Review: Lyric Opera’s Hip-Hopera The Factotum Is a Cut Above
Barbershops and beauty salons are important cultural hubs for communities of color. “In my day, a barber was more than just somebody who sit around in a FUBU shirt with […]
Review: Witnessing the Swan Song of Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill
Quite a few people say they love the music of Billie Holiday, having heard only God Bless the Child or—the song controversial in its time—Strange Fruit. Those songs cannot come […]
Review: Wuthering Heights at Chicago Shakes Deftly Adapts Brontë’s Dense Novel with Innovation, Palpable Passion
Since its publication in 1847, Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights has been adapted into numerous film versions, but only a few brave souls have tried to wrangle her complicated, multi-generational story […]
Review: At Porchlight, an Entertaining Cabaret Features Plenty of Talent but Not the Seriousness the Show Requires
Every season on Broadway, new American musicals premiere in the hopes of entering the country’s long and storied canon of productions that can be revisited and revived for decades to […]
Dispatch: Puppet Fest Wraps Up With Shows Garish, Gorgeous and Grand Guignol
Chicago’s 5th annual International Puppet Theater Festival wrapped up this weekend after presenting more than 100 puppet productions and events around the city. The final production was an inventive staging […]
Review: At Goodman Theatre, the ripple, the wave that carried me home Dramatizes Racial Injustice Through Swimming Pool Segregation
“Water is a complicated element. It heals, destroys, rescues, erases. It drowns. It saves. It holds memory. It washes away pain….” That statement by Janice, the narrator in the ripple, […]
Review: Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel Is a Feast for the Senses at Lyric Opera
What do you get when you mix Englebert Humperdinck, a visual homage to German expressionism, Weimar decadence, and gorgeous singing? The answer is Hansel and Gretel at the Lyric Opera. […]
Review: Immersive Flotsam and Jetsam, Karaoke and Cocktails at Whim Chicago
What do theater artists do when creative offerings morph post-COVID? What do theatrical spaces become in this life-after-coronavirus reset? Creators gonna create, here with a new experience called Whim Chicago, an […]
Dispatch: Puppet Theater Festival Opens With Moby Dick, Tells Comic and Dramatic Stories Through Puppetry
Chicago’s 5th annual International Puppet Theater Festival opened with a dramatic splash last week with a French-Norwegian production of Moby Dick at the beautifully refurbished Studebaker Theater. Productions are being […]
Review: Shakespeare for a Younger Generation in Milwaukee Rep’s Much Ado About Nothing
One of Shakespeare’s most-popular romantic comedies, Much Ado About Nothing, comes thrillingly to life on the Milwaukee Repertory Theater’s largest stage. As explained in pre-performance remarks by Artistic Director Mark […]
Review: Trap Door Stages Princess Ivona, a Political Satire and a Theatrical Carnival
Princess Ivona inspires Trap Door Theatre to show us what it does best: Take a clever script and turn it into a carnival with exaggerated style and physical performance, while […]
Preview: Get Ready for 12 Straight Days of Puppetry From Chicago and the World at the 5th Annual International Puppet Festival
The 5th Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival, the largest of its kind in North America, begins next Wednesday, January 18, and runs through Sunday, January 29, at venues large and […]