Third Coast Creatives

Chicago theater has long had a reputation for producing some of the best theater in the country.   As a result, Chicago audiences expect a high bar as they enter the theater doors.   Occasionally, audiences are blessed with productions that exceed that bar.   Warp (produced by the Organic Theater), Macbeth (starring Aidan Quinn at Northlight Theater), and True West , Balm in Gilead , and Of Mice and Men (Steppenwolf Theater) are examples Chicago theater productions people continue to talk about years, or even decades, after the lights go down.   Under the direction of Artistic Director Michael Weber, Porchlight Music Theatre kicks off its 25 th season with their production of Sunset Boulevard that may well join the list of special productions that theater aficionados will boast “they were there when…”. Based on the Academy Award winning Billy Wilder Film, Sunset Boulevard features music by Andrew Lloyd Weber with lyrics and book by Don Black and Christo...

Sequins, taffeta, and jeweled tiaras filled the Chicago Improv…and that was just in the audience.   On stage Laura Osnes (Cinderella on Broadway), Susan Egan (original Belle in Beauty and the Beast) and Courtney Reed (original Jasmine in Disney’s Aladdin) were joined by Music Director/Fairy Godfairy Benjamin Rauhala to host a Broadway Princess Party.   Through two sold-out performances, these talented artists performed the most beloved ‘Princess songs’ of stage and screen, reminiscing about their favorite fairy tales and most cherished characters. The Broadway Princess Party is the brainchild of New York-based music director Rauhala and two-time Tony nominee Osnes.   Returning home from a visit to Disneyworld, Rauhala thought, wouldn’t it be fun to have a Broadway Princess Party?   What about a show composed of songs made famous by all those princesses, a show complete with some gossip and banter about what it would it was actually like to play these charac...

A couple of weeks ago, my wife, my daughter and I had the awesome pleasure to see a video presentation of Bandstand, presented by Fathom Events.   Fathom had shot video of two live performances of this Broadway musical to put together an amazing video presentation of this live event.   The presentation is then shown in several movie theaters across the country.   Thus, we were able to watch a Broadway show on a Tuesday evening at a local theater for a fraction of the cost of a Broadway ticket. Bandstand is an original musical composed by Richard Oberacker with book and lyrics by Oberacker and Rob Taylor.   Directed and choreographed by Andy Blankenbuehler (Hamilton), the show opened on Broadway on April 26, 2017, running 24 previews and 166 performances.   The show closed on September 17, 2017.   The musical tells the story of a group of veterans returning to the United States after World War II.   The veterans struggle to settle into a norm...