Displaying items by tag: Theatre Chicago

Created in 1904, Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly has become one of the world’s greatest and most popular operas.  New York’s Metropolitan Opera alone had performed it 902 times prior to the beginning of its 2023-24 season.  Renowned for his gifts for melody, Puccini’s musical component is ravishingly beautiful.  His manner of intermixing cultural references into his orchestration also makes it exquisitely complex.  Enhanced with a gripping story about the power of trust and the fragility of love, Madama Butterfly qualifies as an irrefutable masterpiece. Throughout its existence though, the opera has also been an artistic triumph with issues.

An adaptation of a one-act play written in 1900, which itself was based on a short story by an American author, John Luther Long two years earlier, it’s been criticized as being a flawed fantasy.  One created by white men about the essence of another culture.  In this case, Japan.  In Madama Butterfly, an American, Lt. B. F. Pinkerton, arrives in the island country and soon begins a quest for love.  A love that he never plans to be lasting.  Once he returns state side, he’ll re-enter the mainstream and marry traditionally.

Since its origin, issues of perception and portrayal have always haunted Puccini’s Madama Butterfly.  He composed it in partnership with Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica who wrote the text or libretto.  For most of the opera’s existence, the way Japanese culture and its people were projected robbed them of dimension and ultimately diminished their humanity.  In both early productions of the opera and in virtually all that followed, Japanese men saw their virility erased while Japanese women watched their deference be reduced to an exaggerated docility.  As intrinsically lovely Madama Butterfly is as a creative jewel, for the Japanese people and many others of color, it has also been deeply problematic.

For Matthew Ozawa, Director and Chief Artistic Officer of the Lyric Opera of Chicago, it was as well.  As a Japanese-American director of operatic works, his relationship with Puccini’s masterpiece has been fraught.   He knew intrinsically as a director he could never present it in a conventional way.  If he were ever to take on the challenge of staging the piece, he would do it through more enlightened eyes.  The current production of Madama Butterfly he directs at the Lyric, running through April 12^th, shows how spectacular a 122-year-old classic can look and feel with a total makeover by a gifted artisan.

Ozawa’s Madama Butterfly, co-produced by the Cincinnati Opera, Pittsburg Opera, Detroit Opera and the Utah Opera, dismantles the old format and completely rebuilds it in a contemporary context.  The overhaul was so comprehensive, keeping the original orchestration and libretto unaltered and intact was a condition for greenlighting his vision.   

The Company of Madama Butterfly.

Like many men of his generation, Ozawa loved playing video games growing up.  It wasn’t a leap for him to envision Madama Butterfly taking on the features of a machine generated video game offering a portal to an alternate reality.  Pinkerton (tenor Evan LeRoy Johnson) would travel to Japan through his headset and begin a journey that would lead to the devastating consequences we all know will follow.

But first, like any talented leader, Ozawa needed to assemble a team to bring his concept to fruition.  Based on opening night’s performance at the Lyric, a better dream team probably doesn’t exist.  Recruiting all females as his key collaborators, who were either Japanese or Japanese-American, cultural accuracy and agency would no longer be a concern.  Each of them a heavy hitter in her respective craft, the composite experience they created was so remarkable it could easily be considered revelatory.  The superb impact of Kimie Nishikawa’s set designs and Yuki Nakase Link’s lighting talents made on the production’s visual potency and dynamism can’t be overstated. 

A muted background would suddenly blaze in dramatic color and fill with subtly ornate splendor when Pinkerton donned the goggles that would transport him to Japan. There, Maiko Matsushima’s costume designs bowled you away with their texture, imagination, sophistication and beauty.

Even when we first finally meet Cio-Cio-San, Butterfly, played by Karah Son, we’re visited with the unexpected.  She’s as small and delicate as butterflies are, but in her words and carriage you sense the steel in her spine.  At 15, she may have become a geisha to support herself, but she’s clearly proud of the fact that she’s also “well-bred”.   That inner dignity is an ever-present element of her character. 

Son has played this crucial character in houses around the globe; in her native Korea, Warsaw, Berlin, Bologna, Los Angeles and San Francisco just to list a few.  This production marks her Lyric debut.  She knows this part.  From the excellence of her soprano Saturday night, and the flawlessness of her acting abilities, she is this part.   

Johnson, a wonderful tenor who’s also making his debut at the Lyric, makes a compelling Pinkerton.  He doesn’t quite comprehend the import of his words when Sharpless (Zachary Nelson) tells him to “Be Careful, she trusts you”, until it’s too late.  Finally realizing what that trust has cost releases his humanity.  But it can’t stop the payment deception exacts.

In the final scene, where only pathos is expected, this presentation all but blinds you with the complex beauty of real life through the fiction of a story.  Ozawa’s brilliant directing, Son’s gifts as a marvelous actress/vocalist and Puccini’s stunning score converge to cause the soul to quake.  

Puccini’s Madama Butterfly now truly soars.

Madama Butterfly

Through April 12, 2026

Lyric Opera of Chicago

20 N. Wacker Drive

Chicago, IL  60606

For more information and tickets:   https://www.lyricopera.org

Highly Recommended

This review is proudly shared with our friends at www.TheatreInChicago.com. 

King Odysseus returns home to Ithaca after twenty years’ absence: ten years’ fighting the Trojan War (it takes time to build a big enough wooden horse), followed by a ten-year journey during which everything that could go wrong does go wrong: think rush-hour traffic on the Kennedy under construction. When he finally arrives, Odysseus finds yet another complication: in his absence a hundred men have undertaken to lay claim to his throne, actually taking up residence in Odysseus’ palace, scarfing down his harvests, seducing his servants, and harassing his wife.

Penelope has made every effort to discourage the putative suitors, her most recent gambit being a challenge to string Odysseus’ mighty bow, then use it to shoot an arrow through a line of a dozen axe handles. That’s pretty serious and, unsurprisingly, none of the opportunists manages. Everyone is amazed therefore when a stranger (Odysseus disguised as a beggar) nails it. The disappointed contenders aren’t happy about this, and are further aggrieved when the ‘beggar’ throws off his rags, identifies himself, and advises the intruders to hit the road.

Odysseus, legitimately vexed at the situation, answers their disgruntlement with violence and all hundred freeloaders are … well, the proper verb is in question, as it’s unclear whether Odysseus righteously executes or viciously murders them. This is the issue we explore in TRIAL OF ODYSSEUS: is Odysseus a champion, heroically defending his title, his home, and his family? Or is he a villain, goaded by jealous rage into a frenzy of unwonted slaughter?

TRIAL OF ODYSSEUS was … what to call it? to be honest it was not truly theater. TRIAL OF ODYSSEUS was presented as an actual trial, with Antonio M Romanucci and Daisy Ayllón of Romanucci & Blandin LLC prosecuting and Patrick M. Collins and Tinos Diamantatos of King & Spalding LLP arguing for the defense. A panel of four judges (Georgia M Alexakis, Sara L Ellis, Jeffrey G Chrones and Anthony C. Kyrikopoulos) and twelve jurors examined and cross-examined both the witness Phimeus (Leonardo Sfondouris) and Odysseus, played by Christos Vasilopoulos.

The final decision, however, was ours. Each audience member was provided with their choice of two tokens, blue for guilty and white for innocent. At the close of examination these tokens were collected and their count served as the verdict: Odysseus was found Not Guilty., I suspect that those voting Guilty did so from the viewpoint of twenty-first century law. I can’t believe anyone in the Bronze Age, roughly 1200 BCE, would not fully sympathize with Odysseus’ reaction, however grisly.

I’m totally ignorant of judicial matters, and someone better acquainted with legal procedure might have found problems with how the trial was portrayed, but I thought it was as credible as it was entertaining. For one, it certainly reflected the delay encountered in our modern magisterial system, as the event under arbitration occurred more than 3,000 years ago. A real trial for first-degree murder would probably incorporate less humor, but the Court had no difficulty drawing parallels across the three-millennium time difference; many of these comments were quite amusing and were certainly appreciated by the audience.

TRIAL OF ODYSSEUS was instructive, engaging, and just plain fun! The bad news is that it was a single production; there will be no further performances. But keep your eye on the National Hellenic Museum, as they offer regular events and exhibitions.

This review is proudly shared with our friends at www.TheatreInChicago.com. 

Get ready - those phones are about to explode, and Sam is already spinning like a top trying to catch every single one. It’s a full‑blown ring‑storm, and he’s diving into it with the hectic energy of someone who knows the chaos is coming and still can’t outrun it.

A brisk, razor‑funny powder keg of a play, Fully Committed tracks a single frantic day in the life of Sam, the lone reservationist at one of Manhattan’s most elite - and most impossible - restaurant. Becky Mode’s script is a full‑tilt high‑wire act, and Mike Newquist tears across nearly forty characters with the kind of breakneck precision that makes your head spin. As Sam, he’s already a live wire - but then he’s also snapping into entitled celebrities, neurotic assistants, tyrannical chefs, and every flavor of fine‑dining madness that dares to ring his desk. It’s dazzling, anxious, and wildly fun to watch him juggle it all without ever dropping the thread. The comedy snaps because each character is so sharply etched, and Newquist seamlessly shifts among them with the kind of finesse that turns mayhem into art.

At its heart, the nearly 90-minute play gleefully skewers the rituals of status and the agitated, almost feral hunger for exclusivity, exposing just how ridiculous people become when a reservation turns into a badge of power. Sam becomes the unseen fulcrum of that world, and his day unravels from merely hectic to outright surreal as he absorbs tantrums, negotiates impossible demands, and fights to keep a grip on his own sense of worth. Watching Newquist as Sam behind that reservation desk in a constant tinderbox had me instantly aware that I wouldn’t survive two hours in his shoes. His frantic charm and barely contained panic sells the chaos and sparks a whole new respect for the people who actually thrive in that kind of daily combustion.

Fully Committed lands as hard as it does because it’s rooted in real industry absurdity. Mode shaped these characters straight out of real restaurant‑world encounters, giving the show a mix of satirical whirlwind and a bite of truth that feels both sharply recognizable and wickedly real.

Throughout the play, I loved how Sam’s dad kept slipping into the heavy commotion with that gentle, grounding voice - just long enough to let the whole room exhale. Each time he called, Sam’s entire demeanor flipped in an instant; you could watch him go from frazzled to peaceful like someone had hit a reset switch. Those brief check-ins made it clear how a few steady words from a gentle, supportive father (or friend/family member) can cut straight through the noise, offering a tiny pocket of calm even when everything else is burning down around him.

Mike Newquist is pure kinetic joy onstage, delivering a commanding turn in Fully Committed. The Chicago‑based actor and improviser thrives in the city’s storefront trenches, bouncing between sharp‑edged comedy, character chameleon work, and the kind of ensemble disorder where anything can - and usually does - happen. He’s popped up with PrideArts, AstonRep, and The Comrades, tackling everything from contemporary drama to high-velocity comic mayhem. In Fully Committed, it’s his quick‑switch agility that makes him a blast to watch.

Directed by Derek Bertelsen, this Chicago staging arrives with a jolt of fresh energy and real immediacy. Newquist’s performance becomes the engine that drives the whole night, while Bertelsen keeps the momentum razor‑sharp, the pacing tight, and every character shift snapping cleanly into place.

The Den Theatre hosts the run March 13–28, 2026, with performances on Friday and Saturday nights at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for Fully Committed at The Den Theatre are just $26. For tickets and/or any more show information, click here.

Recommended.

This review is proudly shared with our friends at www.TheatreInChicago.com. 

[producingbody] is pleased to announce the Chicago premiere of Spaceman, by Leegrid Stevens and directed by Eric Slater, May 19 - June 13, at The Edge Off-Broadway, 1133 W. Catalpa Ave. The running time is 100 minutes with no intermission. Previews are Tuesday, May 19 and Wednesday, May 20 at 7:30 p.m., performance schedule is Thursdays and Fridays at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays at 4:30 and 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 5 p.m. Ticket prices are $15-45. Tickets go on sale Friday, April 3 at 12 p.m. at producingbody.com.

In Spaceman, the difficulties of interplanetary space travel are explored in exacting detail throughout this one-woman, sci-fi odyssey. Radiation exposure, long term weightlessness, low light, extensive communication delays and poor hygiene are just a few of the challenges astronaut Molly Jennis must face as the first human to visit Mars. But she soon finds nothing compares to the psychological effects of having so much time alone. Time spent mulling over the decisions she has made and what might be waiting for her when she finally reaches her destination.

The cast of Spaceman includes Ashley Neal (she/her, Molly Jennis); Allyce Torres (she/her, ensemble puppeteer/Ares) and Amy Carpenter (she/her, Molly Jennis U/S).

The production team includes Leegrid Stevens (he/him, playwright); Eric Slater (he/him, director); Amy Carpenter (she/her, executive producer); Taylor Dalton (she/her, executive producer/set design/costume design); Angela Joy Baldasare (she/her, sound designer) and Garrett Bell (he/him, lighting designer).  

ABOUT LEEGRID STEVENS, playwright

Leegrid Stevens is a Texas raised, Brooklyn based playwright, composer and sound designer. Leegrid’s recent productions include The Trojans (2025 @thecell), War Dreamer (2023 @wild project), A Peregrine Falls (2020 @wild project), Spaceman (2019 @wild project), The Dudleys! (2018 @herearts), Mesquite, NV (2017 @workshop theater) and The Twelfth Labor. Leegrid is the co-founder with Erin Treadway of Loading Dock Theatre which has received multiple awards over their history including two Drama Desk nominations for their production of Spaceman and 6x Henry Hewes design nominations for their most recent production, The Trojans. Leegrid is also an award-winning sound designer (B. Iden Payne Award & NYIT Award for The Dudleys, NYIT sound design for Spaceman). Hailed as “hugely gifted” by the New Yorker’s Helen Shaw, Leegrid is also the co-author of a fantasy novel series, “Fall”, with Craig Bridger.

ABOUT ERIC SLATER, Director

Eric Slater (Director/ Houston) is an actor, writer and director based in Chicago, and is truly honored to return to Spaceman for its Chicago Premiere. He was the voice of Houston in the play's inaugural production at The Martha Graham Studio in NYC. Chicago credits include: Inherit the Wind, The Cherry Orchard, This Happened Once At The Romance Depot Off i-87 in Westchester, Support Group For Men, Smokefall, Feathers And Teeth (Goodman); The Doppelganger (an international farce) (Steppenwolf); Tiny Beautiful Things, Hand To God (Victory Gardens); Small Jokes About Monsters (16th Street). Slater has been a member of the Rivendell Theatre Ensemble since 2005 and has worked on more than fifteen projects in that time including The Tasters, Cal In Camo, Alias Grace and Rasheeda Speaking. Off-Broadway: Juvenal Players (The Kitchen); The Dudley's: A Family Game! (Theatre for a New City); Our Greatest Year (Kraine & The Brick); Original cast of Gloryana (Workshop Production, The Public Theatre & The York Theater). Film: “Regret Like That”, “In The Flood”, “You Don’t Belong Here”, “Widows”, “The Try Out”. TV: ”Monster: The Ed Gein Story”, "Emperor of Ocean Park”, “Fargo”, “Chicago Fire”. He is a contributing member of the North Carolina based writing project; “The Nugents”. He has also written and directed his first film, “She Brought Us The Moon,” which is currently in post-production.

ABOUT ASHLEY NEAL, “Molly Jennis”

Ashley is thrilled to be working with [producingbody] for the first time! She was recently seen in Pivot at Rivendell Theatre Ensemble where she is a long time ensemble member. Ashley is also an ensemble member with First Floor Theater where she appeared in Evanston Salt Costs Climbing and Plano. Other stage credits include: The Cave (A Red Orchid), Evil Perfect (Bramble Theatre Company) and The Singularity Play (Jackalope Theatre). At Rivendell, she has done numerous shows including Scientific Method, Cal in Camo, Alias Grace, Wrens, These Shining Lives and more. Other theater credits include Killing Game, The Nether and A Red Handed Otter (A Red Orchid Theatre); Eric Argyle (Steep Theatre); Men Should Weep, London Wall and Stage Door (Griffin Theatre) as well as many more. She has appeared in many films and TV episodes including “Stuck”, “The Chi”, “Chicago Fire”, and more. She is represented by Big Mouth Talent and is a member of SAG. All my thanks to Lloyd and Ida Mae.

ABOUT ALLYCE TORRES, ensemble puppeteer/“Ares” 

Allie is an actor and puppeteer from San Diego, CA. She has worked with companies such as Steep, Chicago Children’s Theatre, 16th Street Theatre, Cabinet of Curiosity, Teatro Vista, The Passage, Lookingglass, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre and Red. She is thrilled to be returning to [producingbody] and is proudly represented by Big Mouth Talent.

ABOUT [producingbody]

Established in 2021, [producingbody] is a for-profit theatre company co-founded by Amy Carpenter and Taylor Dalton here in Chicago. [producingbody]’s first and foremost goal is to assert that artists and the work we make are necessary and inherently valuable, which is why any profit made on our productions is re-invested into the next process. We are acutely interested in negotiating discomfort; in challenging our limits, our artists and our audiences in the work we produce. We are motivated by artistic impossibility, in responsibility, in creative risk and collective reward.

Goodman Theatre announced today that its highly-anticipated presentation of Theater of the Mind, by Academy, Grammy and Tony Award-winning artist David Byrne (Broadway’s Here Lies Love with Fatboy Slim, American Utopia and the renowned group Talking Heads) with writer Mala Gaonkar, will make its Chicago debut March 11 – May 31, 2026 (opening night is March 25, 2026) at the Reid Murdoch Building, 333 N. LaSalle. Tickets ($66-$96, subject to change) will be available for sale starting Friday, November 7 at 10 am, at the Goodman Theatre Box Office (170 N. Dearborn), by calling 312.443.3800 or by purchasing online at TheaterOfTheMindChicago.com. The Goodman is grateful for the support of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Illinois Office of Tourism, Northern Trust, and Friedman Properties.

“The Goodman is thrilled to introduce Theater of the Mind to Chicago audiences and to showcase the singular creativity of David Byrne and Mala Gaonkar,” said Goodman Theatre Walter Artistic Director Susan V. Booth. “Our Centennial Season welcomes audiences to experience all of the ‘feels’ and Theater of the Mind engages all of the senses, making it a perfect addition to our landmark season. We hope for this production to be an ongoing attraction that sparks joy, conversation and community.”

A one-of-a-kind theatrical experience audiences will see, feel, taste, and hear, this intimate and immersive journey of how we perceive and create our worlds is inspired by both historical and current neuroscience research. Under Director Andrew Scoville and Technology Director Heidi Boisvert, PhD, Theater of the Mind is a 15,000-square-foot immersive experience taking just sixteen audience members at a time through a 75-minute journey of self-reflection, discovery, and imagination, inspired by and grounded in neuroscience.

"Mala and I have long been fascinated by the science behind these experiences; though reading about the phenomena involved is exciting, it’s quite something else to actually experience it,” said co-creator David Byrne. “It’s a different level of understanding, a different kind of knowledge—visceral, immediate, and profound. The film and theater adage ‘show, don’t tell’ became a guiding principle in discovering a way to include these experiences in an entertaining and engaging show. A show in which the audience makes many of the inferences for themselves, without being told by us what it means. For me, the broader implications that these phenomena have in our lives, our sense of the world, and our sense of self is key.”

“For a few years, David and I partnered with several cognitive neuroscience labs to see how some of the most basic human intuitions determine how humans react," said co-creator Mala Gaonkar. "What we concluded was that the experiments and ideas of the labs we partnered with, several of which we embedded in our narrative, seemed as engaging as any piece of theater. We began referring to this project as a ‘Neuro Funhouse,’ but as we worked on it, we came to realize that it was evolving to be something more than that. It has made us rethink some of our own beliefs and assumptions, to see ourselves and the world in a different way. We hope that it might have a similar effect on our audience—and think of science and theater in a new way."

Led by a Guide whose stories are inspired from the creators' lives, audiences will explore how they perceive the world through sensory experiments that reveal the inner mysteries of the brain. Casting for the multiple roles of the Guide will be announced after the new year.

Caution: the brain may wander! Side effects may include a distrust of your own senses, a disorientation of self, and a mild to severely good time. You may not be who you think you are. But we're all in it together.

Theater of the Mind had its World Premiere on August 31, 2022, at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE

Starting March 11, Theater of the Mind will be staged Tuesday evenings starting at 6 pm; Wednesday afternoons starting at 2 pm and evenings starting at 6 pm; Thursday evenings starting at 6 pm; Friday evenings starting at 5 pm; Saturday afternoons starting at noon and evenings at 6 pm; and Sunday afternoons starting at 12:30 pm. Performances begin every 15 minutes, and each includes 16 audience members. A complete schedule can be found at theaterofthemindchicago.com.

ABOUT THE CREATORS

David Byrne (Co-Creator) is a musician, performer, writer, and multidisciplinary artist whose creative ventures have captivated audiences since 1975, when he co-founded the renowned group Talking Heads. In addition to Theater of the Mind, recent works include Here Lies Love, a musical with music by Byrne and Fatboy Slim (2023), SOCIAL! at The Park Avenue Armory, the Broadway production of Byrne’s American Utopia (2019) as well as the Spike Lee-directed film version (2020), the launch of his Reasons to be Cheerful online magazine (2019), and the solo album American Utopia (2018). To date, Byrne has published five books including How Music Works (2012).

Mala Gaonkar (Co-Creator) has more than 20 years of experience investing behind technology trends. She was a founding partner of the investment management firm Lone Pine Capital in 1998. In 2022, Gaonkar launched her own firm, SurgoCap Partners, focused on the disruptive effects of technology within broad industry categories. Gaonkar’s focus is on multi-disciplinary thinking, including using the tools of data science, artificial intelligence, and behavioral science to solve problems.  She has embraced this approach both through her investing career as well as through Surgo Ventures, a foundation that she co-founded in 2015. Gaonkar is a graduate of Harvard University and Harvard Business School.

ABOUT THE DIRECTORS

Andrew Scoville (Director), a native of west suburban Elmhurst, is a New York-based theater director specializing in immersive layouts, technological landscapes, and hybrid-genre theater-making with an emphasis on integrating science ideas into theatrical experiences. Credits include The Brobot Johnson Experience (Bushwick Starr, The New York Times Critics' Pick), Escape the Planet (NY Hall of Science commission with astronomer Moiya McTier),  People Doing Math podcast and, as Associate director: Here Lies Love (dir. Alex Timbers, Public Theater, National Theater UK, Seattle Rep), Sweeney Todd (dir Bill Buckhurst, Barrow Street Theater), Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (dir Alex Timbers, Broadway).

Heidi Boisvert, PhD (Technology Director) is an interdisciplinary artist, experience designer, creative technologist, and researcher investigating the neurobiological and socio-cultural impacts of media and technology. Her work focuses on how the body, senses, and emotions influence perception and social change. She is currently mapping the world’s first media genome with careful attention to its ethical implications. She founded future Perfect lab, a creative agency and think tank that works with social justice organizations to design playful emerging media campaigns to transform the public imagination. She also co-founded XTH, a company developing novel forms of expression through biotechnology and the human body.

ABOUT GOODMAN THEATRE

As previously announced, Theater of the Mind makes its Midwest debut during The Goodman’s Centennial 25/26 Season. Since 1925, The Goodman has been a theatrical home for artists and a gathering space for community. It’s where stories come to life—bold in artistry and rich in history, deeply rooted in the city it serves. Led by Walter Artistic Director Susan V. Booth and Executive Director John Collins, The Goodman sparks conversation, connection, and change through new plays, reimagined classics, and large-scale musicals. With distinctions including world and American premieres, Pulitzer Prizes, Tony Awards, and Joseph Jefferson Awards, The Goodman is proud to be the first theater to produce all 10 plays of August Wilson’s “American Century Cycle.” But The Goodman believes a more empathetic, more connected Chicago is created one story at a time and counts as its greatest legacy the community it’s built. The Goodman was founded by William O. Goodman and his family to honor the memory of Kenneth Sawyer Goodman—a visionary playwright whose bold ideas helped shape Chicago’s early cultural renaissance. That spirit of creativity and generosity endures today.