Sean Fortunato News

Artistic Director Michael Halberstam and Executive Director Kathryn Lipuma lead the staff, board and artists in celebration as the theatre closes its 2008/09 Season and enters its highly anticipated 2009/10 Season.

Writers' Theatre, under the leadership of Artistic Director Michael Halberstam and Executive Director Kathryn M. Lipuma, opens its 2009-10 season with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard, directed by Michael Halberstam. The production runs September 29- December 6, 2009, at Writers' Theatre, 325 Tudor Court in Glencoe.

Writers' Theatre, under the leadership of Artistic Director Michael Halberstam and Executive Director Kathryn M. Lipuma, opens its 2009-10 season with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard, directed by Michael Halberstam. The production runs September 29- December 6, 2009, at Writers' Theatre, 325 Tudor Court in Glencoe.

Two important post-Broadway mountings of 21st-century musicals opened in the Chicago area this week. One, 'Mary Poppins,' has had a great deal of attention. Now you can forget about it. This review concerns itself with the other one! 'Curtains,' the exemplary 2007 Kander and Ebb post-modern musical comedy, is now receiving its first post-Broadway mounting anywhere at our very own west suburban Drury Lane Theatre Oakbrook Terrace. That?s right! This major coup for Oakbrook continues the very high standards for musicals that the theatre set last year, with no end in sight.

CURTAINS, the hilarious new musical whodunit that was a 'must-see' hit of the 2007-2008 Broadway season, playing over 500 performances, kicks off Drury Lane Oakbrook's 25th anniversary season. The production previews March 19, opens Thursday, March 26 and runs through May 17 at Drury Lane Oakbrook, 100 Drury Lane, Oakbrook Terrace, IL. This is the first regional production of CURTAINS, preceding even the first National Tour. CURTAINS is the winner of nine Drama Desk Awards and eight 2007 Tony Award nominations including Best Musical, Best Book, Best Score, and Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (David Hyde Pierce).

CURTAINS, the hilarious new musical whodunit that was a 'must-see' hit of the 2007-2008 Broadway season, playing over 500 performances, kicks off Drury Lane Oakbrook's 25th anniversary season. The production previews March 19, opens Thursday, March 26 and runs through May 17 at Drury Lane Oakbrook, 100 Drury Lane, Oakbrook Terrace, IL. This is the first regional production of CURTAINS, preceding even the first National Tour. CURTAINS is the winner of nine Drama Desk Awards and eight 2007 Tony Award nominations including Best Musical, Best Book, Best Score, and Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (David Hyde Pierce).

CURTAINS, the hilarious new musical whodunit that was a 'must-see' hit of the 2007-2008 Broadway season, playing over 500 performances, previews March 19, opens Thursday, March 26 and runs through May 17 at Drury Lane Oakbrook, 100 Drury Lane, Oakbrook Terrace, IL. CURTAINS is the winner of nine Drama Desk Awards and eight 2007 Tony Award nominations including Best Musical, Best Book, Best Score, and Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (David Hyde Pierce).

CURTAINS, the hilarious new musical whodunit that was a 'must-see' hit of the 2007-2008 Broadway season, playing over 500 performances, kicks off Drury Lane Oakbrook's 25th anniversary season. The production previews March 19, opens Thursday, March 26 and runs through May 17 at Drury Lane Oakbrook, 100 Drury Lane, Oakbrook Terrace, IL. This is the first regional production of CURTAINS, preceding even the first National Tour. CURTAINS is the winner of nine Drama Desk Awards and eight 2007 Tony Award nominations including Best Musical, Best Book, Best Score, and Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (David Hyde Pierce).

CURTAINS, the hilarious new musical whodunit that was a 'must-see' hit of the 2007-2008 Broadway season, playing over 500 performances, previews March 19, opens Thursday, March 26 and runs through May 17 at Drury Lane Oakbrook, 100 Drury Lane, Oakbrook Terrace, IL. CURTAINS is the winner of nine Drama Desk Awards and eight 2007 Tony Award nominations including Best Musical, Best Book, Best Score, and Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (David Hyde Pierce).

?Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) continues its 2008-09 CST Family Series with Short Shakespeare! A Midsummer Night's Dream, a 75-minute abridged production of Shakespeare's classic comedy, adapted and directed by Amanda Dehnert. CST's Short Shakespeare! Series is designed for parents, grandparents, teachers?and all adults with children in their lives?to introduce young people to theater. Tickets are $16 for students (18 and younger), and $20 for adults. Immediately following each performance, the actors remain on stage for a brief question-and-answer session and then join the audience in the Lobby for one-on-one conversations and photo opportunities. The production will run for seven Saturdays at 11 a.m., January 24 through March 7, 2009 in Chicago Shakespeare's Courtyard Theater on Navy Pier. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.chicagoshakes.com/shortshakes.

THE BOWERY BOYS, the world premiere new musical which runs through February 15 Marriott Theatre, 10 Marriott Drive; is featuring a promotion to honor both the 2009 Presidential Inauguration and President's Day in February. Since THE BOWERY BOYS celebrates the indomitable 'American Spirit,' anyone who arrives to the theater to pick up their tickets wearing red, white and blue from January 18 through February 15 will receive a certificate valid for two tickets to a Marriott production of their choice in 2009 (Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, The Light in Piazza, Hairspray, or My Fair Lady). To obtain their certificate, customers wearing patriotic attire should visit the box office 30 minutes prior to the show.

?Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) continues its 2008-09 CST Family Series with Short Shakespeare! A Midsummer Night's Dream, a 75-minute abridged production of Shakespeare's classic comedy, adapted and directed by Amanda Dehnert. CST's Short Shakespeare! Series is designed for parents, grandparents, teachers?and all adults with children in their lives?to introduce young people to theater. Tickets are $16 for students (18 and younger), and $20 for adults. Immediately following each performance, the actors remain on stage for a brief question-and-answer session and then join the audience in the Lobby for one-on-one conversations and photo opportunities. The production will run for seven Saturdays at 11 a.m., January 24 through March 7, 2009 in Chicago Shakespeare's Courtyard Theater on Navy Pier. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.chicagoshakes.com/shortshakes.

THE BOWERY BOYS, a new musical, has made its highly anticipated world premiere at the Marriott Theatre, 10 Marriott Drive; previews began December 10th, with an opening night on December 17th, and running through February 15th. Inspired by the works of Horatio Alger Jr. and George M. Cohan, THE BOWERY BOYS' book and lyrics are by David H. Bell, with music by Jeremy Cohen.

Chicago Shakespeare opens three shows in the month of January reflecting the Theater's diverse programming. Artistic Director Barbara Gaines stages Macbeth in the Courtyard Theater, January 2-March 8, 2009; CST's World's Stage international program initiative, presents a company from Rwanda performing The Investigation in the Theater Upstairs at Chicago Shakespeare, January 21-31, 2009; and CST welcomes families to the theater with an abridged production of one of Shakespeare's most popular comedies, Short Shakespeare! A Midsummer Night's Dream, January 24-March 7, 2009, on Saturdays in the Courtyard Theater.

THE BOWERY BOYS, a new musical, will make its highly anticipated world premiere at the Marriott Theatre, 10 Marriott Drive; previewing December 10th, opening December 17th, and running through February 15th. Inspired by the works of Horatio Alger Jr. and George M. Cohan, THE BOWERY BOYS? book and lyrics are by David H. Bell, with music by Jeremy Cohen.

THE BOWERY BOYS, a new musical, will make its highly anticipated world premiere at the Marriott Theatre, 10 Marriott Drive; previewing December 10th, opening December 17th, and running through February 15th. Inspired by the works of Horatio Alger Jr. and George M. Cohan, THE BOWERY BOYS? book and lyrics are by David H. Bell, with music by Jeremy Cohen.

Chicago Shakespeare opens three shows in the month of January reflecting the Theater's diverse programming. Artistic Director Barbara Gaines stages Macbeth in the Courtyard Theater, January 2-March 8, 2009; CST's World's Stage international program initiative, presents a company from Rwanda performing The Investigation in the Theater Upstairs at Chicago Shakespeare, January 21-31, 2009; and CST welcomes families to the theater with an abridged production of one of Shakespeare's most popular comedies, Short Shakespeare! A Midsummer Night's Dream, January 24-March 7, 2009, on Saturdays in the Courtyard Theater.

New York, 1959. Once the king of Broadway, downtrodden Max Bialystock is now the infamous producer of dreadfully unsuccessful shows. Leo Bloom, his neurotic accountant, tells Max he could actually get rich by producing a flop! Together they hatch a get-rich-quick scheme to raise more money than they need for a sure-fire Broadway flop. With plans to pocket the leftover funds when the show bombs, the pair creates the ultimate box office fiasco: a musical called 'Springtime for Hitler.' Of course… not everything goes as planned. This uninhibited and irreverent romp features a hit score including, 'When You Got It, Flaunt It,' 'We Can Do It,' 'I Wanna Be a Producer,' and 'Prisoners of Love.'

There is a big, steaming bowl of borscht on display in northwest Indiana, where Theatre at the Center's production of the 2000-2001 hit stage musical 'The Producers' is playing now through October 19th.

Theatre at the Center presents the Tony-award winning musical comedy The Producers, running September 11 through October 19 at 1040 Ridge Road, Munster, Indiana Mel Brooks won 12 Tony Awards-more than any other show in history - and is based on the 1968 Academy Award-winning cult film classic of the same title.Jeff Award winner William Pullinsi will direct.