WIN A Pair of Tickets To The Bardy Bunch, Theatre Y's Macbeth or Dr. Seward's Dracula

Here at ChiIL Live Shows, we LOVE to ChiIL out at the theatre. Chi, IL may be called the second city, but our theatre scene is second to none. We have 3 sweet giveaways this week for free pairs of tickets so you can have a fun night out this October! Enter like we vote in Chi, IL... early and often. We're accepting entries for all three through midnight Wednesday 8/12. Feel free to enter all 3 but please read the details and be sure you can attend within the required date choices before entering.

Chi, IL LIVE Shows On Our Radar:

The Bardy Bunch, Mercury Theater 

The Bardy Bunch: The War of the Families Partridge and Brady, a musical parody by Stephen Garvey that gained cult status during its Off-Broadway run in 2014, is now playing a limited engagement in Chicago at the Mercury Theater, 3745 N. Southport Avenue. It is 1974 and we join the Bradys and Patridges just after the ABC Network ceased airing their chronicles. It was a summer when these beloved TV families, no longer under America's watchful eye, met on a collision course in a blood-soaked, vengeance-fueled, lust-filled crossover episode of Shakespearean proportions. For more information, visit TheBardyBunch.com.

WIN 2 Tickets to The Bardy Bunch (up to $116 value) ENTER HERE through midnight Wednesday 8/12 *Valid for any shows through Oct 31st

First Folio Theatre Presents: October 8 - November 6 Come experience the legend of Dracula anew, as First Folio Theatre (Mayslake Peabody Estate, 31st St. & Rt. 83) presents the Chicago premiere of DR. SEWARD’S DRACULA, opening Saturday, October 8, 2016 at 8:15 p.m., and running through November 6, 2016, with previews October 5-7. This sinful and spooky adaptation by Joseph Zettelmaier is directed by Jeff Award nominee Alison C. Vesely and produced by David Rice, author of The Madness of Edgar Allan Poe and composer, adaptor, and lyricist of Shakespeare’s Cymbeline: A Folk Tale with Music. Tickets may be purchased by calling the box office at 630.986.8067 or online at www.firstfolio.org. WIN 2 DR. SEWARD’S DRACULA Tickets ($58 value) ENTER HERE through midnight Wednesday 8/12  *Valid for Wednesday and Thursday show dates ONLY through October 30th.

Theatre Y Presents: October 19 - December 4 Following a year-long artistic collaboration with French theatre luminary, Georges Bigot, the Theatre Y Ensemble presents William Shakespeare's MACBETH at the Chopin Theatre, 1543 West Division. An iconic figure to Ariane Mnouchkine's Theatre du Soleil and one of France's most lauded contemporary actors, Bigot brings his lifelong experience and hallmark style of highly physical ensemble work to direct MACBETH, featured as part of Chicago Shakespeare 400 International Arts Festival. What's done cannot be undone. www.theatre-y.com.

WIN 2 Macbeth Tickets ($50 value) ENTER HERE through midnight Wednesday 8/12

*Valid for any show dates October 19-November 27th 

OPENING: C. S. Lewis Onstage: The Most Reluctant Convert AT THE MERCURY THEATER Through August 14th

C.S. LEWIS ONSTAGE, STARRING JEFF AWARD WINNER MAX MCLEAN, MAKES ITS MIDWEST PREMIERE

JULY 22-AUGUST 14 AT THE MERCURY THEATER

 C. S. Lewis Onstage: The Most Reluctant Convert

Chi, IL LIVE Shows On Our Radar:

Adapted and performed by Max McLean

July 23-August 14, 2016

CSLewisOnstage.com

Mercury Theater

3745 N. Southport Ave., Chicago, IL 60613

Tickets: $55 on weeknights and Sunday evening; $59 for all Saturday shows and Sunday matinee; limited $30 under 30 tickets available to theatergoers age 30 and younger (with valid ID)

By phone: 773-325-1700

On the web: mercurytheaterchicago.com

Groups of 10 or more call 866-476-8707 or email andrew@FPAtheatre.com

New York City-based Fellowship for Performing Arts produces theater from a Christian worldview presented in leading performance venues nationwide and created to engage diverse audiences. For more information visit www.FPAtheatre.com.

After a seven-year absence, Fellowship for Performing Arts makes its triumphant return to Chicago with an all-new original production, starting next Friday, July 22. Equity Jeff Award winner Max McLean (Mark’s Gospel, The Screwtape Letters) stars in the one-man/one-act show C.S. Lewis Onstage: The Most Reluctant Convert, July 22-August 14 at Chicago’s Mercury Theater, 3745 N. Southport Ave. Tickets, $55-$59, are on sale now at CSLewisOnstage.com. “$30 under 30” tickets will be available to audience members age 30 and younger, subject to availability. 

Max McLean’s 2008 production of C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters was cited as “the most successful production in the history of the Mercury Theater,” and his one-man show Mark’s Gospel earned him the 2009 Equity Joseph Jefferson Award. This summer, he brings to life one of the most engaging personalities of our age in C.S. Lewis Onstage: The Most Reluctant Convert, a brand new one-man one-act taking audiences on Lewis’ fascinating journey from atheism to Christianity.

Adapted exclusively from Lewis’ writings, McLean inhabits Lewis from the death of his mother and his estranged relationship with his father to the experiences that led him from vigorous debunker to the most vibrant and influential Christian intellectual of the 20th century. C.S. Lewis Onstage is a joyous evening of Lewis’ entertaining wit and exhilarating insight, touted as “masterful…. spiritually invigorating and hugely moving” by The Washington Post.

“We are thrilled to return to Chicago with our latest production,” said McLean, FPA’s founder and artistic director who adapted and performs the show. “C.S. Lewis wrote more than 30 books that have sold more than 200 million copies, making him arguably the most influential religious writer of the past century. In The Most Reluctant Convert, we visit the agonizing events that led to his conversion.”

Broadway’s Smash Hit Musical Comedy “The Producers” Coming to Mercury Theater Chicago

    Chi, IL Live Shows On Our Radar:

The Producers” 

Book by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan, Music and Lyrics by Mel Brooks Directed by L. Walter Stearns April 14 –- June 26  

Mercury Theater Chicago, 3745 N. Southport Avenue, presents the award winning musical comedy sensation The Producers, from April 14 to June 26, 2016.  It is truly a “boffo” hit, winning a record twelve Tony Awards and wowing capacity crowds night after night. The production will be led by Jeff-Award winners L. Walter Stearns (Director), Eugene Dizon (Musical Director), and Brigitte Ditmars (Choreography).   

Matt Crowle (Leo Bloom), Allison Sill (Ulla) and Bill Larkin (Max Bialystock) in The Producers at Mercury Theater Chicago.   The Producers opens April 14 and continues through June 26.  

© Mercury Theater Chicago, photo by Time Stops Photography

A down-on-his-luck Broadway producer and his mild-mannered accountant come up with a scheme to produce the most notorious flop in history thereby bilking their backers (all “little old ladies”) out of millions of dollars. Only one thing goes awry: the show is a smash hit!  At the core of the insanely funny adventure is the surprising journey of two very different men who become friends. The Producers skewer Broadway traditions and takes no prisoners as it proudly proclaims itself an “equal opportunity offender!”   

The Mel Brooks musical comedy The Producers was first staged in Chicago in 2000 and later opened on Broadway in 2001 to rave reviews.  It is the recipient of the most Tony Awards in Broadway history (12, including Best Musical).  Hailed as one of, if not the funniest Broadway musicals of all time, The Producers spoofs the big, old-fashioned Broadway musical while paying tribute to it at the same time.  The Producers features a riotous mix of eccentric characters and show-stopping songs including “I Wanna Be a Producer,” “When You Got It, Flaunt It,” “Prisoners of Love” and of course “Springtime for Hitler”. 

Written by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan, with music and lyrics by Mel Brooks, The Producers features Jeff-Award winning comedians Bill Larkin as Max Bialystock and Matt Crowle as Leo Bloom with Mel Brooks favorite Allison Sill as the leading lady Ulla.  Rounding out the cast for this hilarious romp will be Harter Clingman (Franz Liebkind), Jason Richards (Roger De Bris), Sawyer Smith (Carmen Ghia) with Joe Capstick, Brian Elliott, Dan Gold, Katie Hunter, Leah Morrow, Melissa Reinertson, Steven Spanopoulos, Ryan Stajmiger, Stephanie Wohar and Tyler Austin Wright. The scenic design is by Jeffrey D. Kimec with costume design by Frances Maggio, lighting design by Nick Belley and sound design by Mike Ross. The production stage manager is Kristi J. Martens with assistance by Daniel J. Hanson.  

The beautifully renovated Mercury Theater Chicago is an intimate jewel box of a theater in the heart of the Southport Corridor, a sophisticated neighborhood of restaurants and boutiques just steps from Wrigley Field. A delightful theater destination, Mercury Theater Chicago takes care of its guests from the moment they arrive with valet service and dining at its adjoining new restaurant Grassroots, neighborhood eatery featuring simple, yet delicious farm to table comfort food, in a warm, inviting atmosphere.   

The performance schedule for The Producers is Wednesdays at 8pm, Thursdays at 3pm and 8pm, Fridays at 8pm, Saturdays at 3pm and 8pm and Sundays at 3pm.  

Individual tickets range from $30-$65, and are available online at www.MercuryTheaterChicago.com, over the phone at 773.325.1700, or in person at 3745 N. Southport Avenue, Chicago.