Saturday, 30 June 2018 18:44
He Read My Mind! Mark Toland Delivers Quick-paced, Entertaining 'Mind Reader'
Written by Bill Esler
With a mix of non-stop banter and radiant charm, Mark Toland’s one-man show, Mind Reader, is 75 minutes of fun. While audiences are told to keep quiet about what happens during his show, I can reveal that it is very entertaining, each show freshly scripted based on “reading the minds”…
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Theatre in Review
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Saturday, 16 June 2018 15:15
Impeccable Production of Guards at the Taj is Must -See Theater
Written by Bill Esler
Guards at the Taj, now playing at Steppenwolf Theatre, is certainly among the best shows ever to play in Chicago. Set in 1648, Guards at the Taj recounts a gruesome legend that surrounds the construction of the renowned masterpiece, the Taj Majal in Agra, India. That apocryphal story holds that…
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Theatre in Review
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Thursday, 14 June 2018 19:55
Stephen Marley and Matisyahu chill out at Ravinia
Written by Kendall Royzen
It’s nearly summertime in Chicagoland. As the weather turns warm, our minds inevitably turn to music festivals, picnics, and long lazy nights filled with cold drinks, good friends, and somewhere that combines all of these into one experience: Ravinia. Ravinia opened their 2018 season in May and has since had…
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Theatre in Review
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Monday, 11 June 2018 00:17
Lookingglass Immerses Audience in '20,000 Leagues Under the Seas'
Kerstin Broockmann
Jules Verne wrote one of the first science fiction novels in 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas, the story of three travelers who find themselves imprisoned on the Nautilus, a submarine captained by the megalomaniacal Captain Nemo. The novel was light on political detail, though Captain Nemo occasionally claimed to use…
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Theatre in Review
Wednesday, 13 June 2018 14:13
Hamlet with Smart Phones and a Good Measure of Verve
Written by Bill Esler
The tiny Gift Theatre, occupancy 50, has bitten off a big challenge with its determination to present Hamlet. Featuring Daniel Kyri in the title role of Shakespeare’s classic, director Monty Cole has hewed to the melodious Elizabethan English of the script. The production has contemporary touches that largely respect the…
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Theatre in Review
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Saturday, 09 June 2018 20:17
Love’s Labor’s Not Lost: “Broadway & The Bard”
Written by William and Margaret Swain
“Broadway & The Bard”, Len Cariou’s idea of combining his two great loves – Shakespeare and the American Musical, is a heartwarming and tender paean to the art forms which made him an icon of the American stage. Conceived following his Broadway appearances as Shakespeare’s Henry V in 1968 and…
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Theatre in Review
Saturday, 09 June 2018 05:50
‘Burnham’s Dream: The White City’ brings to life the events surrounding the 1893 World's Fair
Written by Ken Payne
Being a Chicagoan, it’s always fun to take in city history – to learn about the great things that made Chicago what it is today – one of the best known metropolitan areas on the planet, rich in history and tradition. In ‘Burnham’s Dream: The White City,' the play focuses…
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Theatre in Review
Strindberg’s quintessential battle of the sexes play, ‘Mies Julie’ is retold by award winning South African playwright Yael Farber. ‘Mies Julie’ is a modernized version set eighteen years after the abolishment of apartheid. Directed by Dexter Bullard, Victory Gardens presents this regional premiere. ‘Mies Julie’ has been a controversial play…
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Theatre in Review
Monday, 28 May 2018 19:36
Review: "A Little Night Music" at The Greenhouse Theater
Written by John Accrocco
Even if you’re not familiar with Sondheim’s ‘A Little Night Music,’ chances are you’ve heard the song ‘Send in the Clowns.’ BoHo Theatre revives the 1973 musical farce under the direction of Linda Fortunato. Surely there’s not a more romantic summer musical than ‘A Little Night Music – and this…
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Theatre in Review
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Sunday, 27 May 2018 19:05
Review: “Bette Davis Ain’t for Sissies” at Athenaeum Theatre
Written by Mariah Sulaiman
During a time when the world is discussing the role of women in a society among men, of a world of equality to men, there was a woman who stood out before her time, a woman independent and liberated in an industry dominated by men, Bette Davis. Embodying the screen…
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Theatre in Review
Saturday, 26 May 2018 11:28
The Originalist Tells Why Justice Scalia Thought He Was Never Wrong
Written by Bill Esler
The Originalist, now playing at Court Theatre, poses Antonin Scalia as a tragic figure. The late Supreme Court Justice saw his opinions as unimpeachable; he thought he was never wrong, even when his views did not prevail in Court decisions. “Where would the country be without me,” Scalia asks the…
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Theatre in Review
Thursday, 24 May 2018 05:05
Damascus: Tightly Crafted Script Delivers Intense and Suspenseful Thriller
Written by Bill Esler
Buckle up for Damascus, the intensely suspenseful thriller having its world premiere at Strawdog Theatre. Bennett Fisher’s tightly crafted script follows the journey of Hassan, a financially struggling Somali-American taxi driver at the Minneapolis airport, as he ferries Lloyd, a young man who says he is desperate to catch a…
Published in
Theatre in Review
Thursday, 24 May 2018 02:34
"Cry It Out" portrays motherhood in brutally honest ways
Written by Kendall Royzen
It could have been any other Friday night for me; coffee, friends, and a few brief moments away from the responsibilities of motherhood, to talk and vent about the responsibilities of motherhood. But it wasn’t a Friday night with my friends, but Cry It Out, a new play written by…
Published in
Theatre in Review
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