Chicago Play & Musical Reviews

The Birthday Party

February 7, 2013 by Anthony J. Mangini

Let’s just say then that there was something reminiscent in this production of Harold Pinter’s The Birthday Party, produced by the Steppenwolf Theater Company. The boxcar-like stage. The parallel rows of spectators. The crazy man in the middle, railing against some unperceived horrors, unable to be saved or helped. The play is set in a rundown boarding house, run by Meg and Petey Boles, in some unspecified little English town adjacent to the sea. Stanley Webber, the Boles’ tenant for the past year and a proverbial “washout,” is even at the play’s outset a rudderless boat. But things are about to change for Stanley when two strange men show up to the house looking for board. And, it would appear, looking for Stanley

Disconnect

February 5, 2013 by Tom Williams

If you’ve ever call a call center for support, you’ll be able to relate to Anupama Chandrasekhar’s Disconnect. It is a fresh look at the outsourcing of American jobs to India where speaking flawless English is considered a high status accomplishment. Disconnect is set in Chennai, India in 2009 during the American recession at a bad debt collection agency.

Sunset Boulevard

September 15, 2017February 3, 2013 by Tom Williams

n Sunset Boulevard, there are few actual songs mixed with all the recitative, three true songs actually and they are terrific. Christine Sherrill, a fabulous Norma, sings two of the fine numbers: her self-designing song: “With One Look” in which we see both her delusion and her past film style plus her triumph return visit to the Paramount studio – “As If We Never Said Goodbye.” Christine Sherrill not only belts these tunes with deep emotions but she “sells’ Norma’s angst. Experiencing Sherrill delivering these two anthems is worth the trip to Oakbrook. This is a complete tour de force performance by Christine Sherrill.

Sweet Charity

February 1, 2013 by Tom Williams

The staging of a full-blown Broadway musical on the intimate thrust stage at Writers’ Theatre is a major accomplishment allowing terrific dance and movement to give the illusion of a larger production. The five member orchestra, using Doug Peck’s orchestrations, sounded fine giving the jazz-infused Coleman score a worthy sound. This entertaining show is worth seeing.

The Magnificents

October 1, 2026January 29, 2013 by Tom Williams

Dennis Watkins is a fabulous and fearless magician as evidenced by his underwater in a locked crate Houdini trick performed in a House show a few years back. In The Magnificents, Watkins pays tribute to his grandfather, Ed Watkins, the man who taught Dennis the magic of magic. This is a warmly human story of the aging magician (played by Dennis Watkins) and his loyal wife (Tien Doman).

Happy Now?

February 19, 2013January 29, 2013 by Tom Williams

Lucinda Coxson’s Happy Now? will not contribute to giving you a couple hours of bliss but it will only leave you says “Hah.” This contrived drama is the story of a group of married folks going through midlife married crises. Add a guy confident and a quirky mother and you have a mind-numbing play.

Successors

October 22, 2022January 27, 2013 by Tom Williams

As the story unfolds, we see how each character’s foibles and personality traits that make them both human and unappealing as a successor to the quirky longtime mayor. After much banter and several arguments, the question of succession takes a wild turn as the 18 year old Tyler emerges as a potential candidate after Kenton bluntly states that none of his children are to his liking as mayor . Tedesco tries to “spin” why Tyler would be a viable candidate to keep the DeKoven dynasty intact.

The Whipping Man

January 28, 2013January 26, 2013 by Tom Williams

The time is April 14, 1865, the Civil War has just ended and Caleb (Derek Gaspar) is staggering into his bombed out house in Richmond (terrific set design by Jack Magaw). The place is in ruins and everyone has abandoned it but for two former slaves. Simon (Tim Edward Rhoze) is the older, very loyal ex-slave who stays in the house as he waits for his wife and daughter to return from their exile from war-the war-torn city.

Concerning Strange Devices From The Distant West

January 25, 2013 by Tom Williams

Naomi Lizuka’s play, Concerning Strange Devices From The Distant West, is a puzzle of a play designed as a triptych that unfolds as a three-panel structure as if being seen form a camera’s lens. This drama is a provocative examination of the American fascination with the exotic and distant Far East (here Japan)

Now & Forever: The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber

January 24, 2013 by Tom Williams

Marriott’s lead artistic director, Aaron Thielen and Marc Robin (who holds 16 jeff Awards), both enthusiast lovers of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s music , conceived and created a most stunning and artistically stylish music revue. With a cast of 19, this ALW review has much dance including naturalistic movement and ballet styled dance to instrumental renditions of ALW music.