Displaying items by tag: 1903
The Ruffians' Burning Bluebeard A Hauntingly Rich Theatre Experience
Almost as funny as it is tragic (that sounds so wrong), The Ruffians’ Burning Bluebeard, currently running at Theatre Wit, is a very unique live performance that everyone should experience. Bluebeard is an ensemble piece that recreates the stage performance that took place during the famous 1903 Iroquois Theater fire that claimed over 600 lives on Randolph Street in downtown Chicago.
The moment we enter the stage area, we are met with body bags that lie on a charred theater floor. It is a melancholy scene that sends chills up one’s spine. We soon are introduced to five stage performers and a theater manager who each tell their story of what they were doing at the time the fire struck. This happens in between the recreation of acts leading up to the tragedy. During this process we laugh and laugh some more. How can there be something funny found in something so disastrous? Masterfully, playwright Jay Torrence is able to infuse a dark humor throughout this tragic historical event. Each character delivers a knockout performance drawing laughs at will from the crowd one moment and bringing tears to one’s eyes the next.
One of the year’s best, this show is like no other. Its vivid descriptiveness relates to the audience to the point you really feel you know the characters and are experiencing the tragedy along with them. Grim and morose is the story though comical are many of the surrounding facts such as the Mr. Bluebeard itself, the massively produced play with over four hundred cast members that was running at the time of the great fire. A play that hardly made any sense and depended on large visuals, an overload of song numbers (nine songs in first act alone) and dazzling acrobatics.
We are described beautifully the stunning details of the sixteen hundred seat Iroquois Theater, a majestic auditorium with no costs spared during its creation that was touted as fireproof just as the Titanic was called unsinkable nine years later. The sad truths are slowly released whereas mostly women and children were in attendance at this standing room only matinee performance, and that the theater was nearly escape proof once the fire erupted.
Wonderfully directed by Halana Kays, Burning Bluebeard makes exceptional use of its limited space, successfully creating the illusion of a much larger scaled production. Ensemble members Pam Chermansky and author Jay Torrence lead the way delivering mesmerizing performances in this multi-talented and very colorful cast with Anthony Courser, Molly Plunk, Leah Urzendowski and Ryan Walters. And thanks to imaginative costume design, we have no problem believing we are present at a 1903 production.
In Burning Bluebeard we are treated to a rare flavor of theatre that is sure to leave a lasting impression.
Lookingglass’ Kowalski Ignites a Battle of Wits Between Two Icons
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Detroit ’67: A Basement Becomes a City on the Brink
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Now Boarding: Bonnie’s Last Flight, a Sky‑High Comedy with Real Heart
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Teatro Vista Productions announces season
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Step Right Up and Ride the Cyclone (The Musical) at Metropolis Arlington Heights
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Steppenwolf Presents GRACEFUL WARRIOR: AN EVENING WITH GARY SINISE - Tuesday, November 24, 2026
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American Blues Theater hosts its annual costumed fundraiser HALLOWEEN BOO BASH October 25th
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Definition's How We Got On: A Mixtape for the Stage
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The Jinkx & DeLa Holiday Show - December 6th at Auditorium Theatre
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Paramount’s smash hit, immersive Million Dollar Quartet returns for its final run at Aurora’s Stolp Island Theatre, October 7-January 3
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Kokandy Productions’ Jekyll & Hyde: A Fearless Reworking Elevated
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Chicago City Opera presents Chicago premiere of Der Vampyr October 7-11
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Full Casting Announced for A Red Orchid Theatre's HEROES OF THE FOURTH TURNING - October 29 – December 6, 2026 - Chicago Premiere!
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Chicago Legend Da Brat to Host and MC THE HIP HOP NUTCRACKER
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Teatro Vista Productions announces season
Written by Buzz Center StageTeatro Vista Productions, the Midwest's only Latine-led Equity theatre company, led by Executive Director Lorena Diaz and Artistic Director Wendy Mateo in collaboration with Associate Artistic Director Cruz Gonzalez-Cadel, announces its 2026-27 Season. The season opens with the groundbreaking live… -
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Lookingglass’ Kowalski Ignites a Battle of Wits Between Two Icons
Written by Angelo CamposLookingglass Theatre’s production of Kowalski offers a gripping, fictionalized glimpse into the first meeting between two theater greats: Tennessee Williams and Marlon Brando. Set in 1947 in a dilapidated beach house, the plot revolves around the legendary playwright as he… -
Detroit ’67: A Basement Becomes a City on the Brink
Written by Wesley DavidDetroit was burning in the summer of 1967, inside one basement, life was still going on. That contrast is at the heart of Dominique Morisseau’s Detroit ’67, now being produced by Pulse Theatre Company in residence at eta Creative Arts…
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