Tuesday, 21 February 2023 17:44
The Mountaintop – He’s a man, He’s just a man.
Written by Wesley David
“Thank you very kindly, my friends. As I listened to Ralph Abernathy and his eloquent and generous introduction and then thought about myself, I wondered who he was talking about.” Opening to the “I’ve Been to The Mountaintop” sermon by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Katori Hall’s deceptively simple play…
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Theatre in Review
Wednesday, 22 February 2023 01:52
At Court Theatre, a Perfect Production of Caryl Churchill’s Intriguing ‘Fen’
Written by Bill Esler
Caryl Churchill’s ‘Fen’ is a tragic love story laid out against a complicated backdrop. Set in the 1980s, we meet Val (Cruz Gonzalez-Cadel), a mother of two, who wants to leave her husband because she has fallen for another man, Frank (Alex Goodrich). She planned for them to take her…
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Theatre in Review
Friday, 17 February 2023 13:05
Review: 'Anna Karenina' at Lyric Opera House
Written by John Accrocco
Happy ballets are alike; every unhappy ballet is unhappy in its own way. Joffrey Ballet brings their haunting production of ‘Anna Karenina’ to the Lyric Opera House for a brief revival. It’s easy to see why this new ballet was such a hit when it held its world premiere in…
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Theatre in Review
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Monday, 13 February 2023 16:27
Paramount's 'Into the Woods' is a Spectacular Musical for "Happily Ever After"
Written by Kimberly Katz
Just on the heels of a very successful run of The Sound of Music, the three-hour production of Stephen Sondheim's Tony Award winning Into the Woods at the lushly appointed art deco Paramount Theatre is here to delight another round of theatregoers. Simply stunning and jam-packed with talent and energy, Paramount gives…
Published in
Theatre in Review
Tuesday, 14 February 2023 16:23
Review: Memorable Show About Online World Asks: Do We Have a Right to Be Forgotten?
Written by Bill Esler
‘Right to Be Forgotten ' is a play for our times, in contemporary language and a production at Raven Theatre that is laser-focused on an issue of our day—the inability of the average person to remove online content about themselves that is damaging or even life-threatening. Directed by Sarah Gitenstein…
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Theatre in Review
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Monday, 13 February 2023 12:54
'Trial In the Delta' not about Trauma – Sadly, It’s American History
Written by Wesley David
The start of the civil rights movement was not Rosa Parks refusal to leave her seat on a bus. The civil rights movement started when the photo of 14-year-old Emmett Till, laying in his coffin beaten beyond recognition was graphically published on the cover of Jet Magazine for the world…
Published in
Theatre in Review
Wednesday, 08 February 2023 12:37
Goodman's 'Toni Stone' – Big League Production for a Big-League player
Written by Wesley David
Decades before the enactment of Title IV, famous for its impact on expanding opportunities for women and girls in sports and well before the inaugural game of the WNBA, an African American women became the first to play for a professional baseball team. “Toni Stone”, written by award winning playwright…
Published in
Theatre in Review
Friday, 10 February 2023 12:31
Review: Dramatic Road to a Historic Oscar Win in ‘Boulevard of Bold Dreams’
Written by Bill Esler
Sometimes a deceivingly "small" story can pack a wallop, and that is the case with LaDarrion Williams’ ‘Boulevard of Bold Dreams,’ premiering at TimeLine Theatre before it moves on to Boston. Set in 1940, this finely crafted script quickly establishes fully fleshed out characters Arthur (Charles Andrew Gardner), a bartender…
Published in
Theatre in Review
Tuesday, 07 February 2023 22:33
Skokie Theatre's "The Book of Merman" Sings Out Praises to Be Your Own Star!
Written by Kimberly Katz
The Book of Merman is a delightful musical theater piece that beautifully spins the popular Broadway hit, The Book of Mormon. When doing home-to-home missionary work, I’m sure no one can predict how the day will go. So many different situations can present themselves whether the expected or least expected.…
Published in
Theatre in Review
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Sunday, 05 February 2023 21:53
What We Do For Love; A Chorus Line at Drury Theatre
Written by Kendall Royzen
Like most things in our lives, what once was old can be new again (looking at you wannabe fanny packs). But some things can stand the test of time and find a resurgence, not to be duplicated but merely rediscovered by a new generation. A Chorus Line, now playing at…
Published in
Theatre in Review
Thursday, 02 February 2023 11:30
Review: Andy Warhol Was in Tehran. This recount is Both Funny and Moving
Written by Bill Esler
‘Andy Warhol in Tehran’ is a delight, an incisive comedy packaged with a serious exploration of art, history, and political values. Rob Lindley as Warhol captures the artist exactly as he was seen in his public persona, somewhat vapid, seemingly desultory, with a passion for attaching to others’ fame, while…
Published in
Theatre in Review
Wednesday, 25 January 2023 13:13
Pools of emotions spoken and unspoken in Goodman’s “the ripple, the wave that carried me home”
Written by Wesley David
Like Christina Anderson, the Tony award nominated playwright of “the ripple, the wave that carried me home” I too was naively unaware of the history of segregation of public pools. Growing up in Brooklyn, NY, at the same time as the play’s timeline, public pools were more likely segregated by…
Published in
Theatre in Review
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Thursday, 26 January 2023 13:15
‘The Birthday Party’—A Comedy of Menace from a Master of the Genre
Written by Bill Esler
CityLit Theater’s ‘The Birthday Party’ opens with a load of laughs, seducing the audience with its low-key humor, then shaking us up as sinister overtones are gradually revealed. We are introduced to the middle-aged operators of a British seaside boarding house: Meg (Elaine Carlson is delightfully comedic) and her dead-pan…
Published in
Theatre in Review
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'Blue' Holds Mirror to Race in America
Written by Betsy SchmittWhen 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… -
Review: 'Falsettos' at Court Theatre
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Disney's The Little Mermaid at Drury Lane: An Inspiring and Delightful Production Celebrating Girls' Unique Voices
Written by Kimberly KatzI thoroughly enjoyed Drury Lane's enchanting stage production of Disney’s The Little Mermaid from start to finish. While few are overly familiar with Hans Christian Andersen’s original, darker tale of ill-fated romance, the Disney animated film and this stage adaptation,…
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