We saw the opening night of Cirque du Soleil last night.  As I wrote in my preview article, the show is not a tent show, it’s an arena show, full of puppets, projections, and acrobatics, based on the movie Avatar by James Cameron.  Here’s the plot summary I wrote in my previous article: When a natural catastrophe threatens to destroy […]
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The new Cirque du Soleil touring show TORUK – The First Flight will be at the United Center in Chicago August 3-7, 2016. And you can win a 4 pack of tickets to Opening night on August 3! Scroll down to see how! Inspired by James Cameron’s record-breaking movie AVATAR, TORUK – The First Flight transports the audience to a far away […]
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PLEASE LIST, POST, AND DISSEMINATE KILL DATE AUGUST 12, 2016 Tiny Performers To Entertain in Chicago Parks The Acme Miniature Flea Circus featuring Midge and Madge, Trained Fleas, will perform in four Chicago Parks this summer. All performances are free in association with the Night Out in the Parks Program. Chicago IL July 12, 2016 This summer, […]
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Returning to the New Vic May 6 – 15 In a stunning display of enchanting artistry, Carlo Colla & Sons Marionette Company (Sleeping Beauty, New Vic 2013) will tell  the story of The Pied Piper of Hamelin. It is a cautionary tale of a town overrun by greed, corruption and rats.  The show will make its  U.S. Premiere from May 6 […]
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Today is the last day to watch Simon McBurney (director of Theatre Complicite) perform his amazing solo show The Encounter. UPDATE: Â It looks like they took this private. Â It is no longer available. Sorry if you missed it. Â It was great! Here’s the youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghc-DM1TVWU The show sold out at the Barbican in London, and they streamed the show […]
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This just in: TONIGHT Some of NY’s premier physical comedians are planning a special living room show (in the penthouse suite of a fancy hotel) to honor Dr. Seuss. Doors open at 10, open bar and snacks until midnight, and the performance starts just before the witching hour. The show features Hilary Chaplain, Mik Kuhlman, Peter Daniel Straus, Mark Ettinger, […]
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Even clowns have heroes.  For Malic White and Molly Brennan, the two performers/partners/lovers who are the chief instigators of the highly personal, very adult clown/rock music cabaret PopWaits, those heroes are seminal punker Iggy Pop (hero of Malic) and protean gravel-throated ultra-cool cabaret singer/music creator Tom Waits (hero of Molly) Both performers suffer from depression and use their heroes as creative jumping […]
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This weekend is the last weekend for Gale LaJoye’s magical and wonderful show Snowflake, which is performing at the Chicago Children’s Theatre through February 14. I saw this show in 2000 and it was wonderful then, and based on the videos I’ve seen, it’s only gotten better. This is the 25th anniversary of Snowflake being performed by LaJoye (I featured […]
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A new show is opening up at the Neo Futurarium in Andersonville, which features clowns, rock and roll, audience participation, and depression. Â It also features local brilliant performers Malic White and Molly Brennan. Do you really need to know anymore? Â Just buy your ticket now! If you need to know more, here you go: POP WAITSÂ Â IS AN ATHLETIC, […]
Read moreThe Bindlestiff Family Cirkus rides again in a one wheeled extravaganza as the producer of the NYC Unicycle Festival. This 4 day event which celebrates one wheeled riding and the related skills is one of the only events of its kind, and its certainly the largest in NY. Â The main part of the festival takes place on idyllic Governor’s Island, […]
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Tiny Performers To Entertain in Chicago Parks ============================== SUMMARY: WHAT: Acme Miniature Flea Circus in the Chicago Park District WHERE: July 16 6:30 pm Paschen Park (1932 W. Lunt Street) WHERE: July 18 2:00 pm Pulaski Park (1419 W. Blackhawk Street) COST: FREE! (seating limited, please arrive early) MORE INFO: http://www.palaceofwonders.com MORE INFO: http://www.trainedfleas.com PUBLICITY PHOTOS: Press Images of the […]
Read moreMy son and I went to go see the Lookingglass production of Moby Dick. Â It’s an adaptation of Herman Melville’s classic whale of a novel. Â The show runs through August 28 at their downtown Chicago location. The show is beautifully done and realized. Â This is the second Lookingglass show we’ve seen, and they do an amazing job of integrating circus […]
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You’ve already missed some of it (and so have I), and some of it is sold out already, but don’t worry, there’s still plenty of the first Chicago Biennial International Puppet Festival goodness to go around. Directed and founded by Blair Thomas, a local puppet juggernaut, the purpose of the festival is to establish Chicago as a prominent center for […]
Read moreSince I’ve moved to Chicago, I’ve gone to a few networking events, or met people involved .  Eventually it comes out that I’m a clown.  And then people start saying, “Do you know…”  Playing clown geography. I had numerous people tell me that I should check out the Ruffians, especially their holiday show Burning BlueBeard, which was a big hit when […]
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Four Clowns , a Los Angeles based clown troupe, will be making a brief,East Coast debut May 23 to June 1 at  The Club at La MaMa. The show, which is also titled Four Clowns,  is a partly improvised romp through life and death, seen through the lens of the clown.  This show is for adults. The clowns are one woman, Alexis Jones, […]
Read moreSomewhere around 1989 I appeared in a very fun touring production of Twelfth Night for the now defunct Perishable Theatre. Â (I played Malvolio) Â At the end of the show, a guy came up to me to say how much he liked the show. Â He was not a typical theatre going guy, I think he was the brother of one of […]
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