Chris Jones

The new Broadway version starring Lea Michele makes no excuses for a musical with perhaps the most loathsome group of characters ever written.

Peter Shaffer’s masterful 1979 play is now in Steppenwolf’s in-the-round theater with David Darrow as Mozart in a fantastic Steppenwolf debut.

Mark Strong leads a top-flight cast in Robert Icke’s adaptation of the Greek tragedy, imported from the West End.

This semi-autobiographical jukebox musical of Alicia Keys songs has arrived in Chicago with a remarkable cast, better singers than on Broadway.

He was a longtime critic for the Chicago Reader and contributed frequently to the Tribune. He was also a Walt Whitman devotee, hosting a yearly event with his wife that included readings from &#822…

Collaborators Shaina Taub and Laurie Woolery created this adaptation for Central Park in 2022; it’s now at Writers Theatre in Glencoe.

A whopping Broadway show called “The Queen of Versailles” needs a resplendent monarch reigning at its heart, played with great sincerity by Kristin Chenoweth.

“Blackbird” reunites a man and the woman he abused when she was 12, some 15 years later. It does not make excuses for sexual abuse, even if it explores the depths of human complexity.

Two 90-minute operas with the same directors give some one-hit wonders a grand if occasionally formal double bill.

Her expressiveness in what her character cannot say has only deepened since this play’s Chicago production at Steppenwolf.