Review: A Harlem Reverie in Sugar Hill: the Ellington/Strayhorn Nutcracker
Harlem. The name evokes a sense of place, time, and for some, the halcyon days of the Harlem Renaissance. Sugar Hill is a section of Harlem where the strivers lived, […]
Review: Chicago Opera Theater Triumphs With Shostakovich’s The Nose, From Gogol’s Story
The Chicago Opera Theater COT) has a mission to produce new and rarely produced work. Dmitri Shostakovich was 22 years old when he wrote The Nose adapted from the short […]
Review: Northlight Theatre Brings Thrilling Murder Mystery to the Holiday Season with Dial M for Murder
Money, fear, jealousy, revenge, and protecting someone you love. These are the five top motives for murder, according to Maxine Hadley (Elizabeth Laidlaw), a murder mystery writer who is about […]
Review: Cirque du Soleil Performs a Holiday Thrill Ride in ‘Twas the Night Before
As we were making our way to the Chicago Theatre on Thursday, my friend asked me how I thought Cirque du Soleil was going to pull off their feats of […]
Review: Boop! The Betty Boop Musical Sizzles Thanks to Its Star—But Its Plot Fizzles
What do you say about a priceless diamond in a shabby setting? That it shines brilliantly, no thanks to what surrounds it—a dull distraction than can, by contrast, sometimes make […]
Review: Black Ensemble Theater Celebrates 47 Years of The Other Cinderella
I cannot believe that 47 years have passed since the premiere performance of The Other Cinderella. Jackie Taylor came out of Cabrini Green and has emerged as a Chicago legend. […]
Review: Blank Theatre’s Promises, Promises a Holiday Delight
In 1960, when Eisenhower was still president and what we think of as “the ’60s”… counter culture… protests… civil unrest… had yet to really begin, Billy Wilder and his screenwriting […]
Review: Red Theater’s Caveman Play Tells Its Story via a Playful Dialogue With the Audience
Nothing about the set of Caveman Play is very primal. Yes, there is a fire in the center of what is presumably a cave, but it crackles silently amid soft elevator music, […]
Review: Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas Tells an Adorable Holiday Story with a Menagerie of Puppets
Much of the theater on offer this month involves a nutcracker or Christmas ghosts. And we have you covered on those performances. But if you are looking for something different in […]
Review: Hell in a Handbag Serves up a Holiday Parody with The Golden Girls Save Christmas
The Golden Girls sitcom is in perpetual rotation on television it seems. It’s late at night and sometimes simultaneously on two channels as an alternative to the news. It presaged […]
Review: Ride the Whale Road with the Sweet Scottish Folk Musical Islander
As part of its WorldStage series, Chicago Shakespeare Theater brings the lyrical tale Islander, a folk-inspired musical soundscape from Scotland, to the Windy City after an acclaimed off-Broadway run and […]
Review: Joffrey Ballet’s The Nutcracker Blends Holiday Cheer and Wonder With Its 1893 Chicago Backdrop
The basic plot of the famous The Nutcracker ballet is a familiar story. A young girl, Clara, receives the gift of a Nutcracker on Christmas Eve. That night, she has […]