Review: The Nutcracker, Joffrey Ballet’s Gorgeous Must-See Holiday Tradition
The Nutcracker is as much a part of me as chocolate, and I don’t think I have made it through a holiday season since I was 4 without seeing a […]
Review: When Harry Met Rehab, an Addiction Story With Heart and Humor
All you can do is begin. That’s the advice of Barb, the therapist in When Harry Met Rehab, the new play about addicts and addiction at the Greenhouse Theater Center. […]
Review: In Manual Cinema’s Christmas Carol, Aunt Trudy and the Puppets Bring a Message of Hope for the Holidays
If you like Dickens’ A Christmas Carol performed by shadow puppets with special effects from an overhead projector, Manual Cinema has an adaptation of the holiday classic for you. Its 2020 […]
Review: Theater Wit’s Bawdy and Hilarious Cindy Lou Turns the Table on PC Whoville in Who’s Holiday!
As kids growing up watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas, we were supposed to take comfort in the piety and altruism of the denizens of Whoville. It was a magical […]
Dialogs: Critical Race Queries from Nikole Hannah-Jones at the Chicago Humanities Festival.
“We’ve been taught the history of a country that doesn’t exist.” Nikole Hannah-Jones is today’s Ida B. Wells, both fearless females and groundbreaking African-American journalists (Hannah-Jones’ Twitter handle is Ida […]
Review: Cirque du Soleil is Back in Town With ‘Twas the Night Before… a Holiday Spectacle
After a long dark night in circus and indeed performing arts history, Santa is back on stage, and his elves and reindeer are there too, full of hype for the […]
Review: A New Era in Theater? Dogprov is Ruff and Rowdy
Have you ever wondered–can dogs be showpeople? Are canines natural performers who adore the limelight and thrive on the roar of the crowd? Can they take direction? Do they understand […]
Review: New Musical Paradise Square Aims for Lofty Themes, Gets Lost in an Unfocused Narrative
Chicago has long been a proving ground for new stage productions bound for Broadway, and the shows that head east from here go on to varying degrees of success on […]
Review: Lyric Opera’s The Magic Flute Is a Contemporary, Inventive Adaptation That Lets the Music Shine
The Magic Flute, a German opera by Mozart, first premiered in Vienna in 1791; Mozart himself conducted the orchestra that night. In the more than 200 years since, the show […]
Review: At Lookingglass Theatre, Her Honor Jane Byrne Tells the Story of Chicago Public Housing and Its People
Jane Byrne, whose name is enshrined in an expressway interchange, was Chicago’s first female mayor. She probably deserves a better memorial and J. Nicole Brooks’ play, Her Honor Jane Byrne, […]
Review: AstonRep’s Dark Comedy, God of Carnage, Rips Up the Veneer of Civilization
Two couples get together to discuss a playground dispute in which the son of one attacked the son of another. They’re there to have a civilized discussion. What could possibly […]
Review: Opera and Nas Mix with Hearing in Color’sUndying Love
Hearing in Color, a Fractured Atlas organization in collaboration with WFMT 98.7 FM, presented the chamber opera Undying Love on November 12, at the warm, welcoming Kehrein Center for the […]