2022 in Review: Our Favorite Theater Productions of the Year
This isn’t a “best theater of the year” list. As we’ve noted about past lists, we don’t see everything. Most of our writers are freelancers, business owners or employed with […]
On the Road: Broadway Prepares to Freeze Out Some Popular Shows in January
Going to watch a Broadway show during the holiday months of late November through December is a rite of passage for some individuals, friends and families. What better time to […]
Review: It’s a Theo Ubique Cabaret Hootenanny with The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
Theo Ubique’s Evanston home is a great place to stage The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. The show is skillfully directed by Landree Fleming with music direction by Isabella Sherwood, […]
Preview: Mary—A Holiday Dansical by Erin Barnett and Black Girls Dance Ensemble
The story goes that almost anybody Black from the South Side of Chicago either went to Mayfair Academy or knew someone who went there. The academy closed in 2021 after […]
Review: Strawdog’s Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins Is Great Fun for All Ages
Strawdog Theatre is giving Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins a spin during the holiday season for all children and grownups to enjoy. This show directed by Hannah Todd is from […]
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: Misery Takes Audiences on a Thrill Ride at Milwaukee Chamber Theatre
A most unusual “holiday” production has popped up at Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, one of Milwaukee’s longest-running local theaters. While other local theaters are dramatizing Dickens, bringing a nutcracker to life […]
Preview: A Fresh and Fun Nutcracker Is Coming to Hyde Park
I have always loved the Hyde Park neighborhood for its vivacity and artistic sensibilities. So I was really pumped about getting to preview the Hyde Park School of Dance (HPSD) […]
On the Road: Broadway Up Close—One of the Best Shows on Broadway Isn’t a Musical
Tim Dolan is an actor—occasionally. But his regular gig is as a Broadway tour guide and entrepreneur. He’s owner of Broadway Up Close, which offers walking tours of the Broadway/Times […]
Review: Two Winners in the Nutcracker Ballet Relay
My interest in classical music was weaned on Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker ballet. So I leapt at the opportunity to do a Nutcracker relay last Saturday: the matinee opening […]
Review: Gender Bends in Midsommer Flight’s Twelfth Night
William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is a mistaken-identity rom-com designed as a frolic to entertain at the end of the holiday season (there is nothing about Christmas in this play itself). […]
Review: The Buttcracker: A Nutcracker Burlesque—Here to Make Christmas Cheer Queer
The Buttcracker (playing at the Greenhouse Theater Center through December 31) is a Nutcracker Burlesque, a Yule pantomime with elements of comedy, magic and circus that blends all the qualities […]