Tuesday, 16 September 2025 14:54
Review: 'Ashland Avenue' at Goodman Theatre
Written by John Accrocco
When a business closes, who mourns their loss? Lee Kirk’s new play Ashland Avenue, now running at Goodman Theatre, asks that very question. Kirk resides in LA, but he studied theatre at DePaul a few decades back and has a strong connection to the city of Chicago. On a recent…
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Theatre in Review
Tuesday, 16 September 2025 12:40
Improvising Joy: Rabbits In Their Pockets at Lifeline
Written by Wesley David
Kimberly Dixon-Mays’ debut play Rabbits In Their Pockets, developed in the Lifeline BIPOC 2024 Workshop and now receiving a world premiere under the direction of Christopher Wayland, is a bold but uneven first effort. The play aspires to braid together family drama, Black folklore, and speculative Afrofuturism, but its script…
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Theatre in Review
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…
Published in
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…
Published in
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…
Published in
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”…
Published in
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…
Published in
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…
Published in
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…
Published in
Theatre in Review
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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…
Published in
Theatre in Review
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
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