REVIEWS Archives - Page 179 of 264

Lucia di Lammermoor

The famous sextet when Edgardo crashes the wedding between Lucia and Arturo, Chi mi frena in tal momento?, is rich with countermelody and contrappunto, the polyphony not just musical but emotional, with six people expressing themselves deeply and strikingly. When Lucia loses her mind, Il dolce suono…Ardon gli incensi is an absolutely astounding representation of madness in music. Pardon the plebeian expression, but it is mindblowing. And Susanna Phillips absolutely brings it home. A superlative performance, to any eyes.

MUST SEE REVIEWS REVIEWS BY Theatre Reviews Tom Williams

Tom Williams

Mary Poppins – National Tour 2011

The National Tour of Mary Poppins began in Chicago in March 2009 at the Palace Theatre playing 18 weeks to 300,000 people grossing over $18.5 million at the box office. There are six productions worldwide grossing over $605 million and playing to 8.5 million guests! All this happened due to meticulous stage craft, catchy well-know tunes and a superb dance and special effects

MUST SEE REVIEWS REVIEWS BY Theatre Reviews Tom Williams

Tom Williams

Under the Blue Sky

British playwright David Eldridge has written an ode to high school teachers everywhere with Under the Blue Sky – now in its Midwest Premier at Steep Theatre. Free from romantic sentimentality, Under the Blue Sky is part contemporary life commentary where a bomb can change life in an instant and part a love letter to those who dedicate themselves to teaching high school.

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Tom Williams

Follies

Now it is Chicago’s turn! And the recent New York opening — even with such a stellar star as Bernadette Peters — couldn’t surpass the Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s production. If this review were limited to just one word, that word would be magnificent! What a sight for the eyes, what a pleasure for the ears, what a treat for the mind.

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Tom Williams

Old Times

Quickly the battle is on between Anna and Deeley. The verbal barbs fly as their deadly combat rages. When Kate retires to take a bath, Deeley remembers that he met Anna more than 20 years ago in a pub. Anna and Kate were roommates 20 years ago before Kate married Deeley.

Music Reviews MUST SEE REVIEWS REVIEWS BY Theatre Reviews Tom Williams

Tom Williams

Rodgers & Hart: A Celebration

While Rodgers’ music is lush, varied and melodic, I believe that it was Larry Hart’s often sad yet smart lyrics that made tunes like “Falling in Love with Love”, “Little Girl Blue”, “My Funny Valentin,” “Blue Moon,” “I Could Write a Book” and “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered” American classics.

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Tom Williams

OVERWEIGHT, unimportant: MISSHAPE – A European Supper

created a very difficult, very real, very European piece of theatre. The characters do not speak exactly as normal people would; it is a kind of artificial speech that furthers the play’s goals of shocking us out of our day-to-day boredom and non-introspection and forcing us to look inwards, consider ourselves, consider society, consider what we believe the world should be like.

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Tom Williams

From the Circle: ReMembering the Earth through Folktales

From the Circle is not just a play made up of folktales from around the world; and yet it is simply a play made up of folktales, taken from around the world. It is at once heady and primeval, even primordial. The show takes acting, takes theatre, back to its roots – in storytelling. The acting is broad, archetypical, basic. And because of this, the emotions can all the more easily seep through and affect the audience; the audience no longer needs the actor to feel for them, they find the emotions coming up from within themselves. It is a transposition that reminds us of what real theatre is.

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Tom Williams

The Tales of Hoffmann

And yet, although the overall effect of The Tales of Hoffmann is comic, Offenbach is a deft manipulator of emotions, and the very end of the piece is profoundly and deeply affecting. At the very end, Offenbach brings true, devastating weight to the opera, and leaves the audience with exactly the feeling he wishes.

MUST SEE REVIEWS REVIEWS BY Theatre Reviews Tom Williams

Tom Williams

The Spirit Play

We see a group of believers who are desperate, despite their misgivings, to connect with a departed loved one. The methodology of the seance and the trickery of the moderators and their medium add fuel to the desperate believers.