural stuff of “Ghost The Musical,” says Katie Postotnik, co-star of the nationally touring production that opens Jan. 8 at the Oriental Theatre.

On grand new stage, ‘To Master the Art’ still whips up Julia Child’s zeal for French cuisine

Oct 1, 2013 – 9:39 pm
Julia Child (Karen Janes Woditsch) gets her first lesson from chef Bugnard (Terry Hamilton) in To Master the Art. (Giorgio Ventola)

Review: It is like properly prepared scrambled eggs, this rebuilt production of “To Master the Art,” the story of how a tall, kitchen-clueless Californian became the famous Julia Child: basic, sumptuous, irresistible. If this lovely play, written by William Brown and Doug Frew, possessed an intimate charm in its original 2010 staging at TimeLine Theatre that cannot be replicated in the Broadway Playhouse’s grander proscenium venue, its essential warmth and honesty remain undiminished. ★★★★

Theater 2013-14: B’way in Chicago spotlights ‘Phantom,’ ‘Wicked’ and new Motown musical

Sep 9, 2013 – 10:29 am
Earl Carpenter and Katie Hall in The Phantom of the Opera - UK Tour (Alastair Muir)

13th in a series of season previews: Even as “The Book of Mormon” nears the end of its Windy City run, Broadway in Chicago is preparing for three more hit musicals — a new UK touring import for the 27-year-old “The Phantom of the Opera,” the 10th anniversary tour of “Wicked” and the first national tour of “Motown the Musical,” the story of Detroit vinyl mogul Berry Gordy, who made famous The Supremes, The Four Tops, Stevie Wonder and The Jackson 5. There’s also a local angle in this season’s lineup of shows.

As ‘Book of Mormon’ ends Chicago mission, tears of laughter run to Sal Tlay Ka Siti

Jul 15, 2013 – 2:35 pm
The Book of Mormon ChicagoANNE GAREFINO	SCOTT RUDINROGER BERLIND	SCOTT M. DELMAN	JEAN DOUMANIAN ROY FURMAN	IMPORTANT MUSICALS	STEPHANIE P. McCLELLAND KEVIN MORRIS	JON B. PLATT	SONIA FRIEDMAN PRODUCTIONSEXECUTIVE PRODUCER STUART THOMPSONPRESENTBOOK, MUSIC AND LYRICS BYTREY PARKER, ROBERT LOPEZ AND MATT STONEWITHNIC ROULEAU	BEN PLATT SYESHA MERCADO	PIERCE CASSEDY	JAMES VINCENT MEREDITHCHRISTOPHER SHYER	DAVID ARON DAMANE J. CASEY BARRETT	TALLIA BRINSON	ROB COLLETTI	PATRICE COVINGTON CAMILLE EANGA-SELENGE	JAKE EMMERLING	MIKE EVARISTE DONELL JAMES FOREMAN	BRADLEY D. GALE	ERIC GIANCOLA	DARIUS HARPER ERIC HUFFMAN	COREY HUMMERSTON	ERIC JACKSON	EMILY JENDA NICK LAUGHLIN	STEPHEN MARK LUKAS	PARIS ALEXANDER NESBITTMONICA L. PATTONSCENIC DESIGNSCOTT PASKHAIR DESIGNJOSH MARQUETTEDANCE MUSIC ARRANGEMENTSGLEN KELLYTOUR BOOKING AGENCYTHE BOOKING GROUP/ MEREDITH BLAIRJOHN PINTO JR.	JON-MICHAEL REESETRAVIS ROBERTSONSOUND DESIGNBRIAN RONANPRODUCTION STAGE MANAGERGLYNN DAVID TURNERASSOCIATE PRODUCERELI BUSHGENERAL MANAGEMENTSTP/DAVID TURNER12 PLAYBILLCESSALEE STOVALLCOSTUME DESIGNANN ROTHORCHESTRATIONSLARRY HOCHMAN & STEPHEN OREMUSMUSIC DIRECTORJOHN SAMORIANPRESS AND MARKETINGALLIED LIVEHARDY WEAVERLIGHTING DESIGNBRIAN MacDEVITT CASTINGCARRIE GARDNERMUSIC COORDINATORMICHAEL KELLERPRODUCTION MANAGEMENTAURORA PRODUCTIONSMUSIC SUPERVISION AND VOCAL ARRANGEMENTSSTEPHEN OREMUSCHOREOGRAPHED BYCASEY NICHOLAWDIRECTED BYCASEY NICHOLAW AND TREY PARKERcast(in order of appearance)Mormon.......................................................................................................................Hardy Weaver Moroni ...................................................................................................................... Pierce Cassedy Elder Price..................................................................................................................... Nic Rouleau Elder Cunningham ..............................................................................................................Ben Platt Missionary Voice.................................................................................................. Christopher Shyer Price?s Dad ........................................................................................................... Christopher Shyer Cunningham?s Dad................................................................................................... J. Casey Barrett Mrs. Brown ............................................................................................................Monica L. Patton Guards...................................................................................................Darius Harper, Eric Jackson Mafala ......................................................................................................... James Vincent Meredith Nabulungi................................................................................................................Syesha Mercado Elder McKinley ......................................................................................................... Pierce Cassedy Joseph Smith ........................................................................................................ Christopher Shyer General..............................................................................................................David Aron Damane Mission President................................................................................................. Christopher Shyer Ensemble..............................J. Casey Barrett, Tallia Brinson, Patrice Covington, Jake Emmerling,Mike Evariste, Donell James Foreman, Bradley D. Gale, Darius Harper, Eric Huffman, Corey Hummerston, Eric Jackson, Monica L. Patton, John Pinto Jr., Jon-Michael Reese, Cessalee Stovall, Hardy WeaverUnderstUdiesFor Elder Price: Bradley D. Gale For Elder Cunningham: Nick Laughlin For Mafala Hatimbi: Mike Evariste, Eric Jackson For Nabulungi: Tallia Brinson, Camille Eanga-Selenge For McKinley/Moroni: Eric Huffman, Hardy Weaver For Price?s Dad/Joseph Smith/ Missionary President/et al: J. Casey Barrett, Hardy Weaver For General: Mike Evariste, Eric JacksonStandby for Elder Price: STEPHEN MARK LUKAS Standby for Elder Cunningham: RoB CoLLETTIswingsCAMILLE EANGA-SELENGE, ERIC GIANCoLA, EMILy JENDA, NICK LAUGHLIN, PARIS ALExANDER NESBITT, TRAVIS RoBERTSoNDance Captain: Eric Giancola Assistant Dance Captain: Travis Robertson

Review: This you can believe: “The Book of Mormon,” Chicago’s sit-down production of the hit Broadway show that is totally outrageous and equally endearing, will end its run at Bank of America Theatre on Oct. 6 so that a national tour with the same cast can commence. Broadway in Chicago is already promising a return, after visits to Denver, San Francisco, Los Angeles and other cities, but not until sometime in the 2014-15 season. ★★★★

As dancing dame on high seas, Rachel York heads up motley tour crew of ‘Anything Goes’

Apr 22, 2013 – 3:16 pm
Rachel York is Reno Sweeney in the national tour of "Anything Goes," a Roundabout  revival, Broadway in Chicago 2013 credit Joan Marcus

Preview: Rachel York, slyly sinful Reno Sweeney in the Roundabout Theatre production of Cole Porter’s “Anything Goes” headed for Chicago, sees herself in the proud line of those indomitable dames of 1930s Hollywood.

‘Big Fish’ star Butz calls the fanciful story-teller his dream role — and that’s no exaggeration

Apr 15, 2013 – 1:00 pm
Bobby Steggert as Will Bloom and Norbert Leo Butz as Edward Bloom in Big Fish Broadway in Chicago 2013 photo Paul Kolnik

Preview: Norbert Leo Butz plays Edward Bloom, a Herculean story-spinner who supersizes his own legend in the musical “Big Fish.” We caught up with Butz at the Oriental Theatre, where the two-time Tony winner is trying this fabulist father-son story on for size. Butz talks about his role in the Broadway-bound musical, now in Chicago previews. We sneak a listen, too.

Fresh out of college, Stephen Anthony slides into ‘Catch Me If You Can’ — and it’s no con

Mar 31, 2013 – 4:37 pm
Stephen Anthony as an airplane pilot in the Catch Me if You Can Broadway in Chicago 2013 tour company credit Carol Rosegg

Preview: There’s a connection you can’t miss between actor Stephen Anthony, recently graduated from Florida State University, and the con artist Frank Abagnale, Jr., whom he plays in the national touring production of “Catch Me If You Can” that opens April 3 at the Cadillac Palace Theatre. They both bounce around the country, never staying long in one place, pretending to be somebody they aren’t and oozing charm all the way.

Bus named Priscilla is a million-dollar baby and ‘Queen’ of a flamboyant traveling show

Mar 18, 2013 – 10:19 pm
Scott Willis as Bernadette in Priscilla Queen of the Desert national tour Broadway in Chicago 2013 credit Joan Marcus

Preview: The bus has a name. Priscilla. And the Priscilla that’s coming to Chicago’s Auditorium Theatre is the same ostentatious vehicle with the glittering high heel on top that once revolved on a Broadway stage. “The original creators didn’t think it could be done,” says Scott Willis, who stars as the aging transsexual performing artist Bernadette in “Priscilla Queen of the Desert.” “But when it’s time to shuffle off to Buffalo, they always find a way to do it.” The show plays Chicago’s Auditorium Theatre March 19-30.

B’way-bound ‘Jekyll & Hyde’ shows star stuff, but it’s numbed by jolts of ennui

Mar 16, 2013 – 4:47 pm
Constantine Maroulis and Deborah Cox in Jekyll and Hyde during last pre-Broadway weeks at Chicago Cadillac Palace 2013 credit Chris Bennion

Review: ★★

Teal Wicks, who’s done a green witch, happy to show other colors in musical ‘Jekyll & Hyde’

Mar 11, 2013 – 5:21 pm
Teal Wicks as Emma Carew, Constantine Maroulis as Henry Jekyll in JEKYLL & HYDE Broadway in Chicago 2013 credit Chris Bennion

Preview: Teal Wicks made a name for herself as the misunderstood but resilient green girl Elphaba in “Wicked.” Shed of the body paint, she’s again playing a young woman who marches to her own drum as Emma, the fiancée (against all prudent counsel) of the mysterious Dr. Jekyll in the musical “Jekyll & Hyde.” Where Wicks is marching with it is right back to Broadway.