2019 in Review: Our Favorite Nights at the Theater
This isn’t a “best theater of the year” list. As we’ve noted about past lists, we don’t see everything. Most of our writers are freelancers, all with other gigs, and […]
Review: The Raw World of 13-Year-Olds Comes Alive in Steppenwolf’s Dance Nation
There is dancing in Dance Nation, now at Steppenwolf Theatre. It’s sometimes clumsy, sometimes graceful, and generally amateurish. Clare Barron’s play is about a crew of 13-year-old girls (and a […]
Review: Theo Ubique’s Working Is a Musical Homage to the “Extraordinary Dreams of Ordinary People”
Working transforms Studs Terkel’s iconic 1974 book of interviews with American workers of all stripes into a musical revue that pays homage to the value of work and the pride […]
Review: Chicago’s History Flames Again in Burning Bluebeard by the Ruffians
As part of its 25th anniversary season, Porchlight Music Theatre is presenting the Ruffians’ indispensable Christmas show Burning Bluebeard. Inspired by the 1903 Iroquois Theatre fire, Burning Bluebeard is hardly typical Christmas […]
Review: Fall in Love in Italy This Holiday with The Light in the Piazza at Lyric Opera
“Mother, what happened here?” The innocent question that opens The Light in the Piazza has a loaded answer. Clara Johnson (Solea Pfeiffer) and her mother Margaret (Renée Fleming) step into […]
Review: Should We Fear Disease or Demagogues in Trap Door’s The White Plague?
The White Plague or a new form of leprosy is what everyone fears in the new play at Trap Door Theatre. However, the disease described in Czech playwright Karel Čapek’s […]
Review: The Second City Asks Do You Believe in Madness?
The Second City’s 108th revue, Do You Believe in Madness?, is a bright look at dark times. Under the direction of Ryan Bernier, the cast well-represents the East Coast here […]
Review: Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, Deliciously Performed in a Garden by Midsommer Flight
When you go to see Twelfth Night at the Lincoln Park Conservatory (and you definitely should) be sure to get there early. By 7:15pm, a group of musician/actors will be […]
Review: Mercury Theater’s Nat King Cole Christmas Concert a Smooth Ride Down Memory Lane
An Unforgettable Nat King Cole Christmas is the charming tribute concert playing through Sunday, December 15, at the Mercury’s Venus Cabaret Theater in Lakeview. It stars Evan Tyrone Martin as […]
Review: See A Q Brothers Christmas Carol to Avoid Holiday Treacle
I have a confession, I try to avoid theater this time of year because I don’t like the treacly sentimentality and predictability of most holiday plays. (It’s a good season […]
Creativity Examined: How Hubbard Street Dance Constructs a Dynamic Program
Hubbard Street Dance, Chicago’s world-renowned contemporary dance company, opened its 2019-20 season on November 7 at the Harris Theater. It was the first of three performances of a program, titled […]
Preview: Inspired by the Ballet Russe, A&A Ballet Stages The Art Deco Nutcracker
The Nutcracker season has officially begun. All over Chicagoland for the past several months, phalanxes of slipper-clad dancers have been working on battered marley floors, steaming up windows as they rehearse […]