God Is in the Details of Lyric Opera’s Jesus Christ Superstar
I don’t like musicals. I’m an atheist. I love Jesus Christ Superstar. I was a budding theater nerd when my cool uncle Tommy turned me on to The Who’s Tommy […]
Ferguson, Missouri, Matters in Solo Show Until the Flood
In 2014, unarmed African-American teenager Michael Brown was shot at least six times by a white police officer. His body remained on the street for four hours in Ferguson, Missouri, […]
Review: Take a Trip to Memphis in Porchlight’s Latest Hit
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 […]
Review: A Fast Pace and Star Turn Make Hilarious The Doppelgänger A Hit
Chicago loves its celebrities. Lacking the chill of our coastal peers in Los Angeles and New York, we get unabashedly stoked when fame graces us with its presence. And why […]
Review: Lettie at Victory Gardens Theater Is Heartfelt, If Inconsistent
The promo image for Lettie, the new original work by Boo Killebrew now on at Victory Gardens Theater, features Caroline Neff in the title role, wielding a welder’s iron and clad […]
Oprah and Oppression in MCA’s Poor People’s TV Room
Oprah is a leitmotif in the multimedia movement narrative Poor People’s TV Room, at Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art from April 12-15. United States Artist Fellow Okwui Okpokwasili and director-designer Peter […]
Review: Ingredients Don’t Add Up to Much for Refuge Theatre Project’s The Spitfire Grill
Founded in 2014, the relatively new Refuge Theatre Project aspires to bring musical theater to creative spaces, accessible to broad audiences. It’s a commendable mission, and one the crowded Chicago […]
An Enemy of the People Is a Well-Dressed Meditation on Politics and Human Nature
When I described the synopsis of Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People to my date, he groaned. Politics, environmental crisis, public figures and large companies taking advantage of the little guy… […]
Memes Become Scenes in Theater Wit’s Delicious Women Laughing Alone with Salad
Playwright Sheila Callaghan (writer/producer of Showtime’s Shameless) morphs memes into scenes in the delicious Chicago premiere of Women Laughing Alone with Salad. Guy (Japhet Balaban) is EveryGuy, a dope-smoking dilettante […]
Review: What Is and What Could Be at Court Theatre’s Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?
Last year, when it turned 50, the Stanley Kramer film Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? was added to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, marking it for preservation […]
The Importance of Not Being Earnest Absent in Walkabout’s The Brink
Writing teachers ask their fledgling essayists to answer the question: “So what? Why write this? What’s the point?” Theater artists also should have a similar rubric for plays. Walkabout’s music, […]
Review: Neil Tobin’s Near Death Experience at Rosehill Cemetery Mildly Amuses
Neil Tobin is a warm, funny man. He’s welcoming and doesn’t have a hard time putting people at ease. It’s a good quality to have in general, but especially important […]