Spotlight: Paramount Theatre launches season with musical 'Newsies'

Posted August 28, 2019 6:00 am

Paramount Theatre opens its season with a revival of the musical "Newsies," adapted from the 1992 Disney movie. Courtesy of Thomas J. King

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Paramount Theatre opens its Broadway season with "Newsies," the stage adaptation of the 1992 Disney film about the New York City newsboy strike of 1899 to protest how publishing magnates Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst compensated paper sellers. Artistic director Jim Corti directs the production, which features choreography by Joshua Blake Carter.

Previews at 7 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, Sept. 4-5; 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 6; 3 and 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 7; 1 and 5:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 8, and through Sept. 12, at 23 E. Galena Blvd., Aurora. The show opens Sept. 13. $36-$74. (630) 896-6666 or paramountaurora.com.

Norm Woodel plays Dr. Watson in Buffalo Theatre Ensemble's season-opening production of "Holmes and Watson" by Jeffrey Hatcher. Courtesy of Emergence See Photography

Identity theft?

College of DuPage class of 1994 alum Ron May returns to his alma mater to direct Buffalo Theatre Ensemble's season-opening production of "Holmes and Watson" by Jeffrey Hatcher. The play unfolds three years after Sherlock Holmes was reportedly killed at Reichenbach Falls. When several men turn up claiming to be Holmes and insisting they survived his encounter with arch enemy Professor Moriarty, Holmes' former partner Dr. Watson must debunk them. Norm Woodel plays Watson. Kurt Naebig, Ken Borden and Mike Speller play Holmes' possible impostors.

Previews at 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 5, at McAninch Arts Center Playhouse Theatre, College of DuPage, 425 Fawell Blvd., Glen Ellyn. The show opens Friday, Sept. 6. $42. (630) 942-4000 or atthemac.org or btechicago.com.

Deanna Reed-Foster, left, and Rebecca Jordan appear in Shattered Globe Theatre's Chicago-area premiere of "Be Here Now" by Deborah Zoe Laufer. Courtesy of Joe Martinez

Life changes/choices

After losing her job teaching in New York City, Bari returns to her hometown where she begins having intense headaches that have the effect of an ecstatic religious experience. The problem is, they're probably killing her. Her dilemma over whether to choose a short, joyful life or return to her past misery underscores the dramedy "Be Here Now," by Deborah Zoe Laufer. Shattered Globe Theatre presents the Chicago premiere under producing artistic director Sandy Shinner.

Previews at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, Sept. 5-7, at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. The show opens Sept. 8. $20-$42. (773) 975-8150 or shatteredglobe.org.

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