All stories by Chris Jones on BroadwayStars

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Theo Ubique leads non-Equity Jeff Award nominations by Chris Jones

The Joseph Jefferson Awards Committee loves the work of the little cabaret theater known for its excellence in the heart of Rogers Park: Theo Ubique Theatre emerged Tuesday night as the Chic…

SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 11:10PM[SHARE]

Broadway 'Tuck Everlasting' keeps things light, even things like life and death by Chris Jones

The new Broadway musical version of "Tuck Everlasting" " a young person's novel by Natalie Babbitt that has justly been loved by at least three generations of kids, including mine " is deter…

SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 08:00PM[SHARE]
Sunday, April 24, 2016

'Waitress' is an intimate Broadway musical of the highest order by Chris Jones

All great bakers put a part of their souls in the mixing bowl, but Jenna, the small-town star of "Waitress," narrates her tough life using the titles of her daily specials: the Key Lime to H…

SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 08:00PM[SHARE]

In this 'Producers,' laughs are in full Bloom by Chris Jones

Matt Crowle may just be the definitive Leo Bloom, the very, very, very unhappy accountant whose life is transformed by shenanigans with Max Bialystock, regular sex at 11 with Ulla Inga Hanse…

SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 02:56PM[SHARE]
Friday, April 22, 2016

Do actors from 'Hamilton' deserve to be paid royalties? by Chris Jones

Alexander Hamilton might have survived on the $10 bill, but the news here last week that the original "Hamilton" cast is to get a piece of the currency generated by the hit Broadway show sen…

SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 02:25PM[SHARE]
Thursday, April 21, 2016

'Evita' at Marriott Theatre: Oh Evita! We hardly knew ye! by Chris Jones

It has " pinch me, Che Guevara " been 40 years since two pimply, pasty Brits, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, penned the songs to "Evita," which first emerged as a concept album that wore …

SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 05:46PM[SHARE]

'American Psycho' musical spatters blood and scatters style by Chris Jones

An unreliable narrator clad in Ermenegildo Zegna, Patrick Bateman (Exeter, Harvard) emerged from the pages of Bret Easton Ellis' 1991 shocker "American Psycho" as hot, pure, crystallized exc…

SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 03:31PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Touring 'Bullets Over Broadway' mostly fires blanks by Chris Jones

Some of Broadway's flops are riddled with bullets from birth. The premature deaths of others are more of a surprise. I'd put "Bullets Over Broadway," the 2014 Broadway musical version of the…

SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 03:34PM[SHARE]

Light opera is dead but 'The King and I' continues its long life by Chris Jones

At an event last week in front of its supporters, the venerable Light Opera Works of Evanston announced it will be ditching its longtime moniker and renaming itself Music Theater Works. I'd …

SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 01:23PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, April 19, 2016

'Sender' puts out a status update for millennials trying to hook up by Chris Jones

An existential crisis for an arts-graduate hipster can arrive at 7:45 of a Chicago morning, just as the nocturnal grasping at all kinds of complex intimacies gives way to the cold realities …

SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 03:12PM[SHARE]
Monday, April 18, 2016

'Hamilton' wins a Pulitzer Prize by Chris Jones

When "Hamilton" begins performances in Chicago on Sept. 27, it will do so as the winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for drama. The coronation of the hit Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda…

SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 03:02PM[SHARE]
Friday, April 15, 2016

Feeding Facebook every day is creating a big, fat content problem by Chris Jones

Feeling creative today? Ready to pen something really smart and witty on Facebook? A poem based on your evening? A political essay or a literary rant? A saucy gossip column? A little play? …

SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 12:27PM[SHARE]

Feeding Facebook every day is creating a big, fat content problem by Chris Jones

Feeling creative today? Ready to pen something really smart and witty on Facebook? A poem based on your evening? A political essay or a literary rant? A saucy gossip column? A little play? "…

SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 11:39AM[SHARE]
Thursday, April 14, 2016

Babies learn tough lesson in showbiz realities at Steppenwolf in 'Mary Page Marlowe' by Chris Jones

When news came last week that the Steppenwolf Theatre Company had decided not to use real babies in its production of "Mary Page Marlowe," some headlines danced in my head. "A crying shame:…

SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 02:07PM[SHARE]

Babies learn tough lesson in showbiz realities at Steppenwolf in 'Mary Page Marlowe' by Chris Jones

When news came last week that the Steppenwolf Theatre Company had decided not to use real babies in its production of "Mary Page Marlowe," some headlines danced in my head. "A crying shame: …

SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 01:44PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Must-see 'Dreamgirls' plays big on a small stage by Chris Jones

The role of Effie Melody White " she who tells you she's not going " already transformed the life of one woman from Chicago. It's hard to imagine the Porchlight Music Theatre production of "…

SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 02:18PM[SHARE]

Boy facing threat of street violence sees heroes in 'Jabari Dreams of Freedom' by Chris Jones

The titular, 11-year-old hero of "Jabari Dreams of Freedom," the frank and compassionate new children's play from Nambi E. Kelley, goes to school in Chicago. Like too many of the real-life k…

SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 12:16PM[SHARE]

Boy facing threat of street violence sees heroes in 'Jabari Dreams of Freedom' by Chris Jones

The titular, 11-year-old hero of "Jabari Dreams of Freedom," the frank and compassionate new children's play from Nambi E. Kelley, goes to school in Chicago. Like too many of the real-life k…

SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 10:56AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, April 12, 2016

'Carlyle' asks: What makes a black person a conservative? by Chris Jones

To many who hold to liberal orthodoxies, Clarence Thomas, Herman Cain, J.C. Watts, Alan Keyes and Condoleezza Rice are all examples of a paradoxical absurdity: the African-American Republica…

SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 05:02PM[SHARE]
Monday, April 11, 2016

'Hillary and Clinton' review: When Bill tried to save Hillary by Chris Jones

Somewhere, deep in your political memory " now trumped by another contest, I know " you may recall the Democratic primaries of 2008 when a woman named Hillary fought a young man named Barack…

SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 06:19PM[SHARE]

Christopher Wheeldon's new 'Nutcracker' for Joffrey announces Broadway artists by Chris Jones

Christopher Wheeldon's all new production of "The Nutcracker" for the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago is shaping up to be quite a Broadway-style extravaganza. Plans include a new narrative by the …

SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 03:31PM[SHARE]

Christopher Wheeldon's new 'Nutcracker' for Joffrey announces Broadway artists by Chris Jones

Christopher Wheeldon's all new production of "The Nutcracker" for the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago is shaping up to be quite a Broadway-style extravaganza. Plans include a new narrative by the …

SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 01:10PM[SHARE]

'Mary Page Marlow' review: An unremarkable life imbued with a writer's love by Chris Jones

What is the measure of a great piece of dramatic writing? I've found, over the years, that one decent yardstick is the presence of a swelling feeling of anxiety over the work before you comi…

SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 09:00AM[SHARE]
Sunday, April 10, 2016

An unremarkable life imbued with a writer's love by Chris Jones

What is the measure of a great piece of dramatic writing? I've found, over the years, that one decent yardstick is the presence of a swelling feeling of anxiety over the work before you comi…

SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 02:21PM[SHARE]
Friday, April 8, 2016

On Hillary, Bill, love and the politics of forgiveness by Chris Jones

On Wednesday Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders showed some teeth, grabbed some headlines and declared his rival, Hillary Clinton, "not qualified" for the office of president o…

SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 10:31AM[SHARE]

On Hillary, Bill, love and the politics of forgiveness by Chris Jones

On Wednesday Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders showed some teeth, grabbed some headlines and declared his rival, Hillary Clinton, "not qualified" for the office of president o…

SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 03:00AM[SHARE]
Thursday, April 7, 2016

'Hazel' is messy in spots, but its maid star cleans up by Chris Jones

"Everybody ought to have a maid," wrote Stephen Sondheim in 1962, pondering the indisputable convenience of a consistently congenial menial. That brilliant titular lyric within "A Funny Thin…

SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 03:22PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Why are stand-up comedians so afraid of reviews? by Chris Jones

Here at the World's Greatest Newspaper, we're making a valiant and expanded effort to cover stand-up comedy " an ascendant phenomenon that, in its upper reaches, has moved out of the archety…

SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 05:16PM[SHARE]
Monday, April 4, 2016

Brilliant 'Adding Machine' puts a new stamp on a standout musical by Chris Jones

In 2007 in Evanston, the late, lamented Next Theatre Company staged the premiere of a musical adaptation of "The Adding Machine," the 1923 expressionistic masterpiece by Elmer Rice all about…

SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 05:33PM[SHARE]
Sunday, April 3, 2016

Glitches undermine 'Mosque Alert's' reasonable argument for tolerance by Chris Jones

In 2010, a proposal to build a mosque and community center just a couple of blocks from ground zero in New York touched off a furor. Proponents said that the development, originally dubbed C…

SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 02:48PM[SHARE]
Friday, April 1, 2016

'Kill Floor' a moving portrait of mother's struggle to be there for her son by Chris Jones

At one point in "Kill Floor," the melancholy and moving new play by Abe Koogler at American Theater Company, the central character of Andy, played with rich empathy by Audrey Francis, confro…

SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 01:56PM[SHARE]

All that Chat

2025-2026 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 12, 2025: Call Me Izzy - Studio 54
Sep 16, 2025: Art - Music Box Theatre
Oct 08, 2025: Beetlejuice - Palace Theatre
Nov 13, 2025: Oedipus - Studio 54
Nov 16, 2025: Chess - Imperial Theatre
Mar 23, 2026: Giant - Music Box Theatre
Apr 06, 2026: Becky Shaw - Hayes Theater
Apr 16, 2026: Proof - Booth Theatre
Apr 26, 2026: Drama Desk Cut-Off