Chicago theater companies took a while to figure out how to respond to the COVID-19 lockdown and continuing restrictions. (And theater companies, small and large, are suffering debilitating financial losses during the […]
In these “AC,” After COVID, times, Chicago theaters are offering online content to fill the gap of canceled shows and in-person instruction (as well as the yawning expanse of endless days). Chicago […]
This isn’t a “best theater of the year” list. As we’ve noted about past lists, we don’t see everything. Most of our writers are freelancers, all with other gigs, and it’s hard […]
As part of its 25th anniversary season, Porchlight Music Theatre is presenting the Ruffians’ indispensable Christmas show Burning Bluebeard. Inspired by the 1903 Iroquois Theatre fire, Burning Bluebeard is hardly typical Christmas fare. In […]
Though I pride myself on a rather robust knowledge of American musical theater, one show I’ve never managed to get to is Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard, the musical based on Billy […]
There are a few moments of Porchlight Music Theater’s production of A Chorus Line that haven’t aged particularly well. In particular, dated and obscure references to pop culture fall flat, even though we […]
The longer I write theater reviews, the more familiar I find myself becoming—at least via playbills—with the talent overflowing from Chicago’s stages. What’s more, I figured it would only be a matter […]
This isn’t a “best theater of 2018” list. We didn’t see everything. Most of our writers are freelancers, all with other gigs, and it’s hard for us to cover the hundreds of […]
There’s this gem of a theater in Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood, and it’s keeping a little secret: the best musical theater productions in the city. Broadway touring companies aside, Porchlight Music Theatre […]
Perhaps the best compliment I can pay to Memphis, the 2010 Tony Award winner for Best Musical now on at Porchlight Music Theater (directed by Daryl Brooks), is that in the middle of […]
In 1981, Stephen Sondheim and Harold Prince collaborated with writer George Furth for a new musical based on a 1934 play, Merrily We Roll Along. The show was to be the latest […]
Porchlight Music Theatre’s production of The Scottsboro Boys satirically presents a true story in the controversial style of the minstrel show. There is no doubting that the musical, which chronicles the injustice […]
