CONVERSATIONS with Ed Tracy

Edward Gero joins the CONVERSATION during a break in rehearsals for The Lehman Trilogy at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Gero’s performance is another highlight in a distinguished, award-winning career spanning forty-seven years with upwards to one hundred fifty roles and counting including The Originalist at Court Theatre in Chicago, Angels in America at Arena Stage and earlier this year, in the critically-acclaimed production of The Lehman Trilogy at the Shakespeare Theatre Company that has now transferred to the Guthrie and opens September 19, 2024.

Stefano Massini’s epic multi-generational story, adapted by Ben Power and directed by Arin Arbus, chronicles the true-to-life rise of three Jewish immigrant brothers who built their own version of the American Dream from a small fabric business in 1844 to the international financial firm whose spectacular collapse in 2008 sent global markets spiraling out of control. The Guthrie Theater production includes Gero, Mark Nelson and William Sturdivant in the cast of three who play the Lehman brothers and recreate all of the over fifty other roles.

7 Episode 3 Originally posted September 4, 2024

Steve Hamilton, the two-time Edgar Award-winning and NY Times bestselling author of the Alex McKnight series, joined the CONVERSATION to talk about the release of An Honorable Assassin (Blackstone Publishing August 27, 2024), the third book in the popular Nick Mason series. Season 7 Episode 2 Originally posted August 15, 2024      

Michael Garfield Levine joins the Conversation to discuss his solo show “Spinning My Wheels” that chronicles the touching, disturbing and often humorous arc of Levine’s Vermont theatre experiences to the streets of New York and, ultimately, a path of acceptance and survival.

Levine will perform his show on Thursday, April 11th at the Royall Tyler Theatre on the campus of the University of Vermont in Burlington, Vermont as a prelude to that theatre's 50th Anniversary Celebration on April 12-13.

 The 7:00 pm performance is free, but reservations are required by emailing: [email protected].

Season 7 Episode 1 Originally posted March 22, 2024

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 

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 

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 

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 

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.

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

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-