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Articles tagged with: Gary Griffin

‘Gypsy’ at Chicago Shakespeare: This Rose puts fresh blush on Sondheim’s star-gazer

Feb 18, 2014 – 11:00 pm | 6,178 views
Rose (Louise Pitre) insists that 'Everything's Coming Up Roses' to the amazement of Herbie (Keith Kupferer) and Louise (Jessica Rush). (Michael Brosilow)

Review: Chicago Shakespeare Theater has given us a “Gypsy” for our own time, one that embraces the difference that 55 years have made since the brassy blockbuster first strutted onto the stage. As directed by Gary Griffin, it’s a gritty roadshow musical with a surprisingly contemporary and tender heart. ★★★★★

Theater 2013-14: Victory Gardens, predictably unpredictable, gets rolling with two premieres

Nov 15, 2013 – 12:16 pm | 6,559 views
'Appropriate,' by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, opens Victory Gardens 2013-14 season

17th in a series of season previews: Victory Gardens is a theater company built on new plays, says artistic director Chay Yew: “Our audiences comes expecting to see the unexpected.” Thus the 2013-14 season opens Nov. 15 with the “co-world premiere” of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ “Appropriate,” about three adult siblings circling – and colliding – over the division of their deceased father’s estate. And that’s followed by the world premiere of Marcus Gardley’s “The Gospel of Lovingkindness.”

Shakespeare rules the playbill as Stratford unveils plans for its 2014 summer festival

Aug 22, 2013 – 11:19 am | 5,808 views
Shakespeare c 1610, the recently discovered Cobbe portrait, believed to have been created  while he was alive (Getty Images - Wiki)

Report: While the Stratford Festival has shed its branding association with the Bard of Avon, any concerns that the festival might really be loosening its traditional ties with Shakespeare should be allayed by newly announced plans for the summer of 2014. The Bard abounds. The festival’s five Shakespeare productions will include two takes on “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” — a full-scale account and a “chamber” version for just four players directed by one of the world’s most innovative masters of stagecraft, Peter Sellars.

Oh, what a beautiful show: Lyric ‘Oklahoma!’ sweeps the plain with bounty of song, dance

May 6, 2013 – 1:33 pm | 5,755 views
Ashley Brown as Laurey with John Cudia as Curly in Oklahoma at Lyric Opera of Chicago credit Dan Rest

Review: ★★★★★

In a vibrant brush with ‘Sunday in the Park,’ Chicago Shakespeare connects all the dots

Oct 12, 2012 – 1:32 pm | 6,162 views
George (Jason Danieley) finishes the hat in Sondheim's  Sunday Park with George at Chicago Shakespeare Theater credit Liz Lauren

Review: ★★★★★

The New Season: Chicago Shakespeare offers a walk ‘In the Park with George’ and a premiere

Oct 2, 2012 – 12:32 am | 3,993 views
Stephen Sondheim Sunday in the Park with George promotional montage Chicago Shakespeare Theater 2012

15th in a series of season previews: Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s 2012-13 season will extend artistic director Barbara Gaines’ deep exploration of the Bard with “Henry VIII” as associate artistic director Gary Griffin adds a Sondheim encore to last year’s hit production of “Follies.” And Gaines will direct what she calls “the funniest play I ever read” in the Chicago premiere of David Ives’ comedy “The School for Lies,” a romping modern spin on Molière’s “The Misanthrope.”

‘42nd Street’ at Stratford: By any other name, this musical rose would still be just as sweet

Jul 24, 2012 – 12:11 am | 5,581 views
42nd Street Stratford Shakespeare Festival 2012 Jennifer Rider-Shaw as Peggy Sawyer Kyle Blair as Billy Lawlor and company credit David Hou

Broadway’s tap classic. 4 stars!

Darn that ‘Dream’ – Chicago Shakespeare does double take on Bard’s lovers, fairies

Feb 20, 2012 – 2:18 am | 12,685 views
Midsummer Night's Dream Chicago Shakespeare Theatre 2012 featured image 2 credit Liz Lauren

It’s a midsummer night… 4 stars!

Sondheim’s ‘Follies’ at CST: Broadway glitz and glamour, with all the endearing bruises

Oct 14, 2011 – 12:17 pm | 17,644 views
CST_Follies_11 featured

At Chi. Shakespeare Theater. 5 stars!