News & Reviews Category
Puttin’ On the Ritz
Young Frankenstein
Mercury Theater Chicago closes its 2023 season with an explosion of talent, music and comedy. With each new production, Artistic Director Christopher Chase Carter has upped the ante at his theater and presented some of the Windy City’s finest talent. The productions have ranged from the motivational “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill;” to the touching and educational “Big River;” and the always highly entertaining, such as “Clue.” This demonically driving production of “Young Frankenstein” is one of Mercury Theater’s finest, to date. To quote Irving Berlin catchy classic that highlights this production, L. Walter Stearns’ cast and artistic team most definitely pulls out all the stops and are truly “Puttin’ On the Ritz.”
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A Man of Parts
Frankenstein
The Joffrey Ballet adaptation of Mary Shelley’s landmark novel Frankenstein, now in its Chicago premiere at the Lyric Opera, should not come as a surprise to anyone, given that this ballet received its world premiere at London’s Royal Opera House back in 2016. Still, it’s a little startling to contemplate the notion that anyone could have ever concocted such an esoteric production and managed to pull it off successfully. Even after seeing it, I was still left wondering whether it ever even did make sense or could make sense to produce a ballet about the mad ambition of an inadvertent monster maker.
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The Life and Loves of Louis Armstrong
A Wonderful World
Satchmo, Satch, Dipper, Pops and the Caucasian mispronunciation of his name,“Lewie,” are some of the most recognized nicknames belonging to the incomparable Louis Armstrong. In this sweeping biographical musical of “The World’s Greatest Trumpet Player,” as he was also called, book writer Aurin Squire had the formidable task of culling through mountains of information to create this production. At almost three hours, Squire’s episodic story begins poetically, with a spotlight on Armstrong’s trumpet downstage center, and four women on multiple levels, seeming to appear from the heavens, singing one of the musician’s most familiar hit songs.
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The More Things Change
What the Constitution Means to Me
The Copley Theatre is Paramount’s smaller, more intimate venue. Each season they present a series of plays and musicals that are more modest in cast size and scenic requirements than its larger parent company, just across the street. But the intimacy of this theatre works beautifully to its advantage, especially with a play like this. The familiar theme that “the more things change, the more they stay the same” hits every audience member with its contemporary immediacy. Paramount, in short, has another huge hit on its hands.
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A Gruesome Sight
Night Watch
With the exciting world of 1972 Manhattan at her doorstep, wealthy, pampered Elaine Wheeler seems only to be obsessed with the view outside her living room window. Elaine and her husband John Wheeler live in a luxurious townhouse, directly across from another large, but abandoned, building that’s in a state of disrepair. The old house appears to be deserted; however, one night Elaine notices a light shining through one of the windows, revealing a gruesome sight. The curtains have been drawn aside exposing the gory murder of a middle-aged man, sitting lifelessly in a wing chair. His throat has been slit.
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Cheers and Jeers
Lucha Teotl
If you were walking past the Owen venue of the Goodman Theatre last night, you might’ve been surprised, even shocked, to hear the cheers and jeers, applauding and booing, coming from inside. Generally one only hears polite clapping and, sometimes, laughter during a play. But then this isn’t your typical Goodman Theatre production. This new play, co-written and directed by Christopher Llewyn Ramirez and Jeff Colangelo, borders on what we might call performance art.
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A Modern Version of a Familiar Myth
Eurydice
Writers Theatre opens their new season with Sarah Ruhl’s modern version of the familiar Greek myth of Orpheus in the Underworld. Growing up in the far Northern suburb of Wilmette, Ms. Ruhl wrote this very personal one-act as a tribute to her dear father, who had recently passed away from cancer. She recalled that her dad used to take Sarah and her older sister to Walker Brothers Original Pancake House every Saturday. While there he would introduce his daughters to a new word or two. Some of the words he taught Sarah would later became a part of her play.
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The King of Barataria
The Gondoliers
Picture it: Not Sicily, but Venice, Italy, sometime in the past. A young woman suddenly and unexpectedly learns that she’s the heir to the throne. Oh joy, oh rapture! That is, except for the number of unbelievable complications that continually arise, in true Gilbert and Sullivan style.
Read MoreMagic Hour (and 17 Seconds)
The Zabrecky Hour
The Zabrecky Hour, playing through Halloween at the Rhapsody Theatre (the whilom Morse Theatre) is an enjoyable evening of mildly macabre magic and comedy by the protean writer and performer Rob Zabrecky.
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Everybody Wants to Rule the World
American Psycho
From the first lyrics that he utters in the opening number, “Selling Out,” the main character reels off a litany of high end brands he wears and products that he uses, the audience gets a pretty clear picture of Patrick Bateman. This is a most unique musical that says so much about the American Dream. Individual taste is different for everyone and it’s obvious that this eclectic show probably won’t appeal to everyone. “American Psycho” isn’t your traditional musical comedy, yet, truth be told, there’s a whole lot of dark humor wallowing in this gory production.
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