Curtain Call Chicago - May 11, 2026

Going Bacharach: The Songs of an Icon is a vibrant musical revue celebrating the timeless songs of Burt Bacharach, performed by three powerhouse vocalists and a live five-piece band. The show offers fresh, elegant interpretations of Bacharach favorites while honoring the romance, sophistication, and melodic brilliance of his legendary songbook. Meet Adrian Galante, the co-creator of the show and John Pigano, one of the performers who performed with Burt Bacharach himself for 26 years.

Curtain Call Chicago - May 18, 2026

The national tour of Spamalot is a revival of Monty Python’s absurdist musical comedy, sending King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table on a gleefully ridiculous quest for the Holy Grail. It features the show’s signature mix of sharp satire, big musical numbers, and classic Python nonsense, including the Knights Who Say “Ni!” and other beloved bits. The original production tried out in Chicago in 2004 moving to Broadway; this is the 2023 Revival of the show. Interviewed here is Leo Roberts who plays Sir Galahad.

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 - May 16, 2026

When truth becomes a threat, democracy starts to look an awful lot like a desperate hostage situation. TimeLine Theatre’s Chicago Premiere of Amy Herzog’s “An Enemy of the People” turns Henrik Ibsen’s 19th-century warning into an eerily and uncomfortably relatable fight over power, political spin, and the price of speaking plainly in public.

The story: Dr. Thomas Stockmann, a physician in a small Norwegian town discovers that the town’s lucrative spa baths are contaminated posing a serious health risk to all. Expecting gratitude, Dr. Stockmann’s message is met with fierce opposition from local officials, including his own brother, who happens to be the town’s mayor. 

Curtain Call Chicago - May 20, 2026

The Last Kings of Hollywood by Paul Fischer is a nonfiction account of how Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, and Steven Spielberg rose from young, hungry filmmakers in the late 1960s to the dominant creative forces in the 1970s and early 1980s American film.  Drawing on extensive research and interviews, the book follows their intertwined friendships, rivalries, and collaborations as they sought to reinvent the dying studio system with personal, director-driven blockbusters like The Godfather, Jaws, Star Wars, and E.T., reshaping Hollywood and popular culture in the process.

Curtain Call Chicago - May 8, 2026

Pandemonium, Please Hold is The Second City’s 114th Mainstage revue, a fast-moving sketch and improv show that turns everyday chaos into sharp, chaotic comedy. It features outrageous characters, musical numbers, and audience-driven moments, so the energy changes from night to night 

Curtain Call Chicago - May 12, 2026

Covenant at Goodman Theatre is a mythic Southern gothic thriller about a blues guitarist who returns to his small Georgia hometown as a star, only to confront rumors of a dark bargain and buried secrets. It explores belief, rumor, and the thin line between truth and suspicion.

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.

Curtain Call Chicago - May 14, 2026 

Do Something Pretty is a contemporary drama that explores the complexities of identity, connection, and emotional vulnerability through a group of intertwined characters. Blending intimate character moments with broader thematic questions, the play examines how people present themselves to the world versus who they are beneath the surface. Superb performances in a script still seeking a specific audience..

 Curtain Call Chicago - April 22, 2026

Windfall is a powerful new play by Tarell Alvin McCraney about a Chicago father offered a cash settlement after his child is killed by police. Through that devastating setup, the play examines grief, justice, and the pressure of money as compensation for the loss of a child, raising questions about who we are as a society. 

It stars Michael Potts, Glenn Davis, Alana Arenas, and Esco Jouley in a Steppenwolf production directed by Awoye Timpo.

Curtain Call Chicago - March 28, 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 - March 12, 2026

Ravinia President and CEO Jeff Haydon sat exclusively with Paul Lisnek to reveal the 2026 Festival Season. Lots of big stars, Orchestras covering Jazz, Classical, Broadway and Show and even a sing-a-long with the Movie Grease evening hosted by Paul Lisnek….an incredible variety. Beyond the programs, Jeff and Paul discuss all the different ways to enjoy the park, travel and parking and the best way to get tickets. An important annual reveal you will want to watch here!