Saturday, 07 December 2024 11:51
Finally, A Fresh and Fitting Take on Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women
Written by Mitchell Oldham
Like a lot of people, Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women has been mostly a cultural curiosity for much of my life. I know it’s perennially referenced when talking about women and their struggle to achieve personal agency and autonomy. Since it was published in 1868, shortly after the Civil War,…
Published in
Theatre in Review
Friday, 06 December 2024 22:30
An AfFAIR to Remember; Joffrey's The Nutcracker A Must See This Holiday Season
Written by Kendall Royzen
There is something magical about Chicago at Christmastime. Even if there is no snow on the ground, there is an energy in the atmosphere, peaceful and whimsical. Whether you take in the colorful zoo lights at The Lincoln Park Zoo, or stroll the Christkindl markets downtown, or ice skate in…
Published in
Theatre Reviews
Thursday, 05 December 2024 11:26
Broadway in Chicago’s Production of & Juliet is a Jaw-Dropping Blast from Start to Finish
Written by Lauren Katz
Lights come down at the top of the show. We are clearly in a rehearsal hall as the ensemble lets us know that it’s opening night of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet – and they cannot be more excited to perform the material. Video and Projection Designer Andrezej Goulding helps…
Published in
Theatre in Review
Monday, 02 December 2024 13:30
Thornton Wilder’s The Long Christmas Dinner Radiant Throughout at Bramble Arts Loft
Written by Mitchell Oldham
Immediately following the gastronomical excesses of Thanksgiving are the monetary investments and personal sacrifices we make for Christmas. At the heart of both is family and the importance we place in coming together to sustain and strengthen seminal bonds. In 1931, a 34-year-old college professor at the University of Chicago…
Published in
Theatre in Review
Monday, 02 December 2024 12:02
Review: It's a Wonderful Life: Live in Chicago! at American Blues Theater
Written by John Accrocco
“No man is a failure who has friends,” is to film what “God bless us everyone” is to literature. Frank Capra’s 1946 film ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ is as close to an American retelling of ‘A Christmas Carol’ as anyone has ever gotten. Though the film has been a Christmas…
Published in
Theatre in Review
Friday, 15 November 2024 11:38
Redtwist Theatre Announces Headliner and Plays in It's Inaugural New Work Incubator - TWISTED PLAYFEST
Written by Buzz Center Stage
Award-winning Redtwist Theatre is proud to announce the roster of plays for its inaugural Twisted Playfest, December 17 - 22, and the cast and creative team for the headlining production in Twisted Playfest, The Totality of Things, written by Eric Gernand and directed by Enrico Spada, December 5, 2024 - January, 19, 2025, at Redtwist Theatre,…
Published in
Upcoming Theatre
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Monday, 25 November 2024 22:23
Lookingglass Welcomes Founding Ensemble Member David Schwimmer and Chicago Attorney James (Jimmy) Oh to its Board of Directors
Written by Buzz Center Stage
After pausing its operations last year to reorganize and create a new business model, Chicago's Tony-Award winning Lookingglass Theatre Company is proud to announce two new Board members as it prepares to reopen January 30, 2025: founding ensemble member, actor and director David Schwimmer and Chicago employment and healthcare attorney James (Jimmy) Oh. Lookingglass' Board…
Published in
Upcoming Theatre
Monday, 25 November 2024 13:03
Goodman Theatre’s “A Christmas Carol” Warms Hearts as It Rings in a Joyful Holiday Season
Written by CJ Burroughs
I arrived at the Goodman Theatre for the opening of its 47th annual production of A Christmas Carol, directed by Jessica Thebus, like many of us—not really feeling the upcoming holidays. I’m usually a real Pollyanna, trying to put on the happy face. I’m usually Bob Cratchit, the good soldier.…
Published in
Theatre in Review
Monday, 25 November 2024 12:56
Don’t Miss this Rollicking Rendition of “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus”
Written by Betsy Schmitt
If you’re looking for a way to entertain the children (or grandchildren) this holiday season that doesn’t involve long lines, icy cold temps or going to the mall, look no further than the Greenhouse Theatre Center’s production of Mo Williams’ smash hit musical, “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus.”…
Published in
Theatre in Review
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Sunday, 24 November 2024 09:39
A Lovely Night; Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella revives magic at Marriott Theatre
Written by Kendall Royzen
In 1997, Disney came out with the most magnificent adaptation of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella that has ever been made. With talent like Brandy, Whitney Houston, Bernadette Peters, Jason Alexander, and Paolo Montalban, the rendition of the classic fairytale lives rent free in the minds of most millennials and their…
Published in
Theatre Reviews
What the hell is pantomime anyway? Will I be reviewing a game of Charades? Google to the rescue! But I searched in vain for a definition: pan·to·mime [ˈpan(t)əˌmīm] a play or entertainment in which performers express themselves mutely by gestures. PrideArts mounting a silent production? Um …. I find that…
Published in
Theatre in Review
When Francesca Zambello, director of The Glimmerglass Festival, commissioned an opera about race in America, the country was reeling from a spate of police shootings of young African-American men in Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, and South Carolina. By the time the commissioned work Blue premiered at The Glimmerglass Festival in 2019,…
Published in
Theatre in Review
Even 40 years later, the AIDS crisis continues to shape American life. Long before Hollywood brought AIDS stories to the cultural mainstream, the theatre was a safe place for actors and writers to explore their fears and sense of injustice for a mass audience. ‘Falsettos’ playwright William Finn began working…
Published in
Theatre in Review
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