Tuesday, 04 October 2022 15:53
Review: Hell in a Handbag's "Frankenstreisand" @ Redline VR
Written by John Accrocco
Nobody does camp like Hell in a Handbag Productions. Ensemble-developed, oddball parodies of queer iconoclasts are what they do best. For their 21st season, longtime collaborators Tyler Anthony Smith and director Stephanie Shaw meld Barbra Streisand’s enduring legacy with Mary Shelly’s classic horror story. A cast of loveable weirdos round…
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Theatre in Review
Sunday, 02 October 2022 12:29
Highly Recommended! "Botticelli in the Fire" at First Floor Theatre
Sarz Maxwell
BOTTICELLI in the FIRE is a delight! I’ve got a lot to say about this production, but if you want to cut to the chase: See BOTTICELLI in the FIRE! I’d little idea what to expect, except that queerness would be a major theme, and I’m afraid reading this review…
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Theatre in Review
Tuesday, 27 September 2022 14:53
Review: Idle Muse Theatre Company's 'The Strange Case of DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE' at The Edge Off-Broadway Theatre
Sarz Maxwell
I found DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE to be weird. Well, it’s supposed to be weird, right? It’s a weird and spooky story about Dr. Henry Jekyll, a respectable, conventional Victorian physician, liberating his dark side: a persona named Edward Hyde, whose cruel and amoral exploits prove ruinous. Yeah. Weird.…
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Theatre in Review
Goodman Theatre welcomes back audiences with Lynn Nottage’s Broadway hit, “Clyde’s”. Collaboration between Goodman and playwright Lynn Nottage goes way back, including the 2019 production of her second Pulitzer Prize winner “Sweat”. This food-filled dramady is directed by Kate Whoriskey who has directed several of Nottage’s plays around the country.…
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Theatre in Review
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Tuesday, 20 September 2022 15:09
“Red Summer” at Governors State University Center for Performing Arts in Collaboration with MPAACT – Just one story of a shameful past
Written by Wesley David
The term "Red Summer" was coined by civil rights activist and author James Weldon Johnson, who had been employed as a field secretary by the NAACP since 1916. It is the period from late winter through early autumn of 1919 during which white supremacist terrorism and racial riots took place in more than…
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Theatre in Review
Monday, 19 September 2022 14:08
Review: Kokandy Production's 'Sweeney Todd' at Chopin Theatre
Sarz Maxwell
Oy … where to begin with Stephen Sondheim’s SWEENEY TODD? Let’s begin with what one sees first: the venue. Chopin Theatre opened in 1918 at the Polonia Triangle in Wicker Park. Over 100 years the building has variously housed (among other things) a bank, a thrift shop, and a discotheque. In…
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Theatre in Review
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Thursday, 15 September 2022 13:52
The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington funny but not funny ha-ha, funny like, oh sh*t!
Written by Wesley David
Black and Irish Twitter had a field day upon the death of Her Highness Queen Elizabeth II. No tears were shed other than tears of laughter and joy at the demise of a colonizer. Telling Black twitter to be respectful of the death of the woman who inherited the legacy…
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Theatre in Review
Sunday, 11 September 2022 11:09
Drury Lane’s ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ Delivers A Fine Whodunit the Leaves Us Guessing to the End
Written by Kimberly Katz
Ken Ludwig has adapted the beloved Agath Christie whodunit 'Murder on the Orient Express' in a rich and wonderful way. The play revolves around the murder of a wealthy businessman aboard a luxurious train. Detective Hurcule Poirot is on the case and there is no shortage of suspects aboard the…
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Theatre in Review
Monday, 12 September 2022 15:29
Review: 'Arsenic and Old Lace' at Court Theatre
Written by John Accrocco
Murder’s a hoot in Court Theatre’s revival of Joseph Kesselring’s “Arsenic and Old Lace.” Lighthearted and stylish, director Ron OJ Parson’s production makes for a charming season opener. Court Theatre was awarded a Tony award for best regional theatre and it feels fitting for a well-known classic to be this…
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Theatre in Review
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Tuesday, 06 September 2022 10:58
Babes in Blades 'Richard III' at The Edge Theater Very Highly Recommended
Sarz Maxwell
RICHARD III tells the story of Richard of Gloucester, Shakespeare’s cruelest yet most compelling protagonist. Richard III was the last king of the House of York. He was the last English king to die in battle, at the last battle of the Wars of the Roses, marking the end of the Middle Ages…
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Theatre in Review
Thursday, 01 September 2022 15:16
GIRLFRIEND at the PRIDEARTS THEATRE “IN A WORD: SWEET”
Sarz Maxwell
Sweet is the best word for GIRLFRIEND for several reasons. First, it showcases the songs of Matthew Sweet, and the book is by Todd Almond, to get another flavor in the mix. ‘Sweet’ also describes the era that GIRLFRIEND is set in – 1990’s: pre-9/11; before cell phones and PDAs;…
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Theatre in Review
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With MY BROTHER LANGSTON, Black Ensemble Theatre continues its 2022 Season of Excellence: The Season of Healings. This third of four world premiere musicals showcase the power of music to heal. Jackie Taylor, BET’s Founder & CEO, says: “… through these outstanding plays, the spirit of the music, the hope…
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Theatre in Review
Sunday, 14 August 2022 13:10
CAMPAIGNS, INC: the Origin of Fake News, circa 1934 at TimeLine Theatre
Sarz Maxwell
Smear tactics are nothing new in politics; Octavian became Emperor of Rome by distributing coins printed with negative slogans against Mark Anthony. The printing press provided a more easily reproduceable vehicle for misinformation, with the written material later reinforced by manipulated (long before Photoshop!) photographs. And now, of course, we…
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Theatre in Review
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Red Theater's 'Hamlet' at The Edge Off Broadway - Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are… hilarious!
Written by Sarz MaxwellI think my favorite thing – well, one of my favorite things – about Wyatt Kent’s take on HAMLET is imagining just how much fun everyone must have been having with it! everyone except Hamlet, of course, but the entire… -
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Eerie, Human Mystery In Captivating ‘Jump’ by Shattered Globe Theatre
Written by Bill EslerAs the audience takes its seats we are greeted by an atmosphere of foreboding, a trestle bridge girder to the left, and in the evening air, foggy wisps drift about the stage. Already something is up, but we don’t know…
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