These are Chicago Critics Must See shows. If you are only going to see one show let us recommend one of these great pieces of true Art!
Building on the wonderful world of a play within a play, Stage Kiss takes the audience behind the scenes with as much surprise and fun as Noises Off. There are the actors (two of whom were lovers 20 years ago), there are the characters they play (two of whom were lovers 20 years ago), and then – in additional layers — there is the impact of the role on the one who must perform it.
Read MoreInitially, the three clowns – who had red ears rather than bulbous red noses – appeared anything but confined as they bounced around, over seats, down the aisles, warming up the audience with action packed improv before they gathered drums and cymbals for a cacophony of sound.
Read MoreChicago Opera Theater offers us, with this concert, a chance to see two stunning chamber pieces, one composed by Romantic Robert Schumann, the other composed by the more modern, Czech composer Leo Janáček. The only accompaniment is a piano, and the only set is a screen with projections. And they are intimate and beautiful – even when the overall production asks the audience to draw comparisons between the pieces that seem a stretch.
Read MoreAs the tension rises and the emotions erupt, the party devolves into a painfully raucous night of revelations as several family members struggle to reckon with the accusations. The play manically moves between celebration and pathos, from exploding repressed emotions to acknowledgment of long held secrets.
Read MoreAccording to co-producer Mat Churchill, “Total theater means an immersion into a variety of staging techniques, from traditional to the heretofore unseen.” That was present in threesixty production’s amazingly thrilling production of Peter Pan. This show will blow you away with its inventive story telling and eye-popping video that complimented and enhanced the visual experience of flying over London in 1904.
Read MoreThe intricacies of plot and character are manifold, as one would expect from a play of this era, and moreover of Shaw. His wit is clever as ever, and his eye is particularly keenly pointed towards British society. He dissects what money is to those who don’t have it, what it’s not to those who do, and what sorts of things people would have to go through to get it, or keep it.
Read MoreLeave it to the creatives at the American Blues Theater to come up with a fresh, raw dark comedy – Rantoul and Die by Mark Roberts – now in its Regional Premiere at the upstairs space at Victory Gardens Biograph Theater. Written by a TV sitcom writer/producer, Mark Roberts (“Mike & Molly”), Rantoul and Die is far from a tame TV sitcom- rather it is a raw, foul-mouthed edgy dark comedy about four skankiets yet heartbreakingly real characters.
Read MoreThe use of two pianos utilized the orchestrations created by the original producers but locked away for 50 years was made available to Porchlight Music theatre by R & H Productions ( owners of the Rodgers & Hammerstein rights) after they found the orchestrations a few years ago. So, this production contains “world premiere” orchestrations that Eugene Dizon and Allison Hendrix played marvelously.
Read MoreThe 16 brave performers blend an original electronic score (composed by Jean-Phi Goncalves) with 10 different urban dance and circus arts. The skilled talents (from seven countries) showcase thrilling skills such as juggling, contortion, in-line skating, stilts, Cyr Wheel, hand balancing, straps, bike trial, Chinese pole and various aerial silks that move swiftly toward the spectacular finale on the dynamic trampowall
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