Review: Drury Lane’s Mamma Mia Knocks It Out of the Park
What can I say about Mamma Mia that hasn’t already been said? It’s an international phenomenon, with a Broadway run that spanned 14 years, has been adapted into two movies, with all […]
Review: Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde; ‘Genderblind’ and Disobedient to the Core
Imagine Oscar Wilde, the man who practically invented epigrams (the antiquated version of a verbal burn), standing trial, and being bullied into reframing his aestheticism in to something callous and […]
Review: A Gut-Check For Our Time in Classic An Inspector Calls at Chicago Shakes
Without ever brandishing so much as a pistol or pocketknife, upheaval and conflict are at the center of J.B. Priestley’s An Inspector Calls, a play that lays out in no uncertain […]
Review: Rebecca Gilman’s Twilight Bowl: Small Town Life With No Escape Route?
Four young women in a small-town Wisconsin bar, with a bowling alley beyond. It’s a story of their lives, their sorrows, their limited futures. Bowling is a side activity for […]
Review: Lyric’s La Traviata Offers Familiarity Through First-Rate Performances
As operas go, La Traviata is perhaps among the best known. Giuseppe Verdi’s adaptation (with a libretto by Francesco Maria Piave) of a play that itself was based on a novel by […]
Review: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, August Wilson’s Essential Chicago Masterpiece, Sings at Writers Theatre
August Wilson famously tackled the entirety of the 20th century with his poetic works of human tragedy and mythic resilience. Wilson’s plays like to live in the same Pittsburgh neighborhood […]
Review: Joffrey World Premiere of Anna Karenina Shines Through Its Darkness
Opulent lifestyles, unbridled passion, and endless joy…all the while a thread of darkness and deceit lurks underneath. Such is the tale of Leo Tolstoy’s 1878 novel masterpiece, Anna Karenina, adapted into […]
Review: Four Troubled Souls Try for Connection in Red Orchid’s Fulfillment Center
What does fulfillment mean? The playbill for A Red Orchid Theatre’s Fulfillment Center gives us more than a clue. Artistic director Kirsten Fitzgerald’s note lists definitions and describes what fulfillment means […]
Review: At Steppenwolf, A Doll’s House, Part 2, “Law & Order” Version
To fully understand this witty and nuanced play, one must know that it is a sequel to Henrik Ibsen’s original A Doll’s House, which was written and set at the […]
Review: Phone Technology is Only Part of the Surreal Story in Dead Man’s Cell Phone by the Comrades
It’s just a plain old flip phone. Not one of those computer-in-your-pocket devices that runs your life today. But when Jean takes possession of the phone, it enables her to […]
Review: Dominique Morisseau’s Pipeline Explores the Troubled School to Prison Route at Victory Gardens
The pipeline in Dominique Morisseau’s play is the school-to-prison path followed too often by young people from disadvantaged backgrounds because of harsh school and police policies. The route is explored […]
Review: Remy Bumppo’s The Father Tricks With Our Minds in Story of Aging, Memory and Perception
The Father by French playwright Florian Zeller is a play about aging and dementia. But it’s not your typical touching human story designed to gain your sympathy for a troubled […]