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 […]
Review: The Buttcracker: A Nutcracker Burlesque Is a Ribald Revival of an Art Form
Burlesque combines circus, vaudeville, opera, and theater for the so-called common folk. The art is derived from classical composers and theater performers as far back as the mid-19th century. One […]
Review: Manual Cinema’s Christmas Carol Sparks Holiday Magic and Joy
“These are but shadows of things that have been.” Those familiar with A Christmas Carol may recognize this haunting line from the Ghost of Christmas Past. The Ghost takes Ebenezer […]
Review: Dario Fo’s Marxist Farce, Can’t Pay? Won’t Pay!, by Gwydion Theatre Speaks to Our Economic Pains
Dario Fo’s 1974 Marxist farce, Can’t Pay? Won’t Pay!, has plenty of messages for us in today’s era of inflationary prices. In its staging by Gwydion Theatre Company, we learn […]
Review: Broadway in Chicago’s The Wiz Casts a Magic Spell
Just about halfway between MGM’s (and Judy Garland’s) immortal The Wizard of Oz and Broadway’s current box-office smash Wicked, there was another musical retelling of L. Frank Baum’s classic American […]
Review: Goodman Theatre Continues a Fine Holiday Tradition with A Christmas Carol
The Goodman Theatre’s 46th annual production of A Christmas Carol is the kickoff to the holiday season in Chicago. The last time I saw it was over 12 years ago […]
Review: Milwaukee Pays Tribute to Hometown Legend in Liberace!
While Chicago can lay claim to many headliners of the past, only Milwaukee had a major influence in the life of a piano prodigy who eventually became known as a […]