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All Episodes
Archives
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Oct 19, 2023

Teatro ZinZanni Chicago returns with an exciting, new show created by Joe DePaul and offering one of the most unique entertainment experiences anywhere.

General manager and producer, Kerry Sheehan, joins the CONVERVATION to tell us about the show that is set in the exquisite 100-year-old Belgian Spiegeltent ZaZou on the 14th floor of the Cambria Hotel in Chicago's Loop.

Season 6 Episode 3 Originally posted October 19 2023 

Jun 2, 2023

Matthew C. Yee, the creator, writer and composer of the new musical "Lucy and Charlie's Honeymoon" at Lookingglass Theatre joins the CONVERSATION to discuss the show and the collaborative process to bring it to the stage. Aurora Adachi-Winter and Yee star as Lucy and Charlie, two first generation Asian Americans who meet, fall in love and then decide to start a life of crime together. This episode includes a featured solo performance of "Bao's Song" from the show running at Lookingglass through July 11, 2023.

Season 6 Episode 2 Originally posted May 31, 2023 

Jun 1, 2023

On the eve of Cabaret ZaZou's 200th performance in the Speigeltent on the 14th floor of Chicago's Cambria Hotel, we caught up with two of the shows stars, comic emcee Frank Ferrante and singer James Harkness, for a Conversation about the extraordinary cast and how the show continues to evolve over the course of a long run.  

Season 6 Episode 3 Originally posted June 1, 2023 

May 23, 2023

Co-writer/producer Sara Stotts joins the CONVERSATION to discuss the new musical MotherFreakingHood! during the Chicago Premiere at the Mercury Theater Chicago.

Season 6 Episode 1 Originally posted May 23, 2023 

Aug 20, 2022

Entertaining audiences for decades with his terrific one-man show about Groucho Marx, Frank Ferrante joins the conversation to talk about his return to Chicago in September for LUMINAIRE at Cabaret ZaZou in the shimmering Spiegeltent on the 14th floor of the Cambria Hotel and a tour stop for Groucho coming up in South Haven. One of our great improvisational actors, comedians and entertainers, Ferrante talks about developing characters, the new show in Chicago and the PBS special that has brought Groucho to a new generation of fans. "An Evening with Groucho" at the South Haven Theatre Series 7:30 pm August 20, 2022.

Aug 19, 2022

Tony Award winner and multi-Tony nominee André De Shields discusses the opening moments of the return of HADESTOWN to Broadway on September 2, 2021 with CONVERSATIONS host Ed Tracy.

This is an excerpt of the interview during the 2021 Sarah Siddons Society Actor of the Year Award benefit held in Chicago in October 2021.

To view the entire interview, visit: https://bit.ly/3z61qkG

Mar 27, 2020

Chicago jazz vocalist and flutist Elaine Dame plays the theme song of  CONVERSATIONS ("The High Road Theme") during a segment of the podcast "Conversations with Ed Tracy." To purchase Elaine's album "You're My Thrill" visit: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/elainedame3.  Listen to our 2017 podcast at the CONVERSATIONS website: https://www.conversationswithedtracy.com/de-usuris/2017/4/5/elaine-dame- 

Mar 27, 2020

Chicago jazz vocalist Elaine Dame sings "They Say It's Wonderful." To purchase the album "You're My Thrill" visit: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/elainedame3.  Listen to our 2017 podcast at the CONVERSATIONS website: https://www.conversationswithedtracy.com/de-usuris/2017/4/5/elaine-dame-

Mar 25, 2020

Medal of Honor recipient Staff Sgt. David Bellavia joins program host Ed Tracy for a special CONVERSATIONS podcast with the Norwich University Corps of Cadets, recorded live on September 25, 2019 in historic Plumley Armory on the Norwich campus located in Northfield, Vermont. 

Season 5 Episode 2 - Originally posted March 25, 2020

Mar 11, 2020

Sandy Duncan joins the CONVERSATION to discuss Dan Clancy's "MIDDLETOWN The Ride of Your Life!" during the run of the show at the Apollo Theater Chicago.

Season 5 Episode 1 Originally posted March 11, 2020  

Oct 31, 2019

Cage Sebastian Pierre, one of Chicago’s top young actors and fight choreographers, joins the CONVERSATION to talk about fight choreography in Barbara Gaines new production of Romeo and Juliet at Chicago Shakespeare Theater.

Season 4 - Episode 14 Originally posted October 31, 2019

Oct 29, 2019

Heidi Kettenring, the accomplished Jeff Award-winning actor/vocalist joins the CONVERSATION to talk about balancing busy careers with her actor/husband David Girolmo and her upcoming concert appearances at the Auditorium Theatre in ‘Chicago Celebrates Sondheim!’ with the Chicago Philharmonic and the Artists Lounge Live Karen Carpenter holiday show at Mercury’s Venus Cabaret.

Season 4 - Episode 13 Originally posted October 29, 2019

Oct 28, 2019

Charles Newell, the long-serving Marilyn F. Vitale Artistic Director of Court Theatre, joins the conversation to discuss his career and Court's next major project: The Oedipus Trilogy, which begins November 7, 2019 with Oedipus Rex, followed in May 2020 with The Gospel at Colonus and Antigone next season. 

Season 4 - Episode 12 Originally posted October 28, 2019

Sep 16, 2019

Actor Bri Sudia joins the CONVERSATION to discuss sign language interpretation for the theater and her upcoming role as Mona Juul in the highly-anticipated TimeLine Theatre Company|Broadway in Chicago production of “OSLO” directed by Nick Bowling. 

Season 4 - Episode 11 Originally posted September 16, 2019

Aug 14, 2019

Singer/Actor/Voiceover Artist Julie Garnyé, currently appearing in cast of the North American tour of "Come From Away," joins the CONVERSATION to discuss her performance career that includes Grizabella in National Tour of the musical CATS and a long run in the original cast of Disney’s FROZEN: Live at the Hyperion Theatre.

Season 4 - Episode 10 Originally posted August 14, 2019 

Jul 25, 2019

Dann Gire, the award-winning journalist and film critic for the Daily Herald for over four decades, joins the CONVERSATION to discuss the responsibilities of critics in the understanding of the arts and the development and impact of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

Season 4 - Episode 9 Originally posted July 25, 2019   

Jul 15, 2019

Roche Schulfer, the long-serving Executive Director of Chicago's Goodman Theatre, joins the CONVERSATION following the opening of Mary Zimmerman’s revival of “The Music Man”—the Tony Award winning director’s 16th Goodman show in a 25-year association. 

Season 4 Episode 8 Originally posted July 15, 2019

Jun 22, 2019

Ron Kellum, Cirque du Soleil's Artistic Director for VOLTA, joins the CONVERSATION during the hit show's Chicago run to discuss Cirque's development process and the extraordinarily gifted performers in the company.    

Season 4 Episode 7 Originally posted June 22, 2019

May 6, 2019

Former State Senator William Marovitz joins the CONVERSATION to talk about the 2016 Chicago Cubs World Series victory and the upcoming world premiere of “MIRACLE-The Musical” at the Royal George Theatre in Chicago. 

Season 4 Episode 6 Originally posted May 6, 2019  

Apr 28, 2019

The talented Chicago actor and vocalist Sharriese Hamilton joins the CONVERSATION to discuss the Chicago Children's Theatre production of "The Watsons Go To Birmingham-1963" and what's up next: the role of Hannah in the Australian company of the international hit "Come From Away."

Season 4 Episode 5 Originally posted April 28, 2019  

Apr 15, 2019

Cory Lippiello, Artistic Administrator for Lyric Opera of Chicago, joins the CONVERSATION to talk about casting the highly-anticipated production of West Side Story.

Season 4 Episode 4 Orginally posted April 15, 2019  

Apr 8, 2019

Director Louis Contey joins the CONVERSATION to discuss the Shattered Globe Theatre production of Kate Foder’s “Hannah and Martin” tracing the relationship—and passionate love affair—between the German-Jewish political theorist Hannah Arendt and her mentor, the celebrated German philosopher Martin Heidegger and the impact that the rise to power of the Nazi party had on the course of their lives.

Season 4 Episode 3 Originally posted April 8, 2019

Mar 19, 2019

Dana Tretta and Christopher Kale Jones, the two powerhouse stars of the Mercury Theater Chicago production of “Little Shop of Horrors” directed by L Walter Stearns with musical director Eugene Dizon, join the CONVERSATION to talk about just how fiendishly desperate—and painfully real—things are for the star-crossed lovers in the macabre 1982 hit with music by Alan Menken and book and lyrics by Howard Ashman.

Season 4 Episode 2 Originally posted March 19, 2019

Jan 8, 2019

Renowned soloists Alfreda Burke and Rodrick Dixon join the CONVERSATION to talk about Too Hot To Handel: The Jazz-Gospel Messiah, the universality of Handel’s work and the power of music to inspire and uplift our lives in advance of the 2019 concert at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago. 

Season 4 Episode 1 Originally posted January 8, 2019

Dec 17, 2018

Tony Award-winning director and playwright Mary Zimmerman joins the CONVERSATION to discuss her new work The Steadfast Tin Soldier based on the Hans Christian Andersen children's story presented in pantomime at Chicago's Lookingglass Theatre Company. In an extraordinary career that has spanned the worlds of theater and opera, Zimmerman received the 2002 Tony Award for directing Metamorphoses.

Season 3 Episode 21 Originally posted December 17, 2018 

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