Ricardo Rosenkranz’s first step toward running The Rhapsody Theater started in 2009. That year, he saw Derren Brown’s Enigma. “I realized what a special vehicle the long-format show is, because it allows you to give room to illusions and to storytelling,” Rosenkranz said about Brown’s show. “When you’re limited to 20 minutes… sometimes it’s hard to do storytelling. And I saw Derren do that, and I told Eugene [Burger], ‘OK, this is what I want to do.’”
Ricardo likes to say it took him seven years and seven weeks from that moment to bring his dream to life. In 2016, a theater manager called him and asked if he could fill a sudden opening in the venue’s slate, as the scheduled show had crashed and burned, closing less than a week after it opened. Ricardo agreed, and launched his first longform show, Rosenkranz Mysteries. It was a success, and he returned every year through 2019. Ricardo, however, was frustrated by not having control over the length of his run. “You have this show, and it’s going well, and then you end it, and then whenever you’re going to start again, it’s like, ‘Oh my God, I have to ramp it all up again,’” he explained. “So part of the idea was, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if I found a venue that I could have a more permanent relationship with?’”
During the pandemic, Ricardo found that space. He came across a 200-seat theater in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood originally built in 1912, and renovated in the early 2000s as a music hall. Rosenkranz purchased it and turned it into The Rhapsody Theater, a home for both magic and musical performances.
Ricardo rents out the space to music productions—The Rhapsody also boasts a Steinway grand piano—and he produces all the venue’s magic performances, which are roughly 75 minutes in length and usually have shows Thursdays through Sundays. “Where Rhapsody fits in the magic ecosystem is that it is the place where you can have a long-format magic show that is done fully theatrically,” he said. To that end, The Rhapsody has the tools to help create those theatrical magical performances, including an LED wall and top-notch lighting. “We’re an off-Broadway type theater,” Rosenkranz said. “If you went to New York and wanted to do an off-Broadway show, the space would be like ours. And I don’t think there’s too many places in in the world that are saying, ‘Hey, magicians, come do an off-Broadway show here.’”
Lucy Darling was the first act in the theater back in 2022, and Joshua Jay, Andi Gladwin, David Williamson, Zabrecky, Alexandra Duvivier, Dani DaOritz, and others, including Rosenkranz with his current show, Physician Magician, have since performed there.
Lucy Darling, Dani Ortiz, The Physican Magician, John Carney
A Magical Night
The Rhapsody is a large space. There’s the 200-seat theater, a smaller 30-seat space dubbed the Eugene Burger Close-Up Gallery, a restaurant area, and starting this fall, a séance room. There are also three bars. Guests entering The Rhapsody usually enter through the restaurant, which houses one of those bars. Drinks are ordered there, at the bar by the theater entrance, or at the cabaret-style seats via QR code (along with food) if patrons want to head to the theater, which is decorated in an art deco style, immediately. Both the food and drinks are themed to whoever is performing, giving the performers an added perk of coming up with cocktails and mocktails they think would go well with their act. After the theatrical show, some performers continue to entertain in the close-up space as an add-on to their theater performance.
The Magic Goes On
Magic continues to be a priority for The Rhapsody Theater, and this September will see the return of Joshua Jay, where he’ll bring his new show, Making Magic. Andi Gladwin will also return to the theater in November with his show, Shuffled. And in October, Zabrecky will host séances—one weekend while Joshua Jay is in the theater, and one weekend later on, when he will perform in three spaces: the theater, the close-up room, and the séance room. That second weekend, lucky patrons can buy “the Zabrecky experience” and see him in each setting.
Rosenkranz will also bring his Physician Magician show back for the holidays and will continue to produce other magic shows. He looks forward to having The Rhapsody remain a place where magicians can showcase their long-format acts. “What about the people who decided to sit down and tell their life story? Or build something and be storytellers about something, and then they can carry 75 minutes?” he said. “I’m there for them, because probably nobody else is there for them in that way.”
Photos courtesy of Ricardo Rosenkranz and Beckett Studios
The Rhapsody Theater
Visit this beautiful theater during your next visit to Chicago! In the fall of 2025, celebrated magicians Joshua Jay returns with a new show Making Magic, and Andi Glandwin returns with his show Shuffled. There is also a new séance room, featuring Zabrecky. The Physician Magician is back for the holiday season.