The ambitious ‘Leopoldstadt’ finally arrives in Chicago area

With nearly 30 actors and 475 costumes, ‘Leopoldstadt’ finally makes Midwest debut

It’s easy to think British playwright Tom Stoppard lived a charmed life. He was the toast of the West End, and his writing garnered some of theater’s most prestigious awards, from the Oliviers to the Tonys to an Oscar.Even Stoppard said his life was charmed, until he began wrestling late in life with a reckoning — numerous family members had been killed in Holocaust, and his Jewish identity was something he hadn’t yet tried to understand.This sc…

The ambitious ‘Leopoldstadt’ finally arrives in Chicago area

It’s easy to think British playwright Tom Stoppard lived a charmed life. He was the toast of the West End, and his writing garnered some of theater’s most prestigious awards, from the Oliviers to the Tonys to an Oscar. Even Stoppard said his life was charmed, until he began wrestling late in life with a reckoning — numerous family members had been killed in Holocaust, and his Jewish identity was something he hadn’t yet tried to understand. This …