Nov. 30-Dec. 29, 2019: Joffrey Ballet’s “Columbian Nutcracker” (Chicago)

Chicago’s Joffrey Ballet once again will stage their spectacular production of The Nutcracker, with story set on the fairgrounds of 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. Performances run from November 30 to December 29, 2019, at the Auditorium Theater. This ballet by choreographer Christopher Wheeldon, which premiered in 2016, invites the audience to … “journey inside Chicago’s 1893 World’s Fair with Wheeldon’s critically acclaimed holiday masterpiece. When young Marie and her mother, a sculptress who is creating the fair’s iconic Statue [...]

By |2019-12-31T09:32:14-06:00November 29th, 2019|Categories: EVENTS (past), THEATER|Tags: , |0 Comments

Sept. 13-Nov. 4, 2019: DEADLY, a New Musical Set at the 1893 World’s Fair (Los Angeles)

A new musical set at the 1893 World’s Fair makes its world premiere at the Sacred Fools Theater Company of Los Angeles this fall. Deadly, written by Vanessa Claire Stewart, with music by Ryan Thomas Johnson, explores the chilling events of the “murder castle” operating near the grounds of the Columbian Exposition. The twin stories of the Fair and the serial killer, which were the subject of Erik Larson’s dramatic non-fiction book The Devil in the White City (2003), have [...]

By |2019-11-10T12:25:01-06:00September 25th, 2019|Categories: EVENTS (past), THEATER|Tags: |0 Comments

Sean Masterson’s Magic from the Midway

A story about the Midway Plaisance of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition weaves its was through a Chicago magic show. Sean Masterson’s Timeless Magic  blends expert sleight-of-hand trickery, quirky humor, and a personal detective story centering around a World’s Fair commemorative coin. Masterson shares with his audience his quest to discover the origin of his coin, taking us on a tour of several magicians who worked on the Midway and in Chicago at the time of the Fair. (You’ll [...]

By |2022-03-05T10:53:22-06:00August 30th, 2019|Categories: NEWS, THEATER|Tags: , |0 Comments

June 14-July 7, 2019: “White City Murder” takes the stage in Indianapolis

Eric Larson’s fascinating best-seller The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America (2003) introduced many to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. For better or for worse, his pairing of the story of building the World’s Fair in Jackson Park and the exploits of serial killer H. H. Holmes in nearby Englewood has made an enduring connection between the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition and murder. [For the record: no known murders occurred [...]

By |2022-03-05T10:47:55-06:00May 24th, 2019|Categories: EVENTS (past), THEATER|Tags: |0 Comments

Louis Sullivan’s Transportation Building … in Green

Adler & Sullivan’s Transportation Building. [Image from The World’s Columbian Exposition Portfolio of Views by C. D. Arnold and H. D. Higinbotham (C. B. Woodward Co., 1893).] Finding references to the 1893 World’s Fair--especially in unexpected places--can be a delight. All the more so when images of the White City show up in the context of another personal passion. A few weeks ago, the yellow brick road led to the White City. The Paramount Theater in Aurora, Illinois, [...]

By |2019-01-20T19:07:41-06:00January 20th, 2019|Categories: NEWS, THEATER|Tags: , , , |0 Comments

Dec. 4, 2018: “Christmas at the Fair: The Joffrey’s New Nutcracker” at the Newberry Library (Chicago)

The Newberry Library’s Pictures from an Exposition: Visualizing the 1893 World's Fair includes a series of rich programs about the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. On Tuesday, December 4, 2018, the Newberry will host “Christmas at the Fair: The Joffrey's New Nutcracker”. A special conversation with Alison Hinderliter, Ashley Wheater, and Hedy Weiss about the Joffrey Ballet’s 2018 production of The Nutcracker, set during the Columbian Exposition in Chicago.  The lecture runs from 6-7:30 pm in Ruggles Hall at the Newberry [...]

By |2022-10-10T09:00:43-05:00November 4th, 2018|Categories: EVENTS (past), THEATER|Tags: , |0 Comments

Dec. 1-30, 2018: Joffrey Ballet’s World’s Fair “Nutcracker” (Chicago)

Chicago’s Joffrey Ballet once again will stage their spectacular production of The Nutcracker, with story set on the fairgrounds of 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. Performances run from December 1 to 30 at the Auditorium Theater. This new ballet by choreographer Christopher Wheeldon, which premiered in 2016, invites the audience to … “journey inside Chicago’s 1893 World’s Fair with Wheeldon’s critically acclaimed holiday masterpiece. When young Marie and her mother, a sculptress who is creating the fair’s iconic Statue of the Republic, host [...]

By |2019-01-02T13:36:47-06:00November 1st, 2018|Categories: EVENTS (past), THEATER|Tags: , |0 Comments

Nov. 2, 2018: World Premier of Alex Temple’s “Three Principles of Noir”

Composer Alex Temple [Image from the American Composers Orchestra.] The American Composers Orchestra (ACO) will perform the world premiere a piece having a time-traveling science fiction narrative centered around a Chicago historian who travels back in time to the 1893 World's Fair. The ensemble will perform Alex Temple's Three Principles of Noir with singer Meaghan Burke, on November 2, 2018, at Carnegie Hall in New York. Three Principles of Noir is a “science-fiction micro-opera” for amplified voice and [...]

By |2022-03-23T20:49:30-05:00October 2nd, 2018|Categories: EVENTS (past), THEATER|Tags: |0 Comments

Oct. 6 & 7, 2018: Masks & Myths: Devils and Dancers from Sri Lanka (Chicago)

Mandala, a South Asian performing arts organization in Chicago, will present Masks & Myths: Devils and Dancers from Sri Lanka on Saturday, October 6 at 7 pm and again on Sunday, October 7, at 3 pm at the Reva & David Logan Center for the Arts, 915 East 60th St. in Chicago. Not since the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition have Sri Lankan dancers appeared as part of a highly visible international exchange. At that time, Kandyan artists performed in cages [...]

By |2022-12-29T18:44:54-06:00September 6th, 2018|Categories: EVENTS (past), THEATER|Tags: , , |0 Comments

June 1-July 1, 2018: “Burnham’s Dream: The White City” musical

The world premiere of a new musical about the Director of Works for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition opens on June 1 for a one-month run in Chicago. “Burnham’s Dream: The White City,” written by June Finfer with music by Elizabeth Doyle, tells “the tale of ambition of a city and of an architect … Chicago’s Dream City that lived for only a few months, then vanished.” In her 2010 play, “The Glass House,” Finfer explored the life and [...]

By |2018-07-02T16:02:43-05:00May 13th, 2018|Categories: EVENTS (past), THEATER|Tags: |0 Comments
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