Latest from Chicago Critic

Or,

By Liz Duffy Adams Directed by Catherine Weidner Produced by Caffine Theatre At the Flatiron Building, Chicago A rollicking, bodice-ripping farce has its moments “Here in debtor’s prison I do lie For lack of funds promised me as your spy. To nag and scold my own adored king Believe me, pains me more than anything. … Read more

Momma’s Boyz

In the early scenes, we meet three small-time gang-bangers: Mimic (Steve Casillas), Shine (Marvin Quijada) and Thug (Jesse David). Mimic attends Shine’s funeral and he expresses his grief. We see the ghost of Shine as we learn that Thug shot Shine as a result of an argument over how drug selling corner is to be maned.

The Sound of Music at Drury Lane Theatre

Maria teaches the kids to sing (the toe-tapping “Do-Re-Me”) and wins their hearts with her unconditional loving spirit and energy. Maria also falls for the Captain (Larry Adams). The family is forced to flee the Nazi’s before the Captain is forced to join the German navy. The Sound of Music is a charming, heartwarming musical treat containing some of the best know show tunes and filled with enough goodness and purity to entertain all ages.

Eye Inside: The Rock-n-Roll Allegory of Vance Barrett

Eye Inside is a blatantly great concept. It’s – okay, it kind of sounds chintzy at first glance – it’s about an evil agent who takes uniformly good-spirited and magnanimous actors and turns them into fame-whores and coke-fiends. He is a corrupter of the pure. But, honestly, making a rock opera out of the subject – and I’m selling it short, it’s far trippier than that sound-bite summation – well, it just makes sense.

The Tempest

There are two schools of thought as to how Shakespeare is to be done: there are those who think of it as sacred text, and would not have it touched but for (necessary) cutting; and then there are those who see it as a playground and something meant to be reconstructed and reimagined. The Globe Theatre in London certainly is not afraid of improvisation and crowd interaction from on the stage. Indeed, that position almost is more truly Shakespearean – one cannot expect Richard Burbage to have followed exactly the text.

A Behanding in Spokane

McDonagh’s absurdist bent and his love for pitch-black humor mixed with Grand Guignol elements makes for a pulsating 90 minutes of terror-filled theatre. Weirdness, mystery, dark obsession and revenge fill the low-life world of four distinct characters.

Beauty of the Father

The reunion gives Emiliana a second chance to become a father. He is painting the martyrdom of poet Federico Garcia Lorca who was killed in Spain by Fascist soldiers for being gay and a communist. The ghost of Lorcas (Ivan Vega) is at hand to give the painter advise on life, being an artist, and a father. Vega effectively delivers Lorca’s poetic language penned by Cruz

The Boy In Black

Along the way, Black realizes that color or finding love is as much internal as external: that there are more ways to get color that just finding love. Loving and excepting yourself is a worthy, colorful love-so Black finds out