Auditorium Theatre – Clef Notes Chicagoland Journal for the Arts

The Auditorium Opens New Season with Return of Award-Winning Step Afrika! in the Chicago Premiere of “The Migration: Reflections on Jacob Lawrence”

September 12, 2024 Fred Cummings Auditorium Theatre, Step Afrika!

The Auditorium, Chicago’s National Historic Landmark stage (50 E. Ida B. Wells Drive), proudly opens its 2024-25 season with the return of Washington, DC-based Step Afrika!, in the Chicago premiere of its signature, full-evening length production, The Migration: Reflections on Jacob Lawrence, for one performance only, Saturday, October 19, at 7:30pm.

Ballet Dance Winter 2024

Visions of Spain

January 3, 2024 Fred Cummings Auditorium Theatre

Chicago audiences are in for a treat this winter when Auditorium Theatre introduces them to the world renowned Madrid-based Compañía

Dance

PARA.MAR Dance Returns This Spring with “PIVOTAL”

April 5, 2023 Fred Cummings Auditorium Theatre, Navy Pier

The Chicago-based contemporary ballet company PARA.MAR Dance Theatre, returns for their third annual Spring Season Series “PIVOTAL” with three performances at the Epiphany Arts Center, 201 S. Ashland, 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 14 and 2 and 7:30 p.m. April 15.

Museums

National Geographic Live’s “Coral Kingdoms and Empires of Ice” Comes to Auditorium Theatre

March 30, 2023 Isaac Jacobs Auditorium Theatre, National Geographic Live, Shedd Aquarium

On Sunday, April 30 at 2 p.m., Auditorium Theatre will present National Geographic Live’s “Coral Kingdom and Empires of Ice” with photographic team David Doubilet and Jennifer Hayes. Vice President of Conservation Research at Chicago’s own Shedd Aquarium, Dr. Chuck Knapp, will introduce the speakers and host a Q&A providing audience members the valuable opportunity to talk directly with Doubilet and Hayes.

Dance Winter 2023

Coming Home: Alvin Ailey Returns to the Auditorum Theatre This Spring

February 11, 2023 Fred Cummings Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Auditorium Theatre, Robert Battle

If ever there was a “cultural ambassador” Chicago could call our own, it’s the beloved Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. The world renowned and resplendently talented company of diversely gifted dancers has performed for an estimated 25 million people in 71 countries on 6 continents—as well as millions more through television broadcasts, film screenings, and online platforms—promoting the uniqueness of the African American cultural experience and the preservation and enrichment of the American modern dance tradition.

Ballet Dance Summer 2022

Voice of Resistance

August 1, 2022 Fred Cummings Auditorium Theatre, Kyiv City Ballet

One sleepy evening this past February, the full company of the Kyiv City Ballet boarded a flight out of its home city of Ukraine to embark upon a long-planned European tour. Little did anyone know at the time that it would be one of the last flights out of the country as Russia would invade its borders the very next day. That flight made its way to Paris, a city and its country that would adopt the ballet company in the wake of the Russian invasion. There and throughout Europe, the Kyiv City Ballet has performed since and now embarks upon a US tour that will bring them to the landmark Auditorium Theatre stage this fall.

Ballet Dance Winter 2022

Alvin Ailey to Mark Triumphant Return to Chicago

February 12, 2022 Fred Cummings Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Auditorium Theatre

Much like the leaves that begin to bud on the trees in Millennium Park and the post-work sunsets commuters enjoy along the Eisenhower, Alvin Ailey’s yearly residency in the historic Auditorium Theater is like one of nature’s reminders that spring has sprung here in Chicago. But for the first time in half a century, in 2021, the elegance of Alvin Ailey dancers did not grace the Auditorium’s stage and audiences have felt the absence. The pandemic has caused us to miss a log of the culture we take for granted in this great city. But for many, it has also caused them to appreciate it all the more.

Dance Summer 2021

New Horizons

July 6, 2021 Fred Cummings Auditorium Theatre, Deeply Rooted Dance Theatre, University of Chicago

The 2021-2022 season is getting off to a fabulous start for Deeply Rooted Dance Theater and Auditorium Theatre, which are launching a new partnership together beginning this year and extending at least through the 2024-2025 season.

“It’s always been a dream of mine,” says Deeply Rooted’s co-founder and executive director, Kevin Iega Jeff. “We first self-presented at the Auditorium in 1999 when we produced an evening with Roberta Flack—it was a wonderful collaboration. It was my hope to plant seeds for the relationship we’re beginning now.”

Arts Summer 2021

The Road to Transition

June 25, 2021 Leslie Price Auditorium Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Harris Theater for Music and Dance, Lyric Opera, Music Institute of Chicago, Steppenwolf Theatre

Chicago’s beleaguered arts community takes steps to return live arts and culture to the masses this summer. “Almost without exception,

Joffrey-Ballet-and-Lyric-Opera-Orphee-et-Eurydice

Ballet Dance Summer 2020

Joffery’s Big Move

August 18, 2020 Leslie Price Ashley Wheater, Auditorium Theatre, Joffrey Ballet, Lyric Opera of Chicago

Autumn 2020 brings a new and exciting partnership for Chicago audiences to enjoy when the Joffrey Ballet officially joins forces with the Lyric Opera to share the iconic Lyric Opera House on North Wacker Drive.

The partnership of these two pillars of the Chicago cultural scene has developed over time. First, as an artistic collaboration with 2017’s Orphée et Eurydice, a thrilling piece that blended the musical talents of the Lyric with ballet sequences performed by the Joffrey. During this laudable production, these cherished arts institutions discovered a kind of symbiosis that held the potential for extension beyond a single event.

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