Latest from Chicago Critic

Filled with a playful life story of Alfred (David Amaral)–a curiously marvelous boy–who works tirelessly in the attic of his home to build a world of imagination, illusion, and excitement with his best friend, Mr. Lady (Eddie Bennett)

Redtwist Theatre continues to utilize many of the finest directors in town. The have enlisted Jimmy McDermott to mount Samuel Beckett’s absurdist classic, Waiting for Godot. Casting older character actors such as Mike Nowak (Vladimir) and Bob Wilson (Estragon) indeed made for a terrific production.

My third production of The Light In The Pizza, now in a romantic staging at Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire, proved to be the best sung production I’ve seen to date. Winner of six 2005 Tony Awards including best score, orchestration and set design, The Light in the Piazza is a romantic musical that is more operetta than musical comedy.

This unfunny, cliche-ridden comedy tries to make humor out of some provocative statements about lying as it asks the burning question: “Are you sure you want to know the truth?”

This slick play, inspired by a true story, focuses in themes of class, human connectedness, art and race. This play is relevant today as Internet social networks like Facebook and Myspace add to the connectedness of people in out shrinking world.

The Last Barbeque is a dark comedy about a backyard barbeque to commemorate the one-year anniversary of a neighbor’s death, which coincides with a ten-year high school reunion. The plot is simple, so the excitement comes from being a voyeur into human interaction, or lack thereof.

The Mistress Cycle is not a traditional book musical, but a song cycle (a series of songs by one composer tied together by a story). The story jump cuts the lives and loves of five notorious mistresses: