Reviews Category
One Small Girl
Once on This Island – Broadway in Chicago
In this gorgeous National Tour, as in the Circle in the Square Broadway revival, it’s all about telling the story. Two-time Tony Award nominated director Michael Arden gets it right, even before the first notes of music. A joyfully improvised prologue unfolds by the Storytellers, and is especially played to the onstage audience, seated upstage among Dane Laffrey’s extraordinarily detailed two-story set. This magical 1990 one-act musical, with a Tony nominated book, music and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty (“Ragtime,” “Anastasia”), is a heartwarming fable set on a sun-drenched island, the Jewel of the French Antilles.
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Mystery, Tension and Strong Characters
The Tasters – Rivendell Theatre
First seen last year as part of Victory Gardens’ 2019 IGNITION Festival of New Plays, Meghan Brown’s dark, sometimes humorous dystopian drama is being given a fully staged production at Rivendell. The story has a definite feeling of familiarity. Its tense, frightening plot must’ve been inspired by the current leaders of our country and their oppressive, authoritarian administration. Meghan Brown’s play and the five characters who tell her story may remind theatergoers of such powerful novels as 1984 and The Handmaid’s Tale.
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Fitting For Our Time
Top Girls – Remy Bumppo Theatre
If given the opportunity to ask any famous person from history to a dinner party, who would you invite? Well, to celebrate her big promotion at the Top Girls Employment Agency, Marlene has chosen an extremely interesting, eclectic group of strong, independent women, particularly considering the varied locales and time periods from which they come. Invited to Marlene’s soiree are the mythical Pope Joan, who was alleged to have achieved her position dressed as a man during the Middle Ages; the 19th century Scottish author and international explorer, Isabella Bird; Chaucer’s fictional Patient Griselda, from his Canterbury Tales; a 13th century Japanese concubine to the Emperor, Lady Nijo; and Dull Gret, the Flemish peasant woman who invaded hell with a brigade of women warriors, depicted in artist Peter Brueghel’s painting, Dulle Griet.
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Black Lives Matter
Sheepdog – Shattered Globe Theatre
Playwright Kevin Artigue writes for television and film, but his scintillating 90-minute one-act play may make Mr. Artigue a household name. The drama had its much-praised world premiere at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa, California, and it’s currently being given a powerful production by Shattered Globe Theatre at Theater Wit. The playwright’s created a gut-wrenching two-hander that seems to be ripped from today’s headlines. The drama is both arresting and thought-provoking, a play that moved some theatergoers to respond audibly to what they were experiencing. The play is undoubtedly bound to stimulate lots of post-production conversation among audiences.
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Being Human
Stop Kiss – Pride Films & Plays
Callie and Sara are two young women living in 1998 New York City. They meet, become good friends and eventually fall for each other in this 90-minute serio-comedy, by Diana Son. A sweetly touching love story, this winner of the GLAAD Media Award for Best New York Production, is told through a series of non-chronological scenes, tragically interrupted by a horrible act of violence that sends Sara into a coma. While the audience, thankfully, is spared witnessing the actual brutal attack, Callie vividly describes the unprovoked viciousness and inhumanity to other characters, including a Detective assigned to the case.
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Go, Go, Go, Go!
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat – Music Theater Works
As the 2019 holiday season and the year wind down, what better way to celebrate than this joyous, unabashed, sometimes poignant musical comedy? It’s impossible to sit still while experiencing this show. It’s so gorgeously sung, energetically danced and comically enacted that it will stay with audiences long after the final bows. This is a winning show, particularly appropriate for the entire family. It even features a choir of children who add their sweet voices to the chorus, forever encouraging Joseph and the rest of the company to “Go, go, go, go!”
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Not for the Faint of Heart
Dance Nation – Steppenwolf Theatre
The eight pre-teen members of an amateur Ohio dance troupe all have their hearts set on winning a trophy at each of the upcoming district competitions. They passionately hope to eventually work their way up to the National Finals, which will be held in Tampa, Florida. Dance Teacher Pat (played with humorously stern seriousness and an almost callous demeanor by Steppenwolf ensemble member, Tim Hopper), constantly references one of his former young dancers who made him proud, winning the top honors a few years ago, and then going on to dance in the chorus of a Broadway show. Her framed portrait hangs on the wall of his dance studio, where the kids are encouraged to pay homage to her. But the price of such success isn’t easy, as theatergoers are about to discover.
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The Only Certainty in Life
Death Tax – Red Twist Theatre
Maxine is the resident of a nursing home and her health is declining. She believes that her daughter, in order to avoid a looming increase on the estate tax, is paying her nurse to speed up the process, so she offers her a deal: a cut of her substantial estate if she lives to the new year. The nurse, Tina, an immigrant and single mother facing her own family problems, reluctantly accepts. This sets off a chain reaction, the end result of which none of them can predict.
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An Over-Exuberant New Holiday Musical
The Land of Forgotten Toys – Greenhouse Theatre
Amidst a growing crop of holiday productions, Chicago is being treated to yet another new family friendly show. Chirpy, relentlessly over-exuberant and with very few moments of reflection or subtlety, this new holiday musical could really use some layers and a bit of variety. As it now plays in its world premiere, the production is a little overpowering. It’s a little like sitting in the front row of an IMAX theatre: there’s no escape.
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Send in the Clowns
Burning Bluebeard – The Ruffians
Audiences flocking to the theatre these days seldom give any thought to their own personal safety. Even back at the turn of the century, only 30 years after the Great Chicago Fire, there was little cause for alarm…that is until Chicago’s Iroquois Theatre, billed as “absolutely fireproof,” caught fire during an oversold matinee, on December 30, 1903. Who could’ve imagined that a holiday pantomime entitled “Mr. Bluebeard” would result in one of the most tragic losses of life in American history.
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