Tom Williams The 42nd Annual Jeff Awards ceremony honoring excellence in professional theatre produced within the immediate Chicago area will be held on Monday, October 25, at Drury Lane Oakbrook, 100 Drury Lane, Oakbrook Terrace. A pre-show Appetizer Buffet will run from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., and the Awards Ceremony, directed by Michael Weber, will begin at 7:30 p.m.,
We get a glimpse into the lonely characters’ lives whose need to be heard and connect with one another is fueled by the drink. When Finbar brings Valerie to the pub, she becomes the center of attention. At Finbar’s instigation, Jack starts telling a ghost story from 1911. This is the first of several wonderfully scary Irish ghost stories deftly told first by the engagingly skillful talents from Brad Armacost–who is Chicago leading Irish actor.
This play has much to say. These over educated, egotistical teens have too much time (and money) on their hands. The play centers on an actual weekend event when this group of pure Romantics challenged each other to a game of who could write the scariest horror or ghost story. It is on this weekend that Mary Shelley conceived her Frankenstein novel.
Review by Peter Oyloe Late Summer evenings are some of those most special of things, the air giving up the humidity of the season and in return floating your memories of the last few months across your minds eye in a cooling breeze that comes with the lengthening of the evening. It is a time … Read more
Frost/Nixon, the play, nicely packages the historical events of the Nixon Presidency with a glimpse into the world of TV journalist. We see one ambitious man trying to use a failed world leader and a frustrated ex-President striving to be understood and vindicated. they each need the other. The dynamics of Frost’s interviews, that included a mostly ‘no-holds barred’ agreement, were unprecedented at the time.
The 60 minute play involves revelatory exchanges between Teya and Luke that forces Teya to examine his life and his failures as a writer. This unique memory play dissects how we can experience a sort of willed amnesia to thwart bad memories and personal failures. Teya’s real legacy is threatened by Luke’s meticulous documentation of his life and his words.
Signal Ensemble Theatre’s spiffy new theatre (at 1802 W. Berenice in the old Breadline Theatre building) opens with a well acted funny early (1968) Tom Stoppard farce – The Real Inspector Hound. This 75 minute one act is a hoot! It pokes fun at theatre critics, stage mysteries such as Mousetrap, and is a lesson in absurdism satire.
For those who have not seen David H. Bell’s master work – Hot Mikado – trust me on this one – get to Drury Lane Theatre in Oakbrook to witness the most energetic, funny, toe-tapping musical comedy you’ll ever see. It is a tour de force comic satire: it is a dazzlingly spirited dance spectacular; and it is musical treat. In short, Hot Mikado deserves mention as one of the great all-time musicals. Amazingly, despite being a world-wide hit, this Hot Mikado has never played Broadway!
Stacey Flaster has found a rich emotional core that often is overlooked in many productions of Carousel. Natalie Ford, a terrific singer with strong acting abilities quite subtly but ever stead fast both understands and loves Billy Bigelow (Cooper David Grodin) unconditionally
The core of the show’s energy came form the strong supporting cast led by the Michael Weber’s exuberant Charlie Davenport, the Wild West show’s manager. Weber and George Hearn (Buffalo Bill) and Michael Accardo (Wilson/Pawnee Bill) deftly landed the show’s tribute to show biz with their wonderful “There’s No Business Like Show Business.”