Review: Porchlight’s Anything Goes—Delightful… Delovely
Get your tickets and grab your seats. On the relatively small stage at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts, Porchlight Music Theatre is putting on a big, big show: […]
Doug Mose grew up on a farm in western Illinois, and moved to the big city to go to grad school. He lives with his husband Jim in Printers Row. When he’s not writing for Third Coast Review, Doug works as a business writer.
Review: Boop! The Betty Boop Musical Sizzles Thanks to Its Star—But Its Plot Fizzles
What do you say about a priceless diamond in a shabby setting? That it shines brilliantly, no thanks to what surrounds it—a dull distraction than can, by contrast, sometimes make […]
Review: Blank Theatre’s Promises, Promises a Holiday Delight
In 1960, when Eisenhower was still president and what we think of as “the ’60s”… counter culture… protests… civil unrest… had yet to really begin, Billy Wilder and his screenwriting […]
Review: Broadway in Chicago’s The Wiz Casts a Magic Spell
Just about halfway between MGM’s (and Judy Garland’s) immortal The Wizard of Oz and Broadway’s current box-office smash Wicked, there was another musical retelling of L. Frank Baum’s classic American […]
Review: Raven Theatre’s Night Watch Has Vivid Costumes, Pallid Performances
Caftans!!!… Statement Jewelry!!!… Plot-driven Thrillers on Stage!!!… Yes, it’s the ’70s again at Raven Theatre as they present the first show of their 41st season—a revival of Lucille Fletcher’s woman-in-peril […]
Dialogs: Keegan-Michael and Elle Key at the Chicago Humanities Festival—Building Connections One Joke at a Time
Explaining a joke is like dissecting a frog, E.B. White famously said: “the subject dies in the process and the innards are discouraging to any but the pure scientific mind.” […]
Review: Gift Theatre’s The Rise and Fall of Little Voice Barely Registers
Thirty years ago, Jim Cartwright’s play The Rise and Fall of Little Voice made a big noise first on London’s West End and then on Broadway and at Steppenwolf Theatre. […]
Review: In Three Crows’ Beauty Queen of Leenane, McDonagh’s Dark Comedy Illuminates
Before last year’s The Banshees of Inisherin… before Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri… before In Bruges… before all the Oscars noms and Tony nods Irish playwright Martin McDonagh has racked […]
Review: Broadway in Chicago’s Into the Woods Casts Its Splendid Magic
The latest incarnation of Stephen Sondheim’s and James Lapine’s storied musical fable, Into the Woods, is making a magical appearance at the Nederlander Theatre through May 7. Brought to town […]
Review: Goodman’s The Cherry Orchard Presents Robert Falls’ Talent in Full Bloom
For more than 35 years, Robert Falls has led the Goodman Theatre to become one of the country’s very best regional houses. Past triumphs include both starry Broadway transfers (Night […]
Review: One Bad Apple Tree Spoils the Bunch in Porchlight Revisits
Musical theater nerds in Chicago are lucky to have Porchlight Theatre—if the venerable company (now in its 27th year) didn’t exist, we’d have to invent it. Besides mounting full productions […]
Review: Wonder of Wonders—Fiddler on the Roof at the Lyric Opera
Last year, the Lyric Opera presented a dazzling production of The Magic Flute originally conceived for Berlin’s Komische Oper by Australian director Barrie Kosky. Now, the Lyric is at it […]