Stages, Theater

Review: In The Lehman Trilogy, Three Actors Tell the Story of the Rise and Crash of an Iconic American Business

Timeline Theatre’s new production of The Lehman Trilogy tells the story of the rise and fall of an iconic American business—starting as an Alabama dry goods merchant and becoming one […]

Nancy S Bishop /
Dance, Stages

Review: Joffrey Ballet Celebrates Life in Dance with the Arpino Chicago Centennial Celebration

The Joffrey Ballet took up residence in Chicago in 1996. After nearly four decades in New York and the death of Robert Joffrey, Gerald Arpino, his partner in life and […]

Kathy D. Hey /
Opera, Stages

Review: The Flying Dutchman Opens Lyric’s Season with Obsession, a Curse, and Unrequited Love

The Lyric Opera has produced some of the finest interpretations of Richard Wagner in the world of opera and the season opener of The Flying Dutchman may be my favorite. […]

Kathy D. Hey /
Stages, Storefront, Theater

Review: Trap Door Stages the Stylish if Mystifying Play, The Pragmatists—Is It an Anti-War Play?

Two old friends, their bonds apparently fractured by despair at a collapsing world or something else entirely, meet again. One is artistic and the other is a practical man, a […]

Nancy S Bishop /
Stages, Theater

Review: Remy Bumppo Theatre Cast Shines in Pearl Cleage’s Blues for an Alabama Sky

Many tales have been told and legends passed down of the Harlem Renaissance when the “New Negro” emerged from the dust and toil of the American South. A surge of […]

Kathy D. Hey /
Stages, Theater

Review: The Past Is Now in Jane: Abortion and the Underground at Idle Muse

Abortion has always been a hot-button issue and the arguments for and against it are about more than the termination of a pregnancy. It is about control and agency over […]

Kathy D. Hey /
Stages, Theater

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. […]

Doug Mose /
Stages, Theater

Review: Theo Ubique’s Baked! The Musical Cooks Up Something Funny and Tender

I have always said that there is no real American culture because we are a country of immigrants. The one thing that is a common denominator is the striving to […]

Kathy D. Hey /
Broadway, Stages, Theater

Review: Hamilton Returns to Remind Us That Today’s Politics Is History

Hamilton has landed in Chicago and I was not prepared for the mania that was opening night. The line wound down State Street from the Nederlander on Randolph for people […]

Kathy D. Hey /
Stages, Theater

Review: Birthday Candles at Northlight Theatre Will Light Up Your Evening

Birthday Candles is a new play now on stage at Northlight Theatre. It’s a poignant comedy/drama that will cure your emotional ills for an evening with its story of love, life […]

Nancy S Bishop /
Stages, Theater

Review: Shattered Globe’s A View from the Bridge Simmers with Raw Emotion and Physicality

Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge is a mid-century American story, a tale that’s rimmed with classic notions of honor and respect, as old as Greek tragedy and Sicilian immigrant lore. […]

Nancy S Bishop /
Stages, Theater

Review: Congo Square Theatre Illuminates an Uncomfortable Truth in Welcome to Matteson

Congo Square Theatre is celebrating its 25th anniversary of staging a full spectrum of the Black experience in America. A part of that celebration is the world premiere of Welcome […]

Kathy D. Hey /