Friday, 03 November 2023 10:20
'The Night of the Hunter' not a feel-good play, but it is a very good one
Sarz Maxwell
"The Night of the Hunter" is not a feel-good play, but it is a very good one, exceedingly well performed and produced. Playing at City Lit Theatre through December 3 it was adapted for the stage by Shawna Tucker from the novel of the same name by Davis Grubb. It…
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Theatre in Review
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Thursday, 02 November 2023 20:04
The Magic Parlour is an absolute tour de force of mind-bending entertainment
Written by Wesley David
“Put someone inside of a box and cut them in half, people think it’s magic. They think it’s a special box. But, tear up a dollar and restore it right under their nose, or look into their mind and read their thoughts, or make something magical happen in their very…
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Thursday, 02 November 2023 14:33
Review: Stephen Sondheim's 'Company' at Cadillac Palace Theatre
Written by Anne Rakowiecki
Phone rings, door chimes, in comes Company! The new, gender-swapped revival, that is. Known more for his fully scored, more epic musicals like Sweeney Todd and Into the Woods, Stephen Sondheim packs a big punch in this unconventional little musical about the dichotomy between single and married life — and…
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Theatre in Review
Monday, 30 October 2023 11:25
'Brigadoon' Is a Feel-Good Musical Escape from a Post-pandemic, Pre-Election, Peri-MAGA Year
Sarz Maxwell
I doubt anyone would contest the appeal of a feel-good musical for the post-pandemic, pre-election, peri-MAGA year of 2023, and "Brigadoon" is just that: a feel-good show with overtones of fantasy and romance. The story has two NYC businessmen wandering astray on a hunting trip in Scotland and happening upon…
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Theatre in Review
Monday, 30 October 2023 11:11
‘Tale of the Allergist's Wife’ Is Laugh-Out-Loud Funny
Written by Bill Esler
Laugh-out-loud funny, “The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife” from an award-winning script by Robert Busch, is an entertaining domestic comedy in the vein of Neil Simon, very Jewish New York humor. MadKap Productions, which has moved to the Skokie Theatre with this show, has given it a top-notch treatment, with…
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Sunday, 22 October 2023 20:59
Musical ‘Young Frankenstein’ on Stage Is Funny as Mel Brooks’ Original Film
Written by Bill Esler
“Young Frankenstein,” a live stage musical version of Mel Brooks hysterical 1974 comedy film, is an absolute hoot in its new production at Chicago’s intimate Mercury Theatre on Southport. WIth priceless comic bits, great costumes, dancing, and singing that is notably excellent, “Young Frankenstein” is underpinned by a bullet-proof script…
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Sunday, 15 October 2023 11:31
Review: 'The Zoo Story' at Gwydion Theatre Company
Written by John Accrocco
It’s hard to imagine a time in which Edward Albee was considered an “emerging” playwright, but his first play, ‘The Zoo Story’ failed to impress New York producers in 1958. Of course, the play has since gone on to become a classic and is currently being revived by new-to-Chicago Gwydion…
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Theatre in Review
Sunday, 15 October 2023 11:13
A Peek Into the Macabre at ‘Exquisite Corpse,’ an Eerie Puppet Peep Show at Steppenwolf Garage
Written by Bill Esler
Well suited to the season, Rough House Theater brings its third annual edition of a macabre puppet show, “The House of the Exquisite Corpse III,” to the Merle Reskin Garage Space at the Steppenwolf Theatre campus on Halsted Street in Chicago. The one-hour immersive experience gathers audiences in groups of…
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Saturday, 14 October 2023 09:54
‘A Wonderful World’ Will Leave You Jazz Scattin’ and Smilin’
Written by Bree Samani
We all know him—the Jazz King—the legend who single-handedly transformed music with a trumpet, gravelly voice, and his big dazzling smile. Louis Armstrong is the man who made us and still makes us desire a Wonderful World. As soon as I heard of the new Broadway-bound musical, "A Wonderful World," would have…
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Saturday, 07 October 2023 14:34
In Moving Cantata ‘Soldier Songs,’ Chicago Opera Kicks Off 50th Season at Epiphany Center
Written by Bill Esler
There could not have been a better site than Chicago’s Epiphany Center for a one-night performance of a truly moving work—”Soldier Songs,” a one-hour cantata with libretto and score composed by David T. Little. This sweeping reverie on the internal life of a soldier, from boyhood through mature adulthood, expresses…
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Theatre in Review
Wednesday, 04 October 2023 10:12
Redtwist Tiny Black Box Theatre is Howling with "Wolves"
Sarz Maxwell
Maybe it’s good for a theater reviewer sometimes to be … befuddled? Disquieted? Stupefied? Certainly my companion was. He’s not new to things theatrical, but has seen little of Chicago’s signature storefront ‘tiny black box’ theatres that I love so much. So Redtwist Theatre's "Wolves" was a pretty strenuous piece…
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Theatre in Review
“You might cry, you might not,” says playwright Sarah Ruhl in the show notes of Writers Theatre’s revival of her 2003 play ‘Eurydice’. Under new Artistic Director Braden Abraham, there’s a youthfulness in both casting and staging that feels like a big breath of fresh air for the Glencoe theatre…
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Theatre in Review
Sunday, 01 October 2023 23:27
Scary Good: 'American Psycho' at The Chopin Theatre
Written by Kendall Royzen
When my husband announced that his company holiday party this year was 80s themed, my first thought was that it had been done before. I’d donned enough leg warmers and sported enough side ponytails at enough parties. My second thought was why not the 90s? Surely in 2023 people want…
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Theatre in Review
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