Stages Monthly: What to See in Chicago Theaters in October
October is a crazy month for arts and culture in Chicago. We have plenty of theater openings, and in addition there are festivals such as Chicago Ideas Week, Open House […]
Victory Gardens Stages Stalwart Chicago Production of Fun Home
Director Gary Griffin has been having a field day in Chicago. In the past two theater seasons alone, he has had the task of shepherding several high-profile Broadway productions from […]
All-Female Suffragist Shakespeare Shines in The Taming of the Shrew
How do you address the ever-problematic female groveling speeches in Shakespeare’s sexist play? Chicago Shakespeare Theatre throws a powerhouse, A-list, all-female cast at old Will’s The Taming of The Shrew, […]
Eclectic Theatre’s The Last Days of Judas Iscariot Mashes Up History, Fiction and Faith
The scene is Purgatory and it’s a big trial, presided over by a judge who was with Lee when he surrendered at Appomattox. Pontius Pilate takes the Fifth. A motley […]
Dance Down the Highway to Hell in Lyric’s Orphée et Eurydice
Opening night of the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s 2017/18 season kicked off with Christoph Willibald Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice (Paris version), and included a first-time collaboration with the Joffrey Ballet. […]
An American Disaster in 2019: Building the Wall at Stage Left Theatre
If you go to the theater to get away from the nasty divisiveness of today’s news, then Stage Left Theatre’s new production, Building the Wall, is not for you. Robert […]
Steppenwolf’s The Rembrandt: For Love of Art and Pudding
The Rembrandt slips back and forth in time from a contemporary art museum to a Renaissance-era artist’s studio, a Greek temple, and the room where an aging poet is dying. […]
The Toad Knew: A Fitting Opening for the Yard at Chicago Shakespeare Theater
La Compagnie du Hanneton’s latest show The Toad Knew packed Chicago Shakespeare’s Yard, Chicago’s brand new theater on Navy Pier. People came to see this 90-minute captivating and morose fairy […]
Alias Grace Shines at Rivendell Theatre
Adapting a Margaret Atwood novel to a two-hour play is a noble and massive undertaking. Perhaps that’s why Netflix chose to create a miniseries of the book due to come […]
Ruth Bader Ginsburg Grants Us Her Wisdom at the Auditorium Theatre
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is the hero of most every woman, young or old. Hearing her speak on September 11, the anniversary of America’s great tragedy, went a long way […]
Goodman’s A View From the Bridge: Powerful Story, Visceral Language = Great Theater
Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge is performed on the most minimal of stages with few costume changes (and no shoes), thus proving that it’s really the script and […]
Honest Abe’s Spiritual Awakening in The Heavens Are Hung in Black
Shattered Globe Theatre presents the first in its all-Chicago premiere season, Pulitzer-nominee James Still’s The Heavens are Hung in Black, at Theater Wit through October 21, and directed by Louis […]