It was an evening of firsts, and you could feel it in the audience’s excitement. Opera lovers who haven’t missed an opening night in decades milled about with opera newbies who came for the spectacle, in search of a new type of post-pandemic experience. The black-tie, gown and furs, high-fashion folks sipped champagne with the suit and sneakers, cocktail dress, cocktail drinking crowd, and the passing-on-the-fashion-show, red wine or coffee folks. There was a special type of energy in the lobby before the performance, a buzz generated by the eclectically beautiful mix of people that made up the Lyric audience. More on this later, but first a few words on the opening night feel of Saturday evening’s Tosca premier. Puccini’s Tosca is verismo at its finest, and the Chicago Lyric Opera’s Tosca is Puccini at its best. Italian for ‘truth’, verismo takes a melodramatic, realistic approach to the intensity on stage with stories about everyday people in extraordinary times. In the late 19th century, Verismo was an opera movement led by the great composer, Giacomo Puccini. Cameras to Coats: What You Should Bring to the Stage Door.16th Street Theater ends its run with the thoughtful “Man and Moon”.The Chicago Fringe Festival announces it will cease programming in 2019.Timeline Theatre announces purchase of Uptown property as future home.Steppenwolf Breaks Ground Today on New Campus Expansion.

Hamilton to Close 1/5/20 Final Block of Tickets on Sale 5/17.Joffrey to interpret another great novel in Cathy Marston’s Jane Eyre.USAOnStage NYC: Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice.USAOnStage NYC: Tennessee Rising: The Dawn of Tennessee Williams.

Milwaukee Rep does itself proud with a majestic and powerful production of Titanic the Musical.

Hilarity, Hijinx, and Suspense in Milwaukee Rep’s production of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express.

“The Locusts” is a good idea with strong acting ruined by inconsistent writing and a poor set design.

For its final show, 16th Street Theatre produces the beautiful and emotional Man and Moon.

City Lit’s The Mark of Kane grippingly shows the true story of Batman.

525,600 minutes of joy, pain, love, and death in two and a half hours in Porchlight’s wonderful “Rent”.

The Twenty-Sided Tavern Rolls a Natural Twenty.

“Trouble in Mind” delves into racial tension on Broadway in 1957.

“Malapert Love” is the funniest show of the year.

Enjoy holiday nostalgia with an exuberant “A Christmas Story: the Musical” at Marriott Theatre.

Synopsis of tosca opera