Mary Poppins a Delight for All Ages
This ain’t your mother’s Mary Poppins. Or rather, the NightBlue Performing Arts Company’s production of Mary Poppins is a jaunty expansion of the 1964 movie we all know and love. […]
Director Munby Mines Humor in Modern Othello at Chicago Shakes
British director Jonathan Munby finds the humor amidst the racism and uxoricide in Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s “Shakespeare 400 Chicago” production of Othello. For a play that starts with the curses […]
MCA’s Table Top Shakespeare is CliffsNotes with Cans and Bottles
Blake said: “To see a world in a grain of sand / And a Heaven in a wild flower / Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand / And […]
Broken Nose Theatre’s A Phase Captures 20-Something Exploration and Transformation
A Phase is an original play written by Broken Nose Theatre Associate Artistic Director Elise Spoerlein which tells the story of Sam, played by Spoerlein, who moves to a new (and crappy) apartment […]
New Country’s Music City Story Is Raucous Comedy With a Heart
New Country at the Den Theatre is great entertainment before or after a dinner at one of Wicker Park’s many Milwaukee Avenue restaurants. It’s a short, snappy comedy with […]
The Compass: Guiding the Way in a Tech-Dependent Era
When going to the theater, you have to make quite a few decisions. What will you wear? How will you get there, by Uber or train? Will you go out […]
Raven Theatre’s A Loss of Roses: Quiet Portrait of 1933 Small-Town America
William Inge’s A Loss of Roses at Raven Theatre explores the lives of three people in a small Kansas town in Depression-era 1933. The play, directed by Cody Estle, […]
Broadway in Chicago’s If/Then Is a Type-A Musical Wonderland
There are many reasons why one would want to root for Broadway in Chicago’s If/Then. For one, it’s not a riff on, say, a ’90s Disney film or Andrew Lloyd […]
That’s (Still) Weird, Grandma! Barrel of Monkeys’ Weekly Show Is Back
An ensemble member walks across the stage at The Neofuturarium to introduce the next short play in the line-up. She gives us the name of the author and what elementary […]
Cocked Not Done By Halves
It is perhaps no accident that Cocked, a play about many things, but chief among them gun violence, takes place in Victory Gardens Theater, which is located in the Biograph […]
Goodman Takes on Bolaño’s 2666: It’s Extreme Theater and a Beautiful Mess
The Goodman Theatre’s new production of 2666, adapted from the massive novel by the late Roberto Bolaño, takes five stories and threads them loosely together with a couple of mysteries […]
Sister Act Gets The Marriott Theatre Dancing
It’s always interesting to see productions in the round at the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire. Set design must be creative and lightweight, and the actors’ movements on the square stage […]