Saturday, 13 September 2025 23:14
Review: Ghost Fetus at Trap Door Theater
Written by Maddie Burroughs
Opening Trap Door Theatre’s 32nd season as part of the Trap Open Series with its world premiere, Suz Evans’ Ghost Fetus is a rough-edged, bold original work that delivers a performance as both humorous and cathartic as it is unexpected. With a small, five-person cast, the play centers on two…
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Theatre in Review
Friday, 12 September 2025 14:19
Murder, Deception, and Mid-Century Glamour at Drury Lane Theatre
Written by Kimberly Katz
Something wicked is winding its way through the velvet curtains of Drury Lane Theatre—and it reeks of roses, red wine, and murder. Dial M for Murder, the classic thriller originally crafted by Frederick Knott in 1952 and immortalized on screen by Alfred Hitchcock in 1954, returns to the stage with…
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Theatre in Review
Saturday, 06 September 2025 12:02
Review: Catch Me If You Can at Marriott Theatre
Written by Maddie Burroughs
Having followed JJ Niemann’s Broadway career on social media for years, I was especially eager to see him take the lead in Marriott Theatre’s revival of Catch Me If You Can. While social media offers curated glimpses – often in the form of brief, specially selected clips – Niemann proved…
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Theatre in Review
Saturday, 30 August 2025 12:53
Review: 44 The Musical at Studebaker Theater
Written by Maddie Burroughs
As someone who has worked on dozens of productions, both producing and technical directing, before committing to a project, I ask myself: “Why this show? Why now?” With 44 The Musical, written, directed, and co-produced by Eli Bauman, I struggled to answer those questions. The show, based on Bauman’s “experience”…
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Theatre in Review
Wednesday, 27 August 2025 10:53
Review: PrideArts' A New Brain at Center on Halsted’s Hoover-Leppen Theatre
Sarz Maxwell
There are several new things about PrideArts’ production of A NEW BRAIN, the most obvious being its new venue at the Hoover-Leppen Theatre in Center on Halsted. PrideArts made the most of its former location at 4139 N. Broadway, but this new venue is a boon in many ways. Its…
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Theatre in Review
Tuesday, 19 August 2025 13:26
Great Performances Shine in ‘Hershey Felder’s Rachmaninoff and the Tsar’ at Writers Theatre
Written by Bill Esler
Hershey Felder has made a significant part of his life’s work playing the roles of piano prodigies, and at Writers Theatre he takes on the role of Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943), considered the last of the romantic Russian composers, and a virtuosic pianist. Felder, a very good actor (he received a…
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Theatre in Review
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Sunday, 17 August 2025 22:27
MadKap's Forever Plaid at Skokie Theatre: Back in Plaid -The Afterlife Ain’t Half Bad
Written by Kimberly Katz
Back by popular demand and bursting with harmony, MadKap Productions resurrected the beloved musical revue Forever Plaid for three jubilant encore performances at Skokie Theatre on August 16th and 17th. After its earlier-season success, this revival felt less like a return and more like a victory lap—richly earned and warmly…
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Theatre in Review
Monday, 18 August 2025 16:57
Review: How to Transcend a Happy Marriage @ Redtwist Theatre
Written by John Accrocco
Is there a harder emotion to define than love? Its forms are various and seemingly subjective, something you can only know when you feel it. Sarah Ruhl takes on the topic in her 2017 play How to Transcend a Happy Marriage now playing at Redtwist Theatre. Directed by Elizabeth Swanson,…
Published in
Theatre in Review
Sunday, 10 August 2025 13:26
Review: Music Theatre Works' Fiddler on the Roof at North Shore Center for the Performing Arts
Written by Maddie Burroughs
“How do we keep our balance?” Posed in the very first moments of Fiddler on the Roof, this question receives an emphatic answer – Tradition! – by way of a high-energy opening number that immediately transports the audience into the heart of the 1900s Jewish-Russian village of Anatevka. Yet, as…
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Theatre in Review
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Thursday, 07 August 2025 12:03
Broadway in Chicago’s Parade Astounds with Emotional Beauty
Written by Lauren Katz
Walking into the CIBC Theatre, the first thing any audience member will notice is Scenic Designer Dane Lafrey’s stage. We are unmistakably in a courthouse – with a platform at the center and various forms of seating surrounding it. For those familiar with the story, you might make the connection…
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Theatre in Review
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Tuesday, 05 August 2025 12:40
‘Jesus Hopped the A Train’ In Killer Good Production at City Lit
Written by Bill Esler
Notable New York playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis’s 2000 breakthrough play, “Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train,” is receiving a dynamic revival at City Lit Theater, with a fantastic cast delivering excellent performances and inventive staging, all under the direction of Esteban Andres Cruz. Guirgis went on to win a a Pulitzer…
Published in
Theatre in Review
Monday, 04 August 2025 11:37
Review: Kokandy Productions' 'Amélie' at Chopin Theatre
Written by John Accrocco
Earlier this summer, The New York Times asked its readers to submit their lists of the top 100 films of the 21st century. Scrolling through social media, it was clear the 2001 French film ‘Amélie’ was a millennial fan favorite. A whimsical rollick through Montmartre seems like ripe fodder for…
Published in
Theatre in Review
Monday, 04 August 2025 00:21
Uptown Music Theater Highland Park’s ‘Hairspray’ Shimmies, Shines, and Steals Hearts
Written by Kimberly Katz
Uptown Music Theater Highland Park hits all the right notes with their electrifying staging of Hairspray - a radiant production bursting with kinetic energy and a message that feels as relevant today as it did in the 1960s. Under Tor Campbell’s dynamic direction and deft choreography, the show dazzles with…
Published in
Theatre in Review
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Standing Room Only Crowd for Chicago’s Leading Theater Artistic Directors
Written by Bill EslerIt must have been heavenly for the creative leaders of Goodman, Steppenwolf, Chicago Shakespeare and Court, Chicago’s top regional theaters, to be greeted by a standing room only crowd. But there they were, on a panel moderated by the eminent… -
The Best of Us: Marriott Theatre’s Come From Away
Written by Kimberly KatzCome From Away begins from a place of deep uncertainty, yet what emerges is a story grounded in the steady, everyday kindness people offer when they have nothing else to give. Rather than revisiting the events of September 11 themselves,… -
Steppenwolf Theatre Presents Revival of TOPDOG/UNDERDOG September 17 – November 1 / Rehearsals Underway
Written by Buzz Center StageSteppenwolf Theatre Company, the nation's premier ensemble theater company, is pleased to launch its 51st Season with Suzan-Lori Parks' Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Topdog/Underdog, helmed by Tony Award-winning director Kenny Leon, who returns to Steppenwolf following his hit production of King James. Ensemble members Glenn Davis (Windfall, Purpose–Chicago/Broadway, King James) and Namir Smallwood (Windfall, The Book of… -
Chicago Black Dance Legacy Project Gala: Radiant & Sumptuous at the Harris
Written by Mitchell OldhamThe first thing you notice about the meticulously curated Black dance performance held at the Harris Theater over the weekend is language. The eloquence and weight of the words used to explain why the Chicago Black Dance Legacy Project (CBDLP)…
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