Daily Herald opinion: Chicago Theatre Week an opportunity well worth embracing
Chicago routinely ranks among the best theater cities in the nation, and the suburbs do their part in producing orchestra-backed musicals that rival any you’ll see in the city as well as smaller-scale offerings. Together, they immerse audiences in the joy and heartbreak of touching dramas, rousing musicals, delightful comedies and even world-premiere productions.
And, for a short time, you can enjoy local theater at a deep discount.
Tickets went on sale earlier this month for Chicago Theatre Week, which runs Feb. 8 to 18. Productions at some of the most acclaimed theaters in the city and suburbs are available for either $15 or $30; in many cases, that’s far below what a night at the theater would normally cost.
More than 50 city and suburban theaters are participating and listed at choosechicago.com. The incredible offerings — coupled with tempting ticket prices — make this an opportunity not to be missed.
Most weeks of the year, the love of theater can be an expensive passion, especially for prime Chicago seats for Broadway blockbusters. Even if you stick to the suburbs, you can shell out more than $70 — sometimes more than $100 — for main-floor viewing. Multiply that times four, five or six if you want to bring the family, and you have the makings of a pricey night out.
Your $30 Chicago Theatre Week tickets may not buy you the best seats in the house, but in many theaters that won’t matter. There are no bad seats in some smaller venues, and you will still be swept away in larger ones even in the balcony.
Theater, after all, offers a diversion in difficult times. But it also has the power to open minds and stir hearts.
So what will your discounted theater week ticket do?
It will drop you in a vibrant Dominican neighborhood of New York for Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “In the Heights” at Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire.
It will transport you to an Eastern European shtetl with Tevye the milkman at Drury Lane Theatre in Oakbrook Terrace.
It will whisk you away to an English mining community where a boy discovers a love of ballet in “Billy Elliot” at Paramount Theatre in Aurora.
And it will take you along when Egyptian musicians get stranded in an isolated Israeli desert town during “The Band’s Visit” to Writers Theatre in Glencoe.
More suburban productions await in Arlington Heights, Skokie and other places, but it is well worth considering what Chicago has to offer as well.
Actress and Paralympian Katy Sullivan of Lombard takes the lead in Chicago Shakespeare Theater's production of "Richard III." TV star Dana Delaney headlines “Highway Patrol” at Goodman Theatre. The Lyric Opera of Chicago stages “Cinderella.”
The list goes on across the city and suburbs.
Chicago Theatre Week is a gift during the dreary weeks of winter. All you have to do is embrace it.