Review: Oklahoma! Takes Us to the Dark Side
Broadway revivals have been the lifeblood of musical theater for decades. They are, for the most part, feel-good reminders of the golden age of Broadway. Big voices such as Howard […]
Review: A Hero’s Journey for Alaudin Ullah in Dishwasher Dreams at Writers Theatre
Every first-generation person has a story of integrating the ways of the old country, or of their ancestral region like the American South. It is how identities are built and […]
Review: The Play That Goes Wrong May Be Right If You Need Some Laughs
The Play That Goes Wrong opened Friday night at the Broadway Playhouse. By audience reaction, the play is a barrel of laughs; it’s a wannabe farce that doesn’t quite make […]
Review: Ben Scrooge Gets Jiggy in Q Brothers Christmas Carol at Chicago Shakes
What is this madness? Ebenezer Scrooge is alive in the Millennium and just as un-PC and crotchety as ever. Q Brothers Christmas Carol, directed by Q Brothers Collective members JQ […]
Review: Eclectic Theatre Adapts A Christmas Carol as Audio Play (With Visuals)
A new audio-play-with-visuals by Eclectic Full Contact Theatre has joined the holiday season array of productions of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Eclectic’s version, adapted and directed by Andrew Pond, […]
Review: Classical Indian Story-Dances Honor Fires of Varanasi: Dance of the Eternal Pilgrim by Ragamala
Minneapolis-based Ragamala Dance Company performed Fires of Varanasi: Dance of the Eternal Pilgrim at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance last week. Mother Ranee Ramaswarmy, and her daughters Aparna and Ashwini […]
Review: A&A Ballet’s Striking The Art Deco Nutcracker Reimagines the Story in 1920s America
A & A Ballet’s production of The Art Deco Nutcracker lavishly illustrates that a dance company need not have a big name to have oversized talent, vision and creativity. The performance last weekend at Athenaeum Theatre featured impressive choreography, stunning costumes and clever reimagining of […]
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 […]