Curtain Call Chicago - July 29, 2026

Don’t Suck is a sharp, heartfelt queer dramedy about a young aspiring actor and singer-songwriter trying to make it in New York City while balancing messy relationships, family pressure, and the challenge of staying true to himself. The series is created and written by Tyler Isaac Martin and joining in the conversation is featured actor David Gow (Film: The Intruder; Play: The Inheritance-Helen Hayes Award Winner for Outstanding Lead Performer in a Play)

Curtain Call Chicago - July 20, 2026

Disney’s Newsies at Theater Wit is a high-energy, family-friendly musical that tells the story of New York City newsboys who strike against powerful newspaper publishers in 1899, blending rousing choreography with anthemic songs about solidarity and justice. 

Set against the backdrop of the real-life newsboy strike, the show follows charismatic newsie Jack Kelly and his fellow street kids as they band together to protest a price hike that threatens their livelihood, turning scrappy paper sellers into unlikely labor heroes. Featuring Alan Menken’s score this Chicago staging by Surging Films & Theatrics brings cartwheels, flips, and tap breaks within arm’s reach of the audience.

Curtain Call Chicago - July 20, 2026

“Hair” is a 1960s rock musical about a tribe of hippies in New York City who rebel together against the Vietnam War and beyond that, challenge mainstream America’s seeming conformity with the politics of the day. Simultaneously, they grapple amongst themselves over love, sex, race, and personal freedom. Centered on Claude (strongly portrayed by  ) and his friends Berger (played with a perfect blend of humor and seriousness by Zac Richey) and Sheila (forcibly played by Catherine Rodriguez O’Connor), the show follows Claude’s struggle between joining the army and staying true to the anti war ideals of his communit and including the legendary Songs: Age of Aquarious, Let the Sunshine In and Good Morning Starshine.

Curtain Call Chicago - July 20, 2026

Good People follows Margaret (Margie) Walsh (played quite convincingly by Jodi Kingsley), a middle aged single mother in South Boston who loses her low wage Dollar Store job and faces eviction in the face of caring for her special needs daughter. Newly unemployed, she reaches out to Mike (well played by Bryan Breau), her old boyfriend who escaped their rough neighborhood to become a successful doctor, hoping he can help her find work. Margie shows up for what turns out to be a cancelled party at Mike’s comfortable suburban home where she meets his wife Kate (perfectly portrayed by Sandra Adjoumani). At that point, the play unspools into a tense, funny, and uneasy reunion that forces all three to confront the role of luck, class, and personal responsibility in how “good” people can end up on such different paths.

Curtain Call Chicago - July 15, 2026

Beautiful: The Carole King Musical is a jukebox musical that follows Carole King’s rise from a Brooklyn teenager writing songs to a celebrated solo artist. It traces her early songwriting partnership and marriage with Gerry Goffin, her friendship and creative rivalry with Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, and her eventual break from a difficult personal life to find her own voice. The show ends with her move toward solo success and the landmark album Tapestry. It features many of King’s most familiar songs, including “Will You Love Me Tomorrow,” “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling,” “Up on the Roof,” A Natural Woman,” and “You’ve Got a Friend”.

Curtain Call Chicago - July 10, 2026

Leopoldstadt follows a wealthy Jewish family in Vienna across the first half of the 20th century as their world is slowly torn apart by war, antisemitism, and loss. By the end, the play becomes a poignant story about memory, survival, and the cost of history.

Curtain Call Chicago - July 1, 2026

Iceboy! at Goodman Theatre is a world-premiere musical comedy set in 1938 New York, where Broadway star Vera Vimm adopts a frozen Neanderthal and accidentally sparks a wildly funny chain of events involving Eugene O’Neill and The Iceman Cometh. It features Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman and is described by Goodman as a mischievous, high-energy show about ambition, family, and theatrical history gone gloriously off the rails.

Curtain Call Chicago - May 27, 2026 

**Limited time offer! Save 40% on all tickets July 14th – 19th. Use code: JULY40

Champions of Magic is a high-energy touring illusion show that blends grand-scale magic, close-up tricks, mentalism, escapes, and theatrical spectacle into one family-friendly production. It features original illusions, interactive moments, and a big stage-show feel with humor and dramatic effects. 

The core stars are Young & Strange (Richard Young and Sam Strange), a duo who began performing together as children and are known for inventive large-scale illusions. The cast also includes Fernando Velasco, an illusionist and escapologist known for daring escapes, and Liberty Larsen, a fourth-generation magician from the renowned creators of the Magic Castle, Genii Magazine, and the Academy of Magical Arts. She is known for blending theatrical magic with music and original performance style.

Curtain Call Chicago - June 10, 2026

David Byrne’s Theater of the Mind is an intimate, immersive theatrical experience that blends neuroscience experiments with storytelling to explore how we perceive reality, form memories, and understand identity. Guided in small groups through a series of sensory rooms, audience members see, hear, taste, and physically move through a series of experiences set up thru story that reveal how unreliable their own senses can be. The show becomes a kind of live, mind-bending science experiment inside the theater.  Joining in the conversation are two actors who play David: James Earl Jones, II and Elizabeth Laidlaw.

Curtain Call Chicago - April 29, 2026

Steppenwolf Theatre is one of Chicago’s most celebrated theater companies, known for powerful, innovative productions and a world-class ensemble of actors, directors, and playwrights. Founded in 1974, it has helped shape American theater with acclaimed works on its Lincoln Park stages. Now it celebrates its 50th Season with a look its’ final shows of the season, and a description of how the 51st season was selected. The interview is a conversation with its co-artistic directors Audrey Francis and Glenn Davis.

Curtain Call Chicago - July 22, 2026

Misha Brown is a social media creator who took the country by storm and now has a massive following, with his sassy, heartfelt content that helps people talk to themselves more kindly. In his new book Be Your Own Bestie: A No-Nonsense Guide to Changing the Way You Treat Yourself, he takes that online energy and influence and creates a practical roadmap for self-love. The book is part memoir and part guide to self action. His background includes struggles with shame, being bullied, and a near-giving-up moment that led him to sobriety, major life changes, and eventually to creating content centered on self-respect and accountability. Misha joins Paul for an in-depth conversation his fans and future fans will find completely engaging.

Curtain Call Chicago - May 11, 2026

Octet is a play by Dave Malloy about eight strangers in a church basement who gather for an internet addiction support group and confront the ways technology shapes their lives. It blends music, humor, and unease into a sharp look at modern loneliness and connection.