| Good afternoon. I'll begin today with the sad news of two deaths of folks who contributed greatly to the Chicago theater: the actor Dale Calandra and the critic Richard Eisenhardt. Calandra was a fine performer and a lovely person. Among his many notable roles was the central character in Samuel D. Hunter's "The Whale,
" as directed by Joanie Schultz at Victory Gardens Theater in 2013. "Calandra brings just the right note of gentleness to a role that could easily crush most actors," I wrote at the time, "evoking not only a man enmeshed in a deep crisis about to take his life, but the universality of
how sensitive souls easily can find themselves beaten down by circumstance." What a great actor. Eisenhardt, who filed universally positive reviews for Streetwise and other publications, was similarly delightful to be around. On a personal note, Eisenhardt was truly lovely to my sons when they were very young and, like lots of others who attended opening nights of Chicago theater, it was always a pleasure to encounter his beaming face. He treated all actors like major celebrities, quite rightly too, and loved the Chicago theater scene, which now loses one of its great characters. The North American premiere of the musical “42 Balloons,” here in an earlier British production, will have a summer run
at Chicago Shakespeare Theater. (Pamela Raith) Things are beginning to heat up in 2025. We had news last week of
"42 Balloons" having its pre-Broadway premiere, and lots of other new shows are gearing up. But I've got one thing that I believe needs fixing. Three of the biggest shows of the winter are "A Raisin in the Sun" at Court Theatre, "Circus Quixote," marking the return of the Lookingglass Theatre, and
"Fool for Love" at the Steppenwolf Theatre. They all are opening simultaneously on Feb. 8. This is unhelpful for critics who can't be in three places at once, obviously, and then have to pick sides that we don't want to pick. Shifting dates is often stressful for artists, too. Part of the theater's opening night ritual is having folks there to celebrate. Caroline Neff, Cliff Chamberlain and Tim Hopper star in “Fool for Love” at Steppenwolf Theatre this winter. (Sandro Miller) The League
of Chicago Theatres long maintained a calendar to prevent this from happening, but that seems to have fallen away. I'd say there's a bigger issue here too: Uneven inventory. There are very few shows playing in January, when demand is very high (it's cold out) and those that were smart enough to stay open, such as Kokandy's "Into the Woods," sold out. But if everyone goes into rehearsal after the holidays and tries to open in the
same few days, four or five weeks later, there's a glut. If shows were better spread out, I think we'd all gain: artists, critics and audiences. I'm glad Court Theatre opened up more shows after this came to light. There's a lot more news and reviews to be had this week.
See below for some of it and I will see you at the theater. — Chris Jones, chief theater critic Sign up for the Theater Loop newsletter: Our weekly newsletter has the latest news and reviews from America’s hottest theater city. Theater critic Chris Jones will share a behind-the-curtain look at what you need to know. | 
