The Humans

In this 90 minute one act, the six person cast each have their say with Keith Kupferer and Hanna Dworkin anchoring the work. The celebration of Thanksgiving leads to a boiling point as the underlying tension explodes into truths that threaten the Blakes’ core. Take the journey with these folks and you’ll quickly become immersed into memories of your family’s past holidays.

Always…Patsy Cline

The show featured a five piece country band led by Aaron Benham. The show features the Cline songbook including 27 of her songs! This show is an early country music delight that found many of the audience humming or singing along with Hall. That was both a tribute to Patsy Cline’s popularity after 50 years and an irritant since this isn’t karaoke night. Danni Smiths honest, down-home style narration and her comic chops added a human touch to the Cline song fest. So go to see Always…Patsy Cline to hear the memorable songs and you’ll discover a heartfelt story that will lift your spirits. Patsy was country before country was cool and she led they way for all the great female country singers to come.

Annie – The non-Equity National Tour 2014-15

Book by Thomas Meehan Music by Charles Strouse Lyrics by Martin Charnin Directed by Martin Charnin Choreographer Liza Gennaro Musical Direction by Keith Levenson At the Palace Theatre, Chicago Annie ‘s score fuels the cartoon fable come to life No matter how many times I’ve seen Annie, I always enjoy the show. Why? Because of … Read more

Porgy and Bess at the Lyric Opera of Chicago

It was one of those very special nights that can only in happen live, onstage. Over three thousand five hundred people gather to witness an ambitious and thoroughly beautiful production of Gershwin’s masterpiece, the American Folk Opera Porgy And Bess. For me, it was one of the most enjoyable nights I’ve ever spent in the theatre, just like the production of this wonder piece I saw in 2008. The Lyric Opera of Chicago’s second production of Porgy And Bess ranks among the finest opera I’ve seen to date!It is sheer perfection!

The Mousetrap

Mysterious, yet often funny, director Jonathan Berry infuses the classic who-done-it with playfulness

The Mousetrap, running in London since 1952 with more than 25,000 performances, is the world’s longest running stage play! It has also been considered the model for doing murder mysteries on stage. Who can argue with such success? Kudos to Northlight Theatre for mounting a spirited production of the Agatha Christie classic.

Tamer of Horses

William Mastrosimone’s 1985 tale of violence and the quest for personal redemption, Tamer of Horses, is still, unfortunately, relevant in 2014. Teatro Vista has mounted a fantastically powerful drama fueled by extraordinary performances and tight flowing direction by Ron OH Parson.

Holmes and Watson

City Lit Theater, the jewel of Edgewater, specializes “in literature theatre including stage adaptations of literary material.” They return to that mission with a wonderful remount adaptation (by director Terry McCabe) of two of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s short stories: “A Scandal in Bohemia” (the first of a series of 56 short stories) and “The Final Problem” (the intended last of the Holmes short stories—ten years later, Doyle resumed doing more Holmes stories).

Women At War

Women At War also speaks to the unique problems women face in the military. From being basically unwelcome by the male military establishment to the different stress levels women experience to the constant embarrassment to physical assaults (by fellow troupers) to the basic loneliness and fears of combat zone life, women are still learning survival techniques that present more problems than males ever faced. The mixing of genders in stressful and fearful circumstances often leads to victimization of women personal.

Camelot at Drury Lane Oakbrook

lan Souza’s Chicago directing debut is a reinterpreted of the 1960 Camelot that starred Julie Andrews and Richard Burton.

Based on the old English mythology from T. H. White’s “The Once and Future King,” Camelot’s story revolves around the idealistic, fair-minded English king who establishes rule of law over the ‘might equals right’ mentality.

Social Creatures

Tympanic Theatre Company loves to produce “the best kind of weird” plays. The truly have done so with Jackie Sibblies Drury’s Social Creatures. This 90 minute work seemed to last hours as the work labored along at a snails pace