Chicago Critic Must See recommendations.
After one year doing a show, the cast either gets better or it gets stale. In Million Dollar Quartet, the cast got better, especially Lance Guest as Johnny Cash and Eddie Clendening as Elvis. Both grew confidently in their portrayal of the legendary performers. Tim Decker, the newest cast member, as Sam Phillips, is a more intense, commanding and emotional persona of the man behind Sun Records.
The recording session becomes a battle of wills with Ma Rainey and her agent and the recording engineer. Ma Rainey demands things her way out of respect for her status as a major blues artist and as an independent African-American woman.
El Grito del Bronx is a story about rage. It is set against the violent backdrop of a Bronx family tragedy in 1977 and the aftermath of those events 15 years later in a federal prison in Ohio and in a middle class apartment in Connecticut.
Crazy for You–it has one of the finest scores of all-time and it contains an outstanding book by Ken Ludwig that has cute situations, witty one-liners and colorful winning characters caught up in a classic romantic fable. The show ran for four years on Broadway and it has become a staple of regional theatre due to its funny book and great music.
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
Pumpgirl by Irish playwright Abbie Spallen, is an edgy contemporary work of Irish storytelling. Pumpgirl is presented in intersecting monologues deftly spoken with authentic Irish brogues by the three person cast.