Review: Chicago Shakespeare Sparks Love and Joy With Twelfth Night
“If music be the food of love, play on.” (Duke Orsino, Act I, Twelfth Night) At its center, Twelfth Night is a story about love. Falling in love, out of love, and everything in […]
Review: Not Much Warmth in This Chilly Touring Production of Company
The American musical theater has been graced with another revival of Company, Stephen Sondheim’s and George Furth’s 1970 musical about our basic human need for togetherness. In this 2021 Broadway […]
Review: Teatro Vista’s ¡Bernarda! Sizzles in a Time of Mourning With Sisters Behaving Badly
The house of Bernarda Alba has had a makeover. If you are familiar with the 1936 play by Federico Garcia Lorca, you may gain new insights about it when you see ¡Bernarda!, its […]
Review: Rosenberg Tells the Story of the Lawyer Who Helped Prosecute the WWII Espionage Case
The truth doesn’t matter. That’s the premise and it’s repeated throughout the performance of Rosenberg, a new play being staged by Open Space Arts, and directed by Michael D. Graham. Set in […]
Review: Seagulls, Inspired by Chekhov’s Story, Transports Us to the World of Rock Music
Youth is wasted on the young, the saying goes. But would we want youth any later in life? Beth Hyland’s Seagulls, now playing at Oak Park Festival Theatre, serves as a […]
Review: Saint Sebastian Players Presents a Pleasant and Trippy Catholic Flashback with Nunsense
The moment I made my way down the stairs of the St. Bonaventure Church community hall, it was 1968 in my head. Was it a coincidence that my earliest Catholic […]
Review: Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein Is a Bawdy and Hilarious Hit at Mercury Theater
Mel Brooks is one of the great comic geniuses of our time and he has said that Young Frankenstein was his favorite film. From that comic lunacy came the musical […]
Review: Theater Wit’s Mordant Dramedy Household Spirits Mixes Good Acting With a Convoluted Story
A ghost story requires that one suspends belief. Having grown up Catholic, I know all about suspending belief just from memorizing the Baltimore Catechism when purgatory was a real threat. […]
Review: See Spooky Stories with Rough House Theater’s Puppets
Puppeteer Sam Lewis. Puppets by Emilie Wingate and Tom Lee. Photo Credit: Yvette Marie Dostatni
Review: Raven Theatre’s Night Watch Has Vivid Costumes, Pallid Performances
Caftans!!!… Statement Jewelry!!!… Plot-driven Thrillers on Stage!!!… Yes, it’s the ’70s again at Raven Theatre as they present the first show of their 41st season—a revival of Lucille Fletcher’s woman-in-peril […]
Review: Refracted Theatre Drops a Discography on Black Agency and Dystopian Nightmares with Tambo & Bones
Review by Anthony Neri.es Tambo & Bones has come to Chicago, presented by Refracted Theatre Co. at the Den Theatre. It’s dense and thought-provoking like a treatise with a burning thesis, […]
Review: Writers Theatre’s Thought-Provoking Eurydice Features Strong Cast and Stunning Design
Eurydice: “I read a book today.” Orpheus: “Did you?” Eurydice: “Yes. It was very interesting… There were—stories—about people’s lives—how some come out well— others come out badly.” Orpheus: “Do you […]