Performing Art

The Mature Mob was born in 1991 as a fundraiser for Senior Services of Central Illinois, a revue of talented actors, singers and dancers aged 50 and over. Few Mob shows in recent memory have been as successful, in terms of popularity and audience acceptance, as last year’s “Flashback to the 50s,” a salute to […]

A number of years ago there was a craze for bracelets with the initials “WWJD” which stands for “What would Jesus do?” Surely this is a worthy question, but the sheer number of those bracelets sold and worn all but ensured that somewhere along the line, some wearer of one of these bracelets might have […]

When the musical Memphis opened on Broadway in 2009 it was certainly successful, winning four Tony Awards including Best Musical. Critical response, however, was mixed, with the book by Joe DiPietro (of All Shook Up, seen this summer at Theatre in the Park) and music by Bon Jovi founding member David Bryan both singled out […]

The Wizard of Oz is part of American entertainment’s DNA. Since its publication in 1900, L. Frank Baum’s book, and the films and stage versions to follow, have been celebrated and analyzed as a political allegory, a coming of age story, and even a spiritual quest. The 1939 film won Academy Awards for best song and best […]

Thoroughly Modern Millie is The Muni at its best, filling the stage with spectacle and the night with song and laughter. It’s (mostly) a charming and hilarious story of misguided lovers struggling to find themselves and each other in the big city. Directors and choreographers Morgan Kaplan and Andrew Maynerich lead a talented cast and the […]

From its magical and jaw-dropping opening moment to the finale that had the audience on its feet cheering, Hairspray at the Legacy Theatre reinvents the delights of old-fashioned musical comedy without seeming old-fashioned. Hairspray is a sweet, infectious bubblegum-flavored confection with a cartoon story line and a surprisingly deep message. This inventive production, with a […]

The Muni Opera is staging the groundbreaking and endlessly entertaining musical Evita for the first time in a generation, and it is a must-see. Evita is the very adult Cinderella story of Eva Duarte, a poor Argentinian girl. Through powers of seduction, Eva rises from rags to riches and marriage to Juan Peron, the autocratic […]

“If you want this job, there’s something deeply wrong with you.” – Ronald Reagan in Five Presidents When former president Richard M. Nixon died in 1994, his funeral brought together the four living ex-presidents, along with current commander-in-chief Bill Clinton to attend the funeral. When writer Rick Cleveland, who has contributed scripts to politically themed […]

It’s well established that the 1950s was a decade of enormous change on many fronts. It’s especially true within the narrower context of popular music, from the growth of rock ’n’ roll, rhythm and blues and country music, as well as how those musical genres influenced each other, and society in general. All these years […]

Nearly a century ago, Italian playwright Luigi Pirandello prefigured postmodernism with his then-controversial 1921 play, Six Characters in Search of an Author, which continues its two-week run at the UIS Theatre this weekend. As the title suggests, the play’s content is self-referential, concerning itself as much with philosophical notions about literary creation and performance as […]

Bryan Rives took over as director of Sangamon Auditorium in October 2017 and has been busy for the past six months reimagining the 40-year-old, 2,005-seat venue both physically and conceptually. His plans include a revamped approach to booking and some long-overdue renovations as well as an upcoming overall rebranding. “It’s been going fantastic,” said Rives […]