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Hedy Weiss biography
Hedy Weiss has been Theater and Dance Critic of the Chicago Sun-Times since 1984, reporting on local, national and international productions, as well as a …
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‘Veronica’s Room’ will creep you out
HEDY WEISS: Scares are certain as BoHo Theatre’s tightly spun story unfolds.
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In ‘Broadsword,’ a metal band’s thoughts get heavy
HEDY WEISS: Marco Ramirez’ intriguing play, produced by the Gift Theatre, finds faded rockers reunited and contemplating success and failure.
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Cautionary tale of concentration camp lacks true depth
The story of the Theresienstadt concentration camp in Czechoslovakia — one of the stranger and more perversely sinister chapters in Holocaust history — has been dealt with in several forms, including the 1980 film, “Playing for Time.” Now it has been turned into a musical.
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War truths march on in engrossing ‘Killer Angels’
HEDY WEISS: Lifeline Theatre revives its superb stage adaptation of Michael Shaara’s 1975 novel about the Battle of Gettysburg.
Our ‘national’ humor the core of ‘Old Jews Telling Jokes’
So, where did Jewish humor begin? The Off Broadway comedy “Old Jews Telling Jokes” reveals it’s a lot closer than you might think.
‘4000 Miles’ a theatrical journey worth taking
HEDY WEISS: At Northlight, Mary Ann Thebus triumphs in Amy Herzog’s beautifully observed play about an elderly woman reuniting with her neo-hippie grandson.
Steppenwolf regular McCraney among 24 MacArthur Fellows
Tarell Alvin McCraney, the 32-year-old playwright, actor, director and Steppenwolf Theatre ensemble member, was on his way to the airport for a flight to New Haven, Conn., a few weeks ago, when he received a phone call from Cecilia Conrad, vice president of the MacArthur Foundation and director of its Fellows Program (more widely known as “the genius awards”).
“Pullman Porter Blues” rolls along with predictable purpose
‘Pullman Porter Blues,” Cheryl L. West’s play-with-music, receiving a lavish production at the Goodman Theatre, deals with a fascinating, once-iconic, but little-known subculture of African-American life.
Black Ensemble’s ‘Curtis Mayfield’ tale more than ‘all-right’
Black Ensemble Theater delivers a rousing tribute to the life of Curtis Mayfield in latest musical.
After 40 years with Goodman Theatre, Roche Schulfer still looks ahead
With his closely cropped hair and familiar “uniform” — navy blazer, khaki slacks and loafers — you could easily mistake Roche Schulfer for a prep school principal or golf club executive. As it happens, he has been a major force on Chicago’s cultural landscape, associated …
Joan Allen’s talents wasted in Steppenwolf war drama
HEDY WEISS: “The Wheel” a faux-surreal mashup weighted down by dull writing and heavy-handed symbolism.
ROCHE SCHULFER — in the words of his friends and colleagues
BRIAN DENNEHY, actor: “Has there ever been a more productive leader in the fiendishly difficult world of not-for-profit arts organizations? Has there ever been a more graceful organizer, fundraiser, hand-holder and massager of easily-bruised egos? Has there ever been a better dresser? Roche Schulfer, with …
THEATER — ‘The North China Lover’
Heidi Stillman, who has adapted and directed Marguerite Duras’ “The North China Lover,” for the Lookingglass Theatre, first read the quasi-autobiographical novel by the French writer and filmmaker about 18 years ago. “It was so incandescent, so intriguing, I remember I was almost shaking,” Stillman …
“Evita,” the ever-thrilling Andrew Lloyd Webber-Tim Rice musical remains the sharpest and most searing work in the canon of both men.
Joan Allen — Steppenwolf’s prodigal daughter returns
After nearly 22 years, actress Joan Allen returns to the Chicago stage, in Steppenwolf Theatre’s production of “The Wheel.”
‘To Master the Art’ a scrumptious delight
“To Master the Art,” the utterly delicious play by William Brown and Doug Frew, about a defining decade in the life of Julia Child, is now at the Broadway Playhouse in a marvelous remount.
‘The Mountaintop’ challenges King legend
HEDY WEISS: Court Theatre’s “The Mountaintop” imagines an encounter between a motel maid and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the Memphis hotel on the night before King was shot. The crucial thing to remember: “The Mountaintop” is no documentary.
‘The Rite of Spring’ at the center of Joffrey program
For this year’s worldwide celebration of the 100th anniversary of “The Rite of Spring” (both Igor Stravinsky’s groundbreaking score and the shockingly primal choreography by Vaslav Nijinsky that put Paris into a tailspin), the Joffrey Ballet will perform the work as the centerpiece of a …
‘In the Heights’ blends best of old and new
HEDY WEISS: Paramount Theatre’s lavish production showcases modern rhythms and timeless storytelling.
PigPen Theatre Co. brings clever take to ‘Old Man’ themes
Attention: Boys at play. In fact, seven very attractive, distinctive-looking twentysomething ones who can act, spin a story, sing, and play musical instruments as accompaniment to their self-devised songs which range from country-style ballads and quirky sea chanties to a Brecht-Weill-like number. They call themselves …
