Review: Eclipse’s The Dark at the Top of the Stairs Dramatizes Everyone’s Fears in 1920s Oklahoma
The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, a 1957 play by William Inge, is set in a small town in 1920s Oklahoma. The play tells the story of the […]
Liberté, Égalité, Sororité: Four Badass Women Fight for Art and Freedom in Strawdog’s The Revolutionists
The Revolutionists is feminist history laced with an argument for the value of art in revolution. Playwright Lauren Gunderson describes it as a “comedic quartet about four women at the height […]
Review: As Chicago’s Holiday Traditions Go, A Christmas Carol is Among the Best
Chicago loves its holiday traditions. From classics like the windows and the Walnut Room all dressed up at Field’s/Macy’s to more contemporary additions like Christkindlmarket in Daley Plaza and ice […]
Review: Capra Classic as Radio Play in American Blues Theater’s Wonderfully Festive It’s a Wonderful Life
I should disclose at the outset that American Blues Theater’s 17th annual production of It’s a Wonderful Life: Live in Chicago! is a bit of a tradition for me. A […]
Review: The Woman in Black at the Royal George Theatre is Guaranteed to Give You the Chills
The Woman in Black, a spooky Christmas transplant from the UK, is the second-longest running play on the West End (the top spot belongs to another little potboiler, Agatha Christie’s […]
Cirque Dreams Holidaze Aims to Whisk You Away for a Few Hours
I had the chance to chat with Neile Goldberg, the founder and director of Cirque Dreams about the new show Cirque Dreams Holidaze coming to the Chicago Theatre December 12-16. […]
Ike Holter’s Rightlynd Is a Story of Chicago Politics: It’s the City We Love Despite Its Flaws
“Once you’ve come to be part of this particular patch, you’ll never love another. Like loving a woman with a broken nose, you may well find lovelier lovelies. But never […]
Review: Miss Saigon at the Cadillac Palace Is the Epic Broadway Hit, Helicopter and All
Inspired by Giacomo Puccini’s massively influential Madame Butterfly, Boublil and Schönberg’s equally successful Miss Saigon originally premiered in 1989 in London’s West End. It would prove to be an international hit, becoming Broadway’s […]
Manual Cinema Creates Strangely Enchanting Multimedia Frankenstein at Court Theatre
Manual Cinema is presenting a weirdly enchanting version of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein at Court Theatre. Nine puppeteers and musicians display the original story of Dr. Frankenstein and the Creature, combined with […]
Red Theater’s An Oak Tree Is an Intellectual Exercise Mixing Dream and Reality
I admire experimentation in theater, whether it’s setting a familiar Shakespearean tale behind a vinyl screen in some post-modern setting (as Gift Theatre did with Hamlet recently) or telling the […]
New York Reviews: The Ferryman and The Waverly Gallery Are Both Family Tragedies
Earlier this week I reviewed a darkly hilarious Kurt Vonnegut satire on stage in New York. The other two plays I saw last weekend are powerful dramas about family tragedy. They […]
New York Review: Vonnegut’s Happy Birthday, Wanda June Is a Wacky Dark Satire on 42nd Street
If you’re a Kurt Vonnegut reader, Happy Birthday, Wanda June will sound familiar. I was sure I had read it long ago when I was devouring everything he wrote. But no, […]