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REVIEWSREVIEWS BYTheatre ReviewsTom Williams
Tom Williams

Panic On Cloud 9 –

From the opening skit with the cast of misfits riding on a Greyhound bus to the barber shop routine to the Russian girl blachelorette party to the little girl slumber party, this revue has each of the six comics grinding out laughs at a manic pace. The physical gestures and timing of these talented performers makes a night out at Second City a fun event. Written and performed by the cast allows each to contribute and set up their special contribution to the seamless evening of comedy.

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Tom Williams

The Christmas Schooner (2014)

Though The Christmas Schooner is only loosely based on history, it is grounded in the historical significance of Christmas trees and immigrant experiences. Set in the late nineteenth century, it depicts the Stossel family of Manistique in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Gustav (James Wilson Sherman) and his son Peter (Stef Tovar) are naturalized citizens of German origin

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MUST SEEREVIEWSREVIEWS BYTheatre ReviewsTom Williams
Tom Williams

Mary Poppins at Paramount Theatre

Mary Poppins has all the elements of a GREAT musical: excellent book based on P.L Travers’ children’s Mary Poppins books. Terrific catchy tunes—“Chim Chim Cher-ee,” “A Spoonful of Sugar,” “Feed the Birds,” “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” and “Anything Can Happen” with music in the style of early 20th Century British music halls, melodic marches and anthems; fantastic staging with vivid lighting on terrific sets; spectacular show-stopping dances and thrilling flying scenes that include Matt Crowle (as Bert) tap dancing and spinning around in the showstopping “Step In Time”.

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MUST SEEREVIEWSREVIEWS BYTheatre ReviewsTom Williams
Tom Williams

Hot Georgia Sunday

It is difficult to tell a memory story from monologues from the six characters but with playwright Catherine Trieschman’s down-home dialogue, she succeeds. We meet a group of white trash small town folks who are both sexually charged and stupid as a bag of rocks. Th laughs emerge from the wacky monologues as each participant recalls the events from a scorching hot summer Sunday in rural Georgia

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Tom Williams

The Testament of Mary

The main attraction of the show is to see an intense performance of a script that contains vivid descriptions of scenes and feelings. The program contains a cheat sheet for the gospels, in which you may learn esoteric curiosities such as “the four gospels recount Jesus’s birth, ministry, and death.” If you are a believer and dislike iconoclasm, this show is not right for you

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MUST SEEREVIEWSREVIEWS BYTheatre ReviewsTom Williams
Tom Williams

The Humans

In this 90 minute one act, the six person cast each have their say with Keith Kupferer and Hanna Dworkin anchoring the work. The celebration of Thanksgiving leads to a boiling point as the underlying tension explodes into truths that threaten the Blake’s core. Take the journey with these folks and you’ll quickly become immersed into memories of your family’s past holidays

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Tom Williams

The Winter’s Tale

However, all of this is lost in the final two acts, light-hearted and full of slap stick. It’s challenging for actors and audience alike to transition from the first portion of this play to the conclusion. The final two acts attempt to find a way to unconvincingly wrap up the tragedy of the first three acts in a tidy bow. However, the cast has the utmost fun attempting to do so. From the beginning of act four, the cast reminds its audience aggressively that “Now is the time to laugh!” Such coddling proved difficult for me. Still, several performances shine through, but the cast could not rise above the uneven source material that is Shakespeare’s Winter Tale.

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Tom Williams

How the Grinch Stole Christmas: The Musical

I really enjoyed this show. It warms my heart to see kids having fun in the theater. I would love to see the Broadway in Chicago people put on more shows geared toward kids because that’s where the passion for theatre starts. This show has sing-a-longs, fake snow being blasted into the crowd (if you’d like to avoid the snow zone, avoid the center of the main floor, but why wouldn’t you love it?), and moments where he asks the children for the answer. It is truly an adorable production that you should definitely bring your children to if they love the book. They will have a blast! I’m not even a parent and I had a great time. Maybe it’s because I’m just a big kid.

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MUST SEEREVIEWSREVIEWS BYTheatre ReviewsTom Williams
Tom Williams

Always…Patsy Cline

The show featured a five piece country band led by Aaron Benham. The show features the Cline songbook including 27 of her songs! This show is an early country music delight that found many of the audience humming or singing along with Hall. That was both a tribute to Patsy Cline’s popularity after 50 years and an irritant since this isn’t karaoke night. Danni Smiths honest, down-home style narration and her comic chops added a human touch to the Cline song fest. So go to see Always…Patsy Cline to hear the memorable songs and you’ll discover a heartfelt story that will lift your spirits. Patsy was country before country was cool and she led they way for all the great female country singers to come.

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