Latest from Chicago Critic

Of Mice and Men

Steppenwolf Theatre’s series for Young Adults mounts terrific theatre—period! Under the tight, flowing direction of Michael Patrick Thornton, Of Mice and Men left the high school students in the audience in tears. They strongly emphasize with both George and Lenny. Of Mice and Men is a compelling and unsentimental tale of friendship and loneliness.

Alice of The House of Carroll

Most of us know the wonderful story of “Alice in Wonderland” and know that it is filled with moral values for our youngsters- National Pastime Theater in association with Clock Productions is presenting a whole new twist on the story and I must emphasize this version is NOT for children ( of any age

Sunday in the Park with George at Big Noise Theatre

Big Noise Theatre Company has reached into the stratosphere with their stunningly beautiful production of Stephen Sondheim’s 1985 Sunday in the Park with George. Utilizing an amazing amount of video animation depicting the painter at work, George explodes as an ode to the creative process and the pains associated with the creation of art

after/math

The latest selection of short works from Side Project’s Cut to the Quick series, this one collectively titled after/math, is not for everyone. It is a collection of six works mostly under thirty minutes that are loosely held together by some common threads: they are all original

The Revenants

The Revenants focuses on two married couples barricaded in a basement during a violent uprising of the undead. We never learn too many details except that a zombie bite makes a human into a zombie

Hollywood 360 4-18-09

Tom Williams discusses the following stage plays: Pumpgirl, Ghostwritten, and A Chorus Line with host Carl Amari on April 18, 2009

The Overwhelming

This is a marvelous piece of dramatic theatre! Rogers is a talented writer who both develops rich characters and plausible situations placing each in a nuanced complexly gray-shaded world on Rwanda in the 1994.

Treasure Island: A Musical Adventure

Their Treasure Island is a major triumph with a grand future offering sophisticated tale ripe with pirates, excitement, buried treasure, ships and distant shores peopled with richly developed characters originally created by Robert Louis Stevenson.

La Clemenza Di Tito

Mozart’s last opera from 1791, La Cemenza Di Tito, is a high drama of great immediacy featuring the soaring Mozart score under the deft direction of Jane Glover. This story is set in ancient Rome (79 A.D.) where Vitella (Amanda Majeski) wants Emperor Tito assassinated because he doesn’t lover her as he has chosen Berenice. She wants Sesto (played by a female Renata Pokupic) to kill Tito but asks him to delay the murder because Sesto is told by his friend Annio (also played by a female Paula Murrihy) that Berenice will not be the emperor’s consort after all. The two men renew their friendship as the populace hails Tito as a near god.