Where: Hurst Theatre, Rio Grande Park
When: Through July 22
Tickets: theatreaspen.org
Few industries have been harder hit by the pandemic than the performing arts, and none more so than the theater. Theater needs a live audience for survival the way a deep-sea diver needs an oxygen tank. So when the curtain went up Thursday night on “Chicago: the Musical” launching Theatre Aspen’s 38th season it was as if 15 months of bottled-up talent, passion and longing all came rushing out in one big jubilant wave. For the next 100 minutes (the show runs sans intermission) a rapt, audibly gleeful audience was swept aloft by this air-tight production of Broadway’s iconic, Tony Award-winning musical.