Seldom to you see one actor so dominate a musical as Brandon Dahlquist did playing Georges Seurat, the obsessed 19th Century French painter! Dahlquist’s golden voice deftly navigated the tough Sondheim lyrics especially in the “Finishing The Hat,” “Putting It Together” and “Move On.”
At 3:20 PM on Tuesday, May 21, 1946 at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Louis Slotin was doing a most dangerous demonstration using a plutonium bomb core when his hand slipped and large amounts of radiation instantly escaped infecting him fatally. The play vividly depicts Slotin’s last nine days of life as he struggles to understand why this happened and what is legacy will be.
Theatre Y brings the raw beauty of Eastern European style theatre to Chicago. The Award winning writing of Andras Visky, and outstanding work of Actress Melissa Hawkins and Director Karin Coonrod are a must see for entertainment and enlightenment.
Nothing feels more like the holidays than the looming threat of Armageddon. The end of the world may or may not arrive on New Years Day, but that doesn’t mean it’s not too late to repent all your sins while dancing to Calypso music…just in case. This is the premise of William Donnelly’s new comedy Apocalypso, playing at the BoHo Theatre in Rogers Park.
Without giving too much away, I would have liked a little more background on the history of Belarus. It is assumed that the audience is familiar with the political upheaval and governmental instability of the country. If nothing else, it made me want to learn more about Belarus.
A Chorus Line is the greatest backstage musical ever – and one of the finest dance shows ever! The 1975 show won 9 Tony’s and a Pulitzer as it run for 6, 137 performance – a record at the time. It was Michael Bennett, Marvin Hamlisch and Edward Kleban’s masterwork. A Chorus Line is a simple yet telling work about a group of dancers, “gypsies” who are auditioning for a spot in the chorus of a new Broadway show.
Big River is the retelling of Huck Finn’s adventure that finds him and his friend Jim moving through the river each escaping troubles in their lives. Andrew Mueller (the youngest of the expert Mueller clan that has enriched the musical stages in Chicago for years), has all the tools necessary to be a most likable Huckleberry Finn – charm, boyish innocence, with enough guile to manipulate through Twain’s adventures. Mueller adds strong guitar picking with a golden tenor voice that nails his songs with verve.
By Steven Petersen Directed by Richard Perez At Chicago Dramatist, Chicago Comedy and drama conflict in backyard tale of a Jewish family My trouble with Steven Peterson’s world premiere The Invasion of Skokie arises from his contradictory blend of comedy and drama in a most predictable and cliched TV-sitcom style work that has major characters … Read more
Arthur Miller’s 1955 one-act set in a Brooklyn auto-parts warehouse: the characters, the play’s history, and our review of Eclipse Theatre’s 2010 staging.
Playwright Kathleen Akerley’s script features writing that is filled with excellent mystical storytelling told in vivid language as well as whimsical and wryly speeches that bring out the quirkiness of the characters. Akerley’s plot keeps the mystery suspense mounting throughout. With death as a character and myth of the nature of life itself, Theories of the Sun is both an ‘idea play’ and a mystery on the nature of aging and life itself.