In this 90 minute one act, the six person cast each have their say with Keith Kupferer and Hanna Dworkin anchoring the work. The celebration of Thanksgiving leads to a boiling point as the underlying tension explodes into truths that threaten the Blakes’ core. Take the journey with these folks and you’ll quickly become immersed into memories of your family’s past holidays.
However, all of this is lost in the final two acts, light-hearted and full of slap stick. It’s challenging for actors and audience alike to transition from the first portion of this play to the conclusion. The final two acts attempt to find a way to unconvincingly wrap up the tragedy of the first three acts in a tidy bow. However, the cast has the utmost fun attempting to do so. From the beginning of act four, the cast reminds its audience aggressively that “Now is the time to laugh!” Such coddling proved difficult for me. Still, several performances shine through, but the cast could not rise above the uneven source material that is Shakespeare’s Winter Tale.
I really enjoyed this show. It warms my heart to see kids having fun in the theater. I would love to see the Broadway in Chicago people put on more shows geared toward kids because that’s where the passion for theatre starts. This show has sing-a-longs, fake snow being blasted into the crowd (if you’d like to avoid the snow zone, avoid the center of the main floor, but why wouldn’t you love it?), and moments where he asks the children for the answer. It is truly an adorable production that you should definitely bring your children to if they love the book. They will have a blast! I’m not even a parent and I had a great time. Maybe it’s because I’m just a big kid.
The show featured a five piece country band led by Aaron Benham. The show features the Cline songbook including 27 of her songs! This show is an early country music delight that found many of the audience humming or singing along with Hall. That was both a tribute to Patsy Cline’s popularity after 50 years and an irritant since this isn’t karaoke night. Danni Smiths honest, down-home style narration and her comic chops added a human touch to the Cline song fest. So go to see Always…Patsy Cline to hear the memorable songs and you’ll discover a heartfelt story that will lift your spirits. Patsy was country before country was cool and she led they way for all the great female country singers to come.
Book by Thomas Meehan Music by Charles Strouse Lyrics by Martin Charnin Directed by Martin Charnin Choreographer Liza Gennaro Musical Direction by Keith Levenson At the Palace Theatre, Chicago Annie ‘s score fuels the cartoon fable come to life No matter how many times I’ve seen Annie, I always enjoy the show. Why? Because of … Read more
For those looking for a honest to goodness pick-me-up, a piece of entertainment that has a heart and spectacle, I invite you to see The House Theatre of Chicago’s The Nutcracker. The play begins full of holiday cheer as family and friends gather for an annual Christmas party. This year’s party is particularly special, because the eldest son of the family, Fritz (Shaun Baer), is returning home from service in the Marines.
Theatre at the Center kicks off the holiday season with the regional premier of a musical based on Truman Capote’s 1956 short story “A Christmas Memory.” The show does indeed take the form of a memory, and mixes childhood nostalgia with just the right amount of melancholy. The small cast easily shifts through a wide range of music to expand Capote’s story while remaining faithful to his tone.
It was one of those very special nights that can only in happen live, onstage. Over three thousand five hundred people gather to witness an ambitious and thoroughly beautiful production of Gershwin’s masterpiece, the American Folk Opera Porgy And Bess. For me, it was one of the most enjoyable nights I’ve ever spent in the theatre, just like the production of this wonder piece I saw in 2008. The Lyric Opera of Chicago’s second production of Porgy And Bess ranks among the finest opera I’ve seen to date!It is sheer perfection!
Iphigenia in Aulis is the first of three ancient Greek tragedies Court Theatre will perform over the next three years. The others, written by the other two surviving tragedians, will together form a trilogy telling the story of the House of Atreus. It’s an ambitious project that will mainly be of interest to academics and die-hard theatre fans, but it’s off to a strong start.
Mysterious, yet often funny, director Jonathan Berry infuses the classic who-done-it with playfulness
The Mousetrap, running in London since 1952 with more than 25,000 performances, is the world’s longest running stage play! It has also been considered the model for doing murder mysteries on stage. Who can argue with such success? Kudos to Northlight Theatre for mounting a spirited production of the Agatha Christie classic.