And I’m Telling You

Dreamgirls – Paramount Theatre

And I’m Telling You

It’s here, at long last. The pandemic finally seems to be under control and it’s the eagerly anticipated opening of another Paramount Theatre season, it’s 11th, believe it or not. So fasten your seat belts for the first production of what is, without question, one of the most enticing and energetic seasons of musical theatre to hit the Windy City in years.

Sharing Your Soul With the World

Chagall in School – Grippo Stage Company

Following the October Revolution of 1917, the famous Jewish modernist avant-garde artist Marc Chagall made some life-changing discoveries. He saw that the new regime had turned the Russian Empire upside down, much like his whimsical paintings. He was now considered part of the aesthetic arm of the revolution, having combined Cubism, Symbolism and Fauvism into his own unique style of art. So Chagall was offered the position of commissar of visual arts for the whole country, but, wanting something less political, he accepted this position instead for his own village of Vitebsk. 

Villains Beware—She’s Back!

Miss Holmes Returns – Lifeline Theatre

Amidst the swirling fog and dark shadows of Victorian London, the game is afoot and crimes are being committed once more. And who better to root out the villains, particularly when Scotland Yard’s Inspector Lestrade and the police are all baffled, but none other than Sherlock Holmes. Following the success six years ago of his wonderful, pre-pandemic production of “Miss Holmes,” Christopher M. Walsh has written a brilliant sequel to his first dramatic foray into the Holmes canon. 

A Heartless, Bloody Path to Become King

Richard III – Babes with Blades

A somber young man sits alone, bemoaning this “winter of our discontent,” criticizing and scorning his brother’s accession to the throne. Richard, Duke of Gloucester, sees himself as the only true and rightful King of England, not his brother Edward IV. In fact, as Richard festers inside, he’s already begun plotting to insure that his rise to power will happen unimpeded by enemies, friends or family. Richard confesses that he’s “determined to prove a villain” as he schemes to have his brother Clarence, next in line for the crown, conducted to the Tower of London. But this is only the beginning of Richard’s heartless, bloody path to become the King.