Review: Flare Path/Griffin Theatre Company
RECOMMENDED When Terence Rattigan’s chronicle of the lives and loves of British airmen debuted in 1942, England had been at war with Germany since 1939. While American audiences might view the piece as...
View ArticleThe Players 2013: The 50 People Who Really Perform in Chicago
Though we publish a list of “players” every year, we alternate between those whose accomplishments are most visible on-stage (the artists, last year) and those who wield their influence behind the...
View ArticleReview: Completeness/Theater Wit
RECOMMENDED As an instructor in DePaul’s College of Computing and Digital Media, I chafe when I see “computer geeks” dramatized for the stage. They never resemble the folks I work with. My colleagues...
View ArticleReview: Maria/Stuart/Sideshow Theatre Company
RECOMMENDED “Maria/Stuart” begins as a dark comedy. Screaming “Hep! Hep! Hep!,” a small red-vest-clad woman traveling in steel-straight lines and muttering menacingly in German storms a kitchen where...
View ArticleReview: Kiss of The Spider Woman/BoHo Theatre
With their popular and tuneful musicals, John Kander and the late Fred Ebb fashioned a storied career essentially from derivation. That’s not to slight the duo’s awesome achievements because their...
View ArticleReview: Hedwig and The Angry Inch/Haven Theatre
RECOMMENDED The glam-rock bio-concert, “Hedwig and The Angry Inch,” boasts a fervent cult following, to say the least. But the show about a transgender East German expat rocker inspires a different...
View ArticleReview: Mythical Proportions/Theater Wit
RECOMMENDED “I love Hollywood. Of course I do…” declares Nora Dunn’s opening character, a gregarious eighty-seven-year-old Hollywood type discussing her behind-the-scenes involvement in the creation of...
View ArticleDeck the Sets: Chicago Stages Go Holiday Crazy
By Zach Freeman As any denizen of the theater who’s been in this town for any amount of time knows, Chicago DOES theater. With more than 250 active theater companies and a constantly growing number of...
View ArticlePlaying With Fire: The Ruffians’“Burning Bluebeard” Rises Again
By Mark Eleveld Chicago is notorious for big fires, big shows and lamentation at such horrific circumstances, all of which can be found in Jay Torrence’s “Burning Bluebeard,” which retells the story of...
View ArticleReview: Burning Bluebeard/The Ruffians
RECOMMENDED “You know how you go to most Christmas shows and you’re sitting there and they don’t catch you on fire?” one of the characters in “Burning Bluebeard” rhetorically asks the audience early...
View ArticleReview: The Santaland Diaries/Theater Wit
RECOMMENDED “I am not David Sedaris,” Mitchell Fain notifies his audience at the start of “The Santaland Diaries,” the stage adaptation of the famed author’s popular holiday essay. Fain then instantly...
View ArticleReview: Sweet Smell of Success/Kokandy Productions
RECOMMENDED After watching this smart and entertaining production of “Sweet Smell of Success,” it was a surprise to learn that the Marvin Hamlisch-penned musical (adapted from the classic 1957 film...
View ArticleThe Players 2014: The Fifty People Who Really Perform in Chicago
Once was the time, when it came to performing arts, that Chicago was a great place to come from. But thanks to the constant upward trajectory of our community, Chicago is now a great place to come from...
View ArticleReview: Golden Boy/Griffin Theatre Company
RECOMMENDED Coming at you with the beauty of a well-placed left-hand hook, the Griffin Theatre presents Clifford Odets’ heavily metaphorical masterpiece “Golden Boy.” A cautionary tale on the perils of...
View ArticleReview: Seven Homeless Mammoths Wander New England/Theater Wit
RECOMMENDED When it comes to community and contact, city dwellers take our myriad options for granted. We surround ourselves with like-minded people, and when our minds fail to meet, we move on to...
View ArticlePreview: Principal Principle/Stage Left Theatre and Theatre Seven of Chicago
RECOMMENDED This summer Chicago audiences are given another chance to see “Principal Principle,” a timely tale examining the potential polarizing effects of assigning corporate data-gathering systems...
View ArticlePlaying With Fire: The Ruffians’“Burning Bluebeard” Rises Again
By Mark Eleveld Chicago is notorious for big fires, big shows and lamentation at such horrific circumstances, all of which can be found in Jay Torrence’s “Burning Bluebeard,” which retells the story of...
View ArticleReview: Burning Bluebeard/The Ruffians
RECOMMENDED “You know how you go to most Christmas shows and you’re sitting there and they don’t catch you on fire?” one of the characters in “Burning Bluebeard” rhetorically asks the audience early...
View ArticleReview: The Santaland Diaries/Theater Wit
RECOMMENDED “I am not David Sedaris,” Mitchell Fain notifies his audience at the start of “The Santaland Diaries,” the stage adaptation of the famed author’s popular holiday essay. Fain then instantly...
View ArticleReview: Sweet Smell of Success/Kokandy Productions
RECOMMENDED After watching this smart and entertaining production of “Sweet Smell of Success,” it was a surprise to learn that the Marvin Hamlisch-penned musical (adapted from the classic 1957 film...
View Article
