By Bruce Graham Directed by BJ Jones Produced by Northlight Theatre Modern Revenge Tragedy is Brutally honest but Fascinating Northlight Theatre’s promotional materials keep the details of its world premiere play, White Guy on a Bus, under tight wraps. It’s something to do with racial tension, revenge, and a white guy riding a bus. Going … Read more
By Aaron Holland Directed by Lilli-Anne Brown Produced by Bailiwick Chicago Theater At Victory Gardens Theatre, Chicago Strange campy comedy comes with loads of disco, drag performances I’m not sure what to make of Aaron Holland’s Princess Mary Demands Your Attention. Director Lili-Anne Brown uses much theatricality including a muse-like drag queen, Princess Mary (Baron … Read more
Choreographers: Tristan Bruns & Zada Cheeks Produced by Tapman producrions At the Athenaeum Theatre, Chicago Tepid tap triumphs as Tapman trumps tap Tristan Bruns is the artistic director and top tap man for Tapman Productions, a traveling itinerant tap dance show designed for birthday parties, outdoor festivals, and private events. Their show comes with a … Read more
By Samuel Beckett Directed by Ron OJ Parson Produced by Court Theatre Shall We Go? Yes, Let’s Go. Waiting for Godot is one of the plays that provokes a reaction just by saying its title. Difficult, elusive, and easy to blunder with, few works evoke such a strong mixture of love and hate from everyone … Read more
By Anna Deavere Smith Directed by Jason Gerace Produced by The Other Theatre Company At Chopin Theatre, Chicago Tedious enactment of personal interviews comes off as propaganda It is difficult enough to recreate personal verbatim interviews when they are not recorded from the original and it seldom works if a woman “plays” a man or … Read more
By Gina Gionfriddo Directed by Kimberly Senior At the Goodman Theatre, Chicago Feminist debate clouds relationship drama The characters and situations in Gina Gionfriddo’s Rapture, Blister, Burn ring hollow and the characters come off as caricatures of 21st Century women. We meet Gwen Harper (Karen Janes Woditsch), a housewife and former grad student with her … Read more
Adapted by Emma Stanton, Thom Pasculli, and Nigel O’Hearn Based on Full Circle by Charles Mee Directed by Thom Pasculli Produced by Oracle Theatre Epic Theatre Done Right “And if I ever come back here again it will be to see you pissing yourself because you have come to the end of the line with … Read more
The Apple Family Plays by Richard Nelson Part I: That Hopey Changey Thing Directed by Louis Contey At TimeLine Theatre. Chicago The Apply plays are a unique entrance into the voices of the people about our political landscape. Play 1 That Hopey Changey Thing “Summary: That Hopey Changey Thing is set on November 2, 2010. … Read more
Adapted and Directed by Kirsten Kelly From William Shakespeare Presented by Chicago Shakespeare Macbeth for Young People Introduces Magic of the Stage Part of Chicago Shakespeare’s core mission is to share theatre with young audiences. To that effect, they put on abridged versions of Shakespeare’s plays for school audiences, and the public is admitted on … Read more
New Production Music by Giacomo Puccini Libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa & Luigi Illica Conductor: Dmitri Jurowski Stage director: John Caird At the Lyric Opera of Chicago Stunning, lush and so romantic new production of the popular Tosca delights the opening night audience. “Living for Art, Dying for Love? –Tosca Anchored by the amazing vocals of … Read more