Chris Jones

Chris Jones is editorial page editor, as well as chief theater critic for the Chicago Tribune. He also serves as Broadway critic for the New York Daily News. His latest book is Rise Up! Broadway and American Society from 'Angels in America' to 'Hamilton.'" He has a Ph.D. from Ohio State and lives in Chicago with his wife and sons."

Karah Son, Evan LeRoy Johnson and company in "Madama Butterfly" by Lyric Opera of Chicago. (Todd Rosenberg)

Review: ‘Madama Butterfly’ by Lyric Opera transports Puccini into a virtual world – who is to say what is real?

March 15, 2026 at 1:26 p.m.

This is a difficult opera to stage now, and director Matthew Ozawa has found an effective solution. And audiences still hear every note of Puccini's beloved 1904 score.

"Every Brilliant Thing" on Broadway starring Daniel Radcliffe at the Hudson Theatre in New York. (Matthew Murphy)

Review: Daniel Radcliffe is the best thing yet for ‘Every Brilliant Thing’

March 12, 2026 at 10:00 p.m.

This simple, warm and generous play by Duncan Macmillan and Jonny Donahoe gets a lift on Broadway from some remarkable celebrity casting.

David Byrne in the space to be used for “Theater of the Mind," a walk-through theater experience about music and how our minds hear and perceive it, at the Reid, Murdoch & Co. Building in Chicago, Feb. 3, 2026. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)

A lifetime of David Byrne’s curiosity comes together for ‘Theater of the Mind’

March 11, 2026 at 1:36 p.m.

The Talking Heads frontman and Broadway performer has created a show in Chicago about music, science and how the two meet in your mind.

The marquee of the Victory Gardens Theater at the Biograph in 2006 in Chicago. (Michael Tercha/Chicago Tribune)

Victory Gardens announces new interim artistic director

March 8, 2026 at 8:43 p.m.

Victory Gardens Theater has hired Edward Torres, the former artistic director of Chicago's Teatro Vista, and has a new show.

Lauren Mariasoosay, Marja Harmon and Lily Soto in the national tour of "Hamilton," now at the CIBC Theatre in Chicago. (Joan Marcus)

Review: ‘Hamilton’ tour is now telling his story for a next generation

March 6, 2026 at 11:47 a.m.

The touring musical about the founding father is back in Chicago at the CIBC Theatre, with a new cast but still in fine form.

Magician Derek Hughes, here at a Tribeca Festival event in New York in 2023, has a short guest run at The Magic Parlour in Chicago. (Santiago Felipe/Getty Images)

Review: Derek Hughes has a magical touch with his audience at The Magic Parlour

March 5, 2026 at 12:58 p.m.

Time and again, when I saw his show on Sunday, the slightly off-beat Derek Hughes not only put people at ease but involved them in his unfolding narrative.

A design rendering of TimeLine Theatre’s new theater building, to be located at 5035 N. Broadway in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood. (HGA)

TimeLine Theatre announces first season in its new home

March 5, 2026 at 12:19 p.m.

The four shows for the 2026-27 season open with a world premiere based on the book "The Birth of the Pill" by Chicago writer Jonathan Eig and conclude with a...

Broadway producer Jeffrey Seller outside the then-PrivateBank Theatre on Monroe Street in the Loop on Dec 8, 2015. He announced that "Hamilton" would come there for its first production outside of New York. The PrivateBank Theatre is now the CIBC Theatre, where "Hamilton" has returned for spring 2026. (Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune)

Jeffrey Seller on how ‘Hamilton’ is now an antidote — and why he walked away from Washington

March 6, 2026 at 3:45 p.m.

Producer Jeffrey Seller said the decision to pull out of a planned engagement at the Kennedy Center was easy, but he was happy that Chicago provided a place to land.

Co-artistic directors Glenn Davis and Audrey Francis at Steppenwolf Theatre's campus on Halsted Street in Oct. 2021. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)

Steppenwolf Theatre’s 2026-27 season will have several world premieres

March 4, 2026 at 11:50 a.m.

Coming next on Halsted Street: New work from Adam Rapp and Stephanie Alison Walker, both writers with ties to Chicago, and the return of both the director Tina Landau and...

Lenin Izquierdo and Jalbelly Guzmán in "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" at the Goodman's Owen Theatre. (Jay Towns)

Review: ‘The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao’ is about a nerdy young man with an open heart

March 3, 2026 at 12:12 p.m.

This world-premiere adaptation of the novel by Junot Díaz stars Lenin Izquierdo of Humboldt Park as the Dominican American hero at the center of the story.

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