Review: Theatre Above the Law Examines the Power of Belief With End Days
We live inn interesting times. Contrary to popular belief, that is not derived from a Chinese saying but from an American politician. In any case, it is a good basis […]
Review: Broadway in Chicago Brings Well-Crafted, Hilarious Fun in Mrs. Doubtfire
Once in a while, a theater production comes along that does better on tour than it does on Broadway. Mrs. Doubtfire, by the songwriting team of Wayne and Karey Kirkpatrick […]
Review: Pride Arts Stages Shakespeare’s R & J, the Classic Romance, With a New Kind of Magic
Four young women actors, dressed in today’s version of a parochial school uniform (of this, more later) mime a school day, beginning with their confessions. “Bless me, Father, for I have […]
Review: At American Blues, The Reclamation of Madison Hemings Tells the Story of Two of Jefferson’s Enslaved Laborers, One of Them His Son
Two middle-aged Black men, both formerly enslaved, visit Monticello the year after the Civil War ends. They’re not there as tourists to explore the majesty of Thomas Jefferson’s estate or […]
Review: Goodman Theatre’s Matchbox Magic Flute Is a Tiny Enchantment
Great works of art come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes, they are vast and sweeping, like the Sistine Chapel or Anna Karenina; and sometimes they are tiny, like a […]
Review: Invictus Theatre Delivers a Living History Lesson in Topdog/Underdog
The way we are taught American history is a scratch-the-surface deal that requires us to keep digging. Playwright Suzan Lori-Parks is a master excavator of history and reveals it in […]
Review: Young People’s Theatre Tells Compelling New Version of The Diary of Anne Frank
The story of Anne Frank is a familiar one. The expressive teenager, who was sequestered with her family in WWII Amsterdam to protect them from Nazi capture, has been famous […]
Writers Theatre’s The Band’s Visit to a Small Israeli Town Features Intimate and Emotional Storytelling
Dina (Sophie Madorsky) enters at the top of the show. The space is empty as she calmly stares down at the audience and whispers the opening lines of the play: […]
Review: Saint Sebastian Players’ An Enemy of the People Depicts a Prophet Submerged in Politics
A new staging of Henrik Ibsen’s classic play An Enemy of the People has come to Chicago, directed by Jim Masini. It dramatizes a public health crisis in a small town and […]
Review: Court Theatre’s Antigone Asks the Old Questions for New Times
Every time an old play is revived, it inhabits two dimensions—the time of its writing and the time of its revival. You can’t exactly call a restaging of a 2,400+ […]
Review: Midnight’s Broken Toll …. Girl from the North Country
Girl from the North Country, a musical adaptation of Bob Dylan’s songs by the Irish playwright Conor McPherson, has already appeared in London’s West End, Off-Broadway at the Public Theater, […]
Review: Bottled Spiders and Blood Splatter in Chicago Shakespeare’s Richard III
Now is the unseasonably warm winter of our discontent, and Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s new artistic director Edward Hall helms his first production on Navy Pier. Tony Award-nominated track and field […]