News & Reviews Category
Solving the Mystery of Life
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time – Steppenwolf Theatre for Young Audiences
Steppenwolf’s Theatre for Young Audiences has done it again. As in so many past productions, this division of the company’s regular
Read MoreA Bravura Performance by a True Star
Judy Garland: Come Rain or Come Shine – Music Theatre Works
Angela Ingersoll is a bright-shining star. There’s no denying this fact and the Chicagoland actress has brought her bravura, one-woman
Read MoreA Low-Calorie Confection
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Broadway in Chicago
Sometimes a book, or even a film, just doesn’t translate easily to the stage. After the extravagantly fanciful and imaginative interpretation
Read MorePet Shop Boys…and Girls
Artificial Jungle – Hell in a Handbag
Continuing Hell in a Handbag Productions’ tradition of presenting parodies of B-film classics and old, time-honored television
Read MoreNot Everyone’s Piece of Cake
White Rabbit, Red Rabbit – Interrobang Theatre Project
The premise of this performance piece (there’s a hesitation in calling this bare bones production an actual “play”) is that it truly
Read MoreA Bonafide Broadway Hit
Tootsie – Broadway in Chicago
In 1982, Sydney Pollack directed what would become the second-highest-grossing film of that year in America. It was nominated for ten
Read MoreStriking a Blow for Women’s Rights
Nell Gwynn – Chicago Shakespeare Theatre
A Cockney fruit seller, “pretty, witty Nell Gwynn,” as she was called by Samuel Pepys, sold oranges, sweets and her favors, up and down
Read MoreThrough a Blink of Time
Indecent – Victory Gardens
After seven years, forty drafts, a number of workshops and an Off Broadway run, Pulitzer Prizewinning playwright Paul Vogel’s historically-
Read MoreEclectic Full Contact Theatre’s “Dear Brutus” Bursting with Frantic Whimsy
Dear Brutus – Eclectic Theatre
Each and every day, we are confronted by the totality of choice. Some decisions are small: do I want steak for dinner or do I want chicken? Some choices are irrevocable: do I maintain my cozy office desk job or move across the country to pursue my passions with reckless abandon? The haunting spectre of the hypothetical — of choices made and not made — is a common trigger for sleepless nights. Thanks to Eclectic Full Contact Theatre, this anxiety-inducing quandary is no longer limited to late-night self-interrogations. Loosely based upon A Midsummer Night’s Dream, JM Barrie’s Dear Brutus confronts the inherent fallacy (and value) contained in longing for that which one cannot have: a second chance.
Read MoreLittle Boy Lost
Caroline, or Change – Firebrand Theatre and Timeline
The title of this smart, unusual, mostly sung-through musical uses the word “change” in the sense
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