Tom Williams

Porchlight Music Theatre opens its 15th season with The Fantasticks–the 1960 Off-Broadway hit that ran for 42 years and 17,000 performances. This chestnut contains a great score featuring the haunting “Try To Remember

This easy to digest musical is full of charm that oozes from every movement and utterance from Tim Gregory who plays every character in Gospel. Gregory is a master storyteller at home with his material. He comes off as sincere, truthful and charming.

Shannon plays legendary Theatrical producer Felix Artifex. We see Felix in his shabby office (terrific set design by Tom Burch) as the fast-talking producer tries to cajole, persuade, trick, intimidate, motivate, maneuver, seduce and suggest…

You’ll enjoy the quirky Irish family and you’ll empathize with their search of love in this refreshingly new and surprisingly smart play. Rebecca Lenkiewicz is a talented playwright with a knack for characterization and a fine ear for language. The Night Season is a delight!

The show does have fine wordplay, many zany characters and loads of humor that propels Hampstead into a quirky delight. Led by Ned Record as Punch and the show’s narrator, we find parodies of King Arthur (Sam Wootten)…

Hammett’s last novel tells the story of Nick Charles (William Bullion), a droll heavy drinking retired private detective unwillingly drawn into solving a murder in 1932 (Prohibition Era) Manhattan

Miller presents a complex tale that unfolds as a haunting exploration of business ethics as well as a story about responsibility to one’s family verses the moral imperative to the larger society. Brilliantly, Miller coats the story with layers truth and ambiguity.

The folks at Theo Ubique, in their slightly expanded stage at No Exit Cafe in Rogers Park, have ventured in producing Shakespeare’s comedy–The Taming of the Shrew using the hilarious antics and techniques of classic Commedia D’ elle Arte forms including slap-stick, prat falls, sound effects, stock characters and physical comedy. This show is a hoot!

This cast, among the finest non-Equity players in Chicago, under Paul S. Holmquist’s tight and inventive direction, did far more than merely ‘voices’ as this energetic ensemble vividly presented–acted-out really- each of the scenes of Thomas’ ambitious play.

Married Alive! is a series of sketches mostly sung through that moves from the wedding to empty nest, to old age in a light-hearted and often funny spoof of marriage in contemporary times.