Chicago, under the innovative leadership of William Massolia, director Scott Weinstein and music director Elizabneth Doran, is the first theatre to experience this newly reworked of the voyage of the Titanic from the crew’s,the passengers – first, second and third class’ point of view. The brilliance of Maury Yeston’s score and the efficiency of Peter Stone’s book comes to life in the intimate Theater Wit stage.
Read MoreLet me step back a moment. Follow me back in time. Pseudo-Chum is a play written and directed by Sean & Carolyn Benjamin. Presented by the Neo-Futurists, the play reveals to us three aspects of Chum, the play within the play Pseudo-Chum. Chum is about a family that makes a trip to the coast of Australia to cull sharks. Beginning with the secret death of the patriarch of the family, lies and betrayal set in early, as the family begins to metaphorically and literally attempt to ruin one another.
Read MoreIn a world premiere pre-Broadway production, Amazing Grace has some merit as an historical bio-musical. As far as it goes, Amazing Grace chronicles the early adventures of John Newton (1725 – 1807) who composed the Christian hymn “Amazing Grace” in 1772. This world premiere pre-Broadway production is a massive epic musical complete with a clipper ship set and a quasi-operatic score filled with stirring anthems and power ballads
Read MoreThe story is that of the 1915 lynching of Jewish industrialist Leo Frank (Jim Deselm) in Georgia. Leo is from Brooklyn, came to Georgia to manage a relative’s pencil factory, and can’t stand the South. It doesn’t care for him, either. His wife, Lucille (Sarah Bockel), an Atlanta native, thinks he’s overly hard on a region he doesn’t understand, and often wishes her husband could be more emotionally intimate. On Confederate Memorial Day, one of the girls who works in the factory, thirteen year old Mary Phagan (Peyton Tinder) comes Leo’s office to collect her pay. That night, she is found murdered in the factory basement.
Read MoreWhen you think of Hell, what do you see? Do you see fire and brimstone? Pitchforks and torture? Or, do you see something entirely different? These assumptions are the groundwork that George Bernard Shaw builds on in Don Juan in Hell. In Shaw’s Hell there is no torture. There is joy, art, and endless pleasure for an eternity, but without contemplation of the purpose of such pleasures, or something beyond this base pleasures, what’s the point? This is where we begin.
Read MoreThe message of Leo Lionni’s book and this musical adaptation is simple; everyone has something to offer to the world. Practical or impractical, technical or creative, everyone fills a part and everyone matters. Together, Frederick and his mischief of mice learn that they are, as a team, greater than the sum of their parts. There were some tears in the eyes of audience members near the end of the play, and I must admit I was choked up, too. As the play came to a close, numerous children were begging their parents to take them back to the mice. Suzanne Miller and the Chicago Children’s Theatre have successfully created a world where children feel happy and wanted. What a beautiful thing to have.
Read MoreThe Anyway Cabaret (an animal cabaret) is a strange but funny new musical from the creative team at TUTA. An amazingly talented cast of ten accompany each other in songs about animals that range from goofy to very sad.
Read MoreThe Gift Theatre plays home to Bethany, making it’s Chicago debut. We all remember when the recession hit in 2009. We all knew we should’ve seen it coming, yet somehow so many of us still went through struggles. Those struggles are no stranger to Crystal or any of the other pieces in the puzzling production that was Bethany. Bethany tells us a tale of hardship and desperation and begs the question “How far would you go?”
Read MoreAfter 90 minutes of action that often confuses many middle schoolers and high schoolers, I heard several students constantly asking their parents “I don’t understand what is happening?” The lesson of how democratic values can be corrupted by the quest for power. The youngsters learn that in life, sometimes the bad guy wins that unless we stand guard, evil can win the day. They learn that change is good but it must be tempered with compassion and be aimed at the common good of all.
Read MoreSet over a 15 year span, Whatever We Want deals with a 10 year old (Bug) and a 12 year old (Della) as they are have a tight sister bond with Della leading the way. Bug is a precocious child who loves to invent ridiculous quotes to spout. These two yearn for adventure but they become separated by their parent’s divorce. Over the years, they struggle to retain a relationship.
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