The hands-down star of this production is in the title role: Polish tenor Piotr Beczala radiates with his character’s ill-begotten youthful vigor but tempers it with moments of vile selfishness reminiscent of his previous life as a suicidal curmudgeon.
Cats is sharp, tightly produced featuring exceptional voices from the deft dancers. It has a vibrant energy that wins us. Cats is a terrific show to take children to experience the wonders of the Broadway musical.
My first visit to Piven Theatre (shame on me) was a pleasant one due to Joyce Piven’s smart production of two of Harold Pinter’s fine one-acts–The Lover and The Collection. Together, Piven and Pinter have produced a fine theatrical event of note!
Hey! Mr. Spaceman! Deconstructs the 1950’s horror flick by juxtaposing teens at a drive-in movie watching a film, and the characters from the film eventually invading their lives.
Raven Theatre, a treasure chest of outstanding non-Equity Chicago theatre, under Michael Menendian’s tight direction, have mounted a moving, deeply emotional production of Arthur Miller’s 1949 Pulitzer Prize drama, Death of a Salesman
Directed by Robert Ayres Produced by Shapeshifters Theatres At the Irish American Heritage Center Cute Irish kitchen sink comedy delivers wacky humor My first visit to Shapeshifters Theatre, the resident theatre company at the Irish American Heritage Center in Albany Park, was a good time as Irish playwright John B. Keane’s Moll delivered enough comedy … Read more
Fedra (aka Phaedra) is a modern retelling of a Greek myth of unrequited lust and revenge. Queen Fedra (J. Nicole Books) – much like Potiphar’s wife in the Bible – fails to seduce the object of her affection and retaliates by crying rape
Schaffer utilizes a farcical comedic motif as he introduces us to the flamboyant Lettice Douffet, a most memorable character. Essentially, Lettice and Lovage is a funny look at coming to terms with the modern world by two kindred spirits trapped by their imaginations and their social-economic status.
Seeing Opelka’s trimmed and polished remount, now called C’est La Vie here in 2009, I was struck once again at the brilliance of Opelka as a tunesmith. This guy can write songs that aptly depict an era, a culture and a period style with an authenticity and a heart
What a cast. Under the fine direction of Michael Halberstam, actors Sean Fortunato and Timothy Edward Kane as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are masters of comic timing, effortlessly batting repartee at each other. Their forlorn faces wonderfully register bemused puzzlement. Bright eyed, charismatic Allen Gilmore brings humor and authority…