The Buttcracker (playing at the Greenhouse Theater Center through December 31) is a Nutcracker Burlesque, a Yule pantomime with elements of comedy, magic and circus that blends all the qualities […]
I had to check the archives to be sure, but I can now say with certainty I’ve seen American Blues Theater’s It’s a Wonderful Life: Live in Chicago! no fewer […]
A fair number of children and teens attended opening night of Goodman Theatre’s A Christmas Carol. Director Jessica Thebus and her creative team brought new life to this 45th edition […]
For all the theater I’ve attended in Chicago—since childhood, really—I’m slightly embarrassed to admit that this weekend marked my first visit to Michigan Avenue’s Lookingglass Theatre, the 35-year-old ensemble company […]
When I hear the name Patti Smith, so many images are conjured in my mind. The 1970s at Club 950, No Exit, and Neo were teeming with people sporting mohawks […]
I was put under a spell on Friday. King Roger by the Chicago Opera Theater (COT) was the spellbinding work that eased my anxiety from sitting in a traffic snarl […]
Rossini’s Le Comte Ory is my second French-language opera within a week. Verdi’s Don Carlos is also at the Lyric. Le Comte Ory is considerably more lighthearted and is in […]
The Surrealism movement started in the 1920s, perhaps in response to WWI but definitely in reaction to art and literature being restrained and stifled into categories. Artists of the time […]
Leopoldstadt is a place, a Jewish section of old Vienna. It’s also an imagined history of how two intermarried Jewish families lived (or didn’t live) through six decades of the […]
“I’m an immigrant and an exile,” Gabriel Byrne begins his autobiographical solo show at the century-old Music Box Theatre on Broadway. For two hours-plus, the legendary Irish actor tells stories […]
I always look forward to Timeline Theatre productions because the company provides the background and history of the play in a lobby display and in the playbill. Ron OJ Parson […]
I do not amuse easily and when something is touted as farcical, I expect it to be on point. The Artistic Home presents a sidesplitting farce with playwright Siah Berlatsky’s […]