Displaying items by tag: Chicago Children’s Theatre

It’s been more than a decade since Chicago Children’s Theatre presented Goodnight Moon, the popular musical about a bunny who doesn’t want to go to bed, based on the beloved picture book by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrator Clement Hurd.

But this Spring, Bunny is coming back to Chicago Children’s Theatre in an all-new way. This time, to celebrate the company’s 20th Anniversary season finale, Bunny will be “in the house.”

CCT’s 20th Anniversary production of Goodnight Moon will feature an all-new, immersive scenic design that will invite audiences for a primary-colored play date right inside Bunny’s bedroom. There, on an environmental set, both kids and parents will enjoy catchy songs, delightful dancing, the humorous antics of a very nocturnal bunny, and the quiet poetry of the iconic tale.

Immerse YOUR family in the world of Goodnight Moon. Public performances are April 11-June 7, 2026, Saturday and Sunday at 9:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.* 

Tickets are $47.25 and on sale at chicagochildrenstheatre.org. Purchase early, as many shows will sell out. Goodnight Moon runs approximately 75 minutes. This show is recommended for all ages. Call CCT Guest Services, (312) 374-8835, or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to learn about additional discounts for schools, playgroups, birthday parties and scouting groups. 

*Schedule exceptions: No 11:30 a.m. show Saturday, April 11. No 9:30 a.m. shows Sunday, May 3 and May 17. Added 2 p.m. matinee Sunday, May 3.)

New in 2025-26, Chicago Children’s Theatre has introduced a “20 tickets for $20” 20th Anniversary Lottery. Patrons can enter once per production and drawings will happen each week with the winners receiving their special offer (maximum four tickets per patron).

Chicago Children’s Theatre, a “no shushing” theater, is located at 100 S. Racine Ave., at Monroe, in the heart of Chicago's West Loop, minutes from
I-90 and I-290, downtown and Ashland Avenue. Free, onsite parking is available on the south side of the building. Free street parking can be found nearby on weekends, or try the Impark parking lot, 1301 W. Madison St.

I’ve gotta admit — as my six-year-old daughter and I entered the Chicago Children’s Theatre’s main stage and took our seats, one of us wasn’t having any of it. One of us, of course, remembered the enchanting play we’d taken in there earlier this year, and could not stop talking about that production and the hopes that this one would be every bit as enchanting. The other one of us griped to himself that the seats were too low, that rabbits are pests and definitely should not be named (Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail, or Peter), and that Sunday mornings should not be spent thinking about such things in the first place. And then a bit of magic happened…

That magic came from the Victorian-attired and jauntily British-accented cast of the theatre’s current production, The Beatrix Potter Holiday Tea Party. Welcoming each of the theatergoers, be they little girls in dresses or grumpy dads in baggy-eyed delirium, Lara Carling and Kay Kron began quite the work of transporting us, which is the goal of all good theater, I suppose. They interacted with people, asking them about animals and school and the like. They smiled. They promised that once the play was over, we’d be able to play with whatever things their play would utilize. And then they took the stage, surrounded by closed trunks and cylinders and boxes and backed by Ray Rehberg and his one-man orchestra of stringed instruments and electronic gadgets. And the play began.

In each of the three stories that Carling, Kron, and Rehberg told us (all three based on beloved tales by Victorian magic-maker, Beatrix Potter), said trunks and boxes and cylinders were opened to reveal characters and settings rendered in the style of those beloved Potter books. Mrs. Tittlemouse. Mr. Jackson, the toad. Squirrel Nutkin. Old Brown, the owl. Mr. McGregor. And that rascally rabbit, Peter. Through the use of hand-cranks and props, sound effects and song, each of these well-known characters came to life and their stories kept us all — old and young alike — entranced until the end.

And in the end, after the children rushed the stage to touch and feel the things they had just seen, we were ushered back into the theater’s lobby for hot cocoa and cookies. And, I’ve gotta admit, we enjoyed those Sunday morning treats, the both of us, with smiles on our faces at the wondrous tales we’d just been told.

The Beatrix Potter Holiday Tea Party is being performed at Chicago Children’s Theatre through December 30th. For more show information visit www.chicagochildrenstheatre.org.