Mike Birbiglia plays ‘Boyfriend’ perfectly
No written description can do full justice to the spirit of actor-comedian-writer Mike Birbiglia and what he does in his winningly honest, ruefully funny, seamlessly performed show, “My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend.”
Sure, you can explain that the thirtysomething Birbiglia — now in a nearly sold-out engagement …
Barbra Streisand takes in Diane Lane’s performance in ‘Sweet Bird’ at Goodman Theatre
Barbra Streisand, in town for her big concert Friday night at the United Center, took time out to catch daughter-in-law Diane Lane starring in “Sweet Bird of Youth” at the Goodman Theatre Thursday night. Lane is married to actor Josh Brolin, the son of Streisand’s …
‘QED’ a tour de force for Rob Riley
Spending a solid 90 minutes perched on the edge of the brain of a genius might not be a restful exercise. But if the brain in question happens to belong to that highly original, playfully unorthodox, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman, it is a sure …
Jan Kallish exiting Victory Gardens Theater
Jan Kallish, who has served as executive director of the Victory Gardens Theater since 2009, and helped oversee a major period of transition at the organization, will be leaving her position at the end of November. General manager Chris Mannelli will assume her duties while …
ACT II: A second look at area stages 10.28.12
Dancers are high-propulsion machines; that’s a given. For proof, just check out the Joffrey Ballet’s final performance of its fall program — three very different works under the umbrella title “Human Landscapes” — Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Auditorium Theatre. But there also is …
Bonnie Metzgar to resign from About Face Theater
Bonnie Metzgar, who has served for five years as artistic director of About Face Theatre (AFT) — one of the nation’s largest, not-for-profit “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, queer and ally (LGBTQA) missioned theaters” — will step down from her position at the end of …
Hard lives of itinerant actors, junkies on display in ‘Trainspotting’ and ‘Pigeon House’
Heroin addicts in the contemporary Midwest, and traveling players in Ireland and England over many decades. Let it never be said that Chicago theater doesn’t run the gamut of human experience, or have something for everyone. Here’s a look at two recently opened productions that …
Natasha Lowe subs for Lane in ‘Sweet Bird’
Chicago actress Natasha Lowe, acclaimed for her portrayal of Blanche DuBois in the David Cromer-directed revival of “A Streetcar Named Desire” at Writers’ Theatre several seasons back, filled in for film star Diane Lane at Wednesday’s matinee performance of Tennessee Williams’ “Sweet Bird of Youth” …
The Guide — Theater Listings 10.26.12
OPENING
CHICAGO CASTING AUCTION. Anyone can be a star — for a price. Bailiwick Chicago Theater will auction off more than 60 roles for a production of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” to be performed Jan. 30-Feb. 2 after five weeks of rehearsal. Oct. …
Goodman cancels ‘Sweet Bird’ performance due to Diane Lane illness
Oct. 24’s performance of “Sweet Bird of Youth” at the Goodman Theater has been canceled because of star Diane Lane’s laryngitis. Lane is expected to return to the show on Oct. 25.
The Goodman has called and emailed as many of the more than 800 …
‘50 Shades of Grey’ gets a second Chicago parody
A bestseller (and the sale of 32 million copies of a book certainly qualifies) invariably breeds parodies, as well as “a major motion picture.” And so it is with “Fifty Shades of Grey,” the first in a trilogy of sexually trangressive novels by British writer …
‘Spank!’, musical parody of ‘Fifty Shades of Grey,’ to be tied to Royal George
Prepare for some naughtiness. And don’t you dare say you didn’t know it was coming.
‘Lucy’ show will return, after ‘Potted Potter’
“I Love Lucy, Live On Stage,” currently running at the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place, 175 E. Chestnut, will be taking a brief “station break” after its Nov. 11 performance. The production, a music-infused reinvention of two classic “I Love Lucy” programs, will close …
‘Harold and the Purple Crayon’ as colorful and fun as ever
Roughly midway through the Chicago Children’s Theatre production of “Harold and the Purple Crayon,” the titular young artist/adventurer finds himself on the Planet of the Crayon Eaters, his all-important writing instrument in danger of being snarfed down by a duo of bulbous-headed lavender aliens. Those …
ACT II: A closer look at area stages — ‘QED’
You don’t need to be a physicist to understand the pure magnetism of Richard Feynman (1918-1988), the Nobel Prize-winning scientist who has been described as “one of the greatest minds since Einstein.”
In fact, you can easily go to YouTube and listen to the man …
