Review: Doňa Perón: An Homage to a Legend by Ballet Hispánico
Eva Perón has had many names and titles. A saint, a first lady, a savior, and a dancehall girl–aka prostitute. There are more names and epithets than I can include […]
Dialogs: “Talking Race at the Opera” by the Chicago Humanities Festival
I gave high praise to Terence Blanchard’s opera Fire Shut Up in My Bones. The opening night performance at the Lyric was filled with excitement and local luminaries. The following […]
Review: The Peculiar Grace of Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones at Lyric Opera
My first opera was at age 10 when our parish priest took us to see La Boheme at the Lyric Opera House. I always thought that opera was sung in […]
Review: In the Goodman’s Good Night, Oscar, No One Rests Easy
It’s 1958, and host Jack Paar has brought his Tonight Show to Los Angeles at the behest of NBC President Bob Sarnoff to conduct a simple test: can a live […]
Review: At Steppenwolf Theatre, King James Is All About Friendship, Heartbreak and Basketball
It seems like it’s all about basketball but it really isn’t—until it finally is. King James, the wickedly funny world premiere play by Rajiv Joseph, is on stage at Steppenwolf […]
Review: Love Hurts So Good in Lyric’s Tosca
The voices! Soprano Michelle Bradley, making her Lyric Opera of Chicago debut in the title role of Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca, and tenor Russell Thomas as her doomed lover Cavaradossi filled […]
Review: Upon This Shore, Idle Muse’s Pericles Adaptation, Needs to Inject Some Excitement
Idle Muse Theatre takes on the difficult task of staging Shakespeare’s Pericles with excitement along with the hero’s journeys to find love and home. Upon This Shore: A Tale of […]
Review: Court Theatre’s The Lady from the Sea, a Lesser-Known Ibsen Work, Lacks a Sense of Purpose
If my records are correct (yes, I keep track of these things), the last production I saw at Hyde Park’s Court Theatre (before…you know) was the interesting and intriguing Photograph 51. […]
Review: Midwestern Sensibilities Drive Jim Gaffigan’s The Fun Tour
Full disclosure: I listen to standup to help me sleep. During these dystopian times, when I’m frequently unable to catch some ZZZs, I’ll play a comedy special on the bedroom […]
Review: Hell in a Handbag’s The Drag Seed Fails to Bloom
Hell in a Handbag’s New York-bound revival of its 2019 production The Drag Seed has lots to say about LGBTQ culture and the advances that have been made in the last 40 […]
Review: Hadestown Celebrates Human Love and Tragedy Against a Joyous Jazzy Musical Backdrop
Hadestown is a tragedy of human love and suffering and it will make you happy with its joyous, percussive music and slick dance performances. The musical production, based on the […]
Review: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater—Passion and Grace Wrought from a World in Chaos
We are living in a time of chaos and war while—maybe—emerging from a plague. There is no better balm for my soul than an evening in meditation on movement by […]