The upscale magic venue known as The Hand & The Eye has announced quite the Halloween extravaganza this weekend. I’m told the historic McCormick Mansion will “transform into a world inspired by Gilded Age spectacle, traveling carnivals and the great World’s Fairs, with unexpected performances, curiosities and surprises unfolding throughout its rooms.” Tickets are a hefty $325 for “Midway of Wonders” on Oct. 31, but that includes two cocktails and food throughout the evening.
You can also check out special programming on other dates, including brunches and happy hours with prices starting at $65. Also of interest if you have never seen inside the spectacularly renovated building: “The Grand Exhibition” is a one-hour, limited-seating performance taking place Tuesday through Thursday of this week in the Monarch (one of the theaters inside the mansion), with the first-floor bars open before and after. That’s $135, with a welcome spritz.
Speaking of Halloween, that’s a tricky night to attract an audience. Ergo, bargain tickets. As just one example, Steppenwolf Theatre Company is offering a 2-for-1 deal for the Oct. 31 evening show of “Topdog/Underdog.” Use the promo code HALLOWEEN.
What’s happening with the Mercury?
Pressure is mounting on L. Walter Stearns, the owner of the Mercury Theater, to reopen his two-theater complex on Southport Avenue at the heart of the so-called Southport Corridor. For more than two years, the marquee at the theater has read “Curtain Down for Now. Stay Tuned for the Next Act,” but no next act has been forthcoming either at the Mercury or the Venus cabaret space next door. This stands in sharp contrast to the Music Box Theatre, a couple of doors away, where business has been booming and the owners recently have added both a lounge and a new screen.
The local watchdog blog known as Southport Corridor News and Events has been lamenting the closure, noting that the venue received a $90,000 creative recovery grant from the State of Illinois and declaring the theater “has been closed for much too long.” There is neighborhood worry about the theater holding back the economic fortunes of its block. (An attached restaurant space also has been empty for years.) Commenters speculate the venue “might be a goner.”
I certainly hope not. But I’ve not been able to pry any firm plans for the future out of Stearns, although I hear there has been at least one conversation with a New York producer looking to rent the space, proving that demand is there in a city that has already lost too many rental venues of late. But it remains unclear how much work would need to be done to get this beautiful theater back into performance-ready shape.
The Mercury complex is a privately owned operation, and Stearns is of course free to keep it closed as long as he wishes rather than either reopen himself or sell to a new owner who would bring the theaters back to life. But worries are mounting and, if you view the ownership of a lovely theater with a historic past as a form of stewardship, all of that neighborhood concern is legitimate.
Next shows for Artistic Home
The Artistic Home theater company is bringing the long-dark Lookingglass Studio Theatre back to life, though. The long-lived off-Loop company will stage its “Cut to the Chase” festival of short plays in the space in the Water Tower Water Works for Nov. 5-15. Thereafter, Artistic Home will mount the rest of its season in the Bookspan space of the Den Theatre, 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave. Those shows are “The Price” by Arthur Miller, coming in January and directed by Scott Westerman, and Anton Chekhov’s “Ivanov,” set to open in May under the direction of Ted James.
Finding the Cabaret Connexion
The Cabaret Connexion Concert Festival will bring a variety of cabaret voices from Paris and Berlin, cabaret citadels both, to perform alongside Chicago artists beginning Wednesday and lasting through Nov. 15.
Chansons, Kabarett and plain old Midwest cabaret can be heard nightly at such intimate venues as the DANK Haus in Lincoln Square, the Gateway Lounge of the Copernicus Center in Jefferson Park, The CheckOut in Lakeview, Pianoforte Chicago in the South Loop and DePaul University’s Holtschneider Performance Center in Lincoln Park. Cabaret fans should check out the busy schedule at cabaretconnexion.org. All are willkommen.
Lighting up the Biograph
A cheering, long-awaited move is coming right up: Porchlight Music Theatre is producing its first show at the Victory Gardens Biograph Theater, director Michael Weber’s production of “Little Shop of Horrors,” with previews beginning Nov. 4. Alina Taber is Audrey, Andrew Linden is Seymour, Steve McDonagh is Mr. Mushnik and Adam Fane is the world’s most appalling dentist.
Final extension for “Strange Loop”
Finally, here is exclusive news that the hit Raven Theatre and About Face Theatre production of “A Strange Loop” has added three more weeks of performances, with tickets still no more than $50. The show will now run through Dec. 13. There are now five performances per week. The regular run sold out fast, closely followed by the first extension. Tickets will be released Wednesday at noon. So if you want to see this musical, don’t delay would be my advice.
Chris Jones Recommends
“Theater of the Mind” in an open run by the Goodman at the Reid Murdoch Building; “Pandemonium, Please Hold” in an open run on the Second City Mainstage; “Vape! The Grease Parody” through Jan. 3 at Apollo Theater; “Sunday in the Park with George”
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by Kokandy Productions through Nov. 29 at Chopin Theatre; “Jekyll & Hyde” through Nov. 8 at the Broadway Playhouse; “Kowalski” through Nov. 8 at Lookingglass Theatre in the Water Tower Water Works; “Topdog/Underdog” through Nov. 1 at Steppenwolf Theatre; “Don Giovanni” through Nov. 1 at Lyric Opera of Chicago; “Any Rebellion of Will” through Nov. 1 at Trap Door Theatre; “A Strange Loop” through Dec. 13 at Raven Theatre; “Hayward” through Nov. 22 by Gift Theatre in Steppenwolf’s 1700 Theater; “Omar” through Oct. 28 at Lyric Opera of Chicago.Chris Jones is a Tribune critic