CONVERSATIONS with Ed Tracy

For over 4 decades, Rich Daniels and his orchestra have been featured together with a long and distinguished list of music greats including Ray Charles, Mel Torme, Burt Bacharach, Dionne Warwick, The Four Topps, Smokey Robinson, Frankie Laine and many more. Daniels has been touring recently with the Jerry Garcia Symphonic Celebration and has been engaged with the hit TV series "Empire" for the past four years. Daniels joined the conversation on November 2nd to talk about his career and upcoming Auditorium show on November 17th for ELLA & LENA: The Ladies and Their Music, a centennial concert celebration of Ella Fitzgerald and Lena Horne. Chicago vocalist and producer Joan Curto will be joined by many of Chicago's top artists including E. Faye Butler, Beckie Menzie, Tammy McCann, Paul Marinaro, Tom Michael and Sophie Grimm with Daniels' 17-piece orchestra featuring songs from the Great American Songbook.

Season 2 Episode 29. Originally published November 9, 2017.

Author Glen Shuld joins the conversation to discuss his book The Color of Character, a work of fiction based on a journal he kept of his grade school experiences growing up Jewish and gay in an integrated system in the early '70s.

Season 2 Episode 28. Originally published October 24, 2017.

Longtime Goodman Producer/Director Steve Scott joined the conversation in October 2016 to talk about the 2016 production - and 39th Annual - of A Christmas Carol and his career in Chicago theatre. Scott, who retired from the Goodman after 40 years service earlier this year, will be honored at the 2017 Joseph Jefferson Awards on November 6th, 2017.

Season 1 Episode 13 Recorded October 24, 2016

Ashley Wheater, Artistic Director of the Joffrey Ballet joins the conversation to discuss the new partnership with Lyric Opera, the PBS filming of Orphée et Eurydice and the 2017-2018 opening production of Giselle at the Auditorium Theater. Along the way, he reflects on co-founders Robert Joffrey, Gerald Arpino, working with Rudolph Nureyev, John Field and Helgi Tomasson, among others, and the 1996 career-ending injury, surgery and the aggressive physical therapy that followed.

Season 2 Episode 27 | Originally published October 11, 2017

Award-winning dancer, choreographer and director Brenda Didier joins the conversation during rehearsals for Billy Elliot, the opening production of Porchlight Music Theatre's 23rd season and first at The Ruth Page Center in Chicago.

Season 2 Episode 26 | Originally published September 19, 2017

Award-winning actress, singer and entertainer E. Faye Butler joins the conversation during a break in rehearsal of Barbara Gaines upcoming all-woman production of Taming of the Shrew at Chicago Shakespeare Theater and her recent Jeff-nominated appearance as Mama Morton in Chicago at Drury Lane.

Season 2 Episode 25 | Originally published September 13, 2017

Producing Artistic Director, Wendy Whiteside, and Foley artist and designer, Shawn J. Goudie, joined the conversation to tell us more about their wonderful lives in Chicago … and Bedford Falls. The 2017 Jeff nominated live radio show opens at Stage 773 on November 16, 2017.

Originally published December 14, 2016 | Season 1 Episode 17

Chris Jones, chief theater critic and a Sunday culture columnist for the Chicago Tribune, joined the conversation at the Hubbard Inn on November 19, 2013 to discuss his new book Bigger, Brighter, Louder. Also featured in this episode of CONVERSATIONS FTA (From The Archives) is a performance by World War II veteran JUDY BRUBAKER, who played the role of Ms. Leach in the original Chicago cast of Grease in 1971.

Originally published August 21, 2017 | CONVERSATIONS FTA

Ethan Michaeli is an award-winning author, publisher and journalist based in Chicago. He was a copy editor and investigative reporter at The Defender from 1991 to 1996. Ethan joined us for the debut of conversations with Ed Tracy at the Skokie Theatre to discuss his new book, The Defender.

Originally published July 15, 2016 | Season 1 Episode 2

Imerman Angels CEO & Executive Director Benjamin Bornstein, a three-time cancer survivor, joins the conversation to discuss the Chicago-based organization that brings cancer fighters and caregivers together with Mentor Angel survivors of the approximate age and cancer type in all 50 states and 60 countries.

Season 2 Episode 24 | Originally published August 16, 2017