Review: VIOLET at Griffin Theatre
Griffin Theatre’s stunning production of VIOLET will simultaneously make hearts ache and soar.
Review: RED VELVET at Chicago Shakespeare Theater
Ira Aldridge was one of the most famous, highest paid actors of his day, and one of the first prominent African-American actors to tackle some of Shakespeare’s greatest roles.
Review: ALTAR BOYZ at Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre
Altar Boyz is the Most Fun You’ll Ever Have Being Proselytized.
Review: TWELFTH NIGHT at Midsommer Flight
Midsommer Flight’s returning fare for the holidays is perhaps the most delightful Shakespeare I’ve been privy to, made only more magical by the panoramic walk up through the Lincoln Park Zoo lights and the oversized winter decorations hanging above the oversized fauna under the Conservatory’s oversized glass domes. Talk about a shift in reality! Welcome to Illyria, boys and girls. It’s TWELFTH NIGHT. Or as known in Western Christian theology — the Day of Epiphany. Or by its alternative title given by the Bard himself — “What You Will.”
Review: RUDOLPH THE RED-HOSED REINDEER at Hell in a Handbag
RUDOLPH THE RED-HOSED REINDEER takes place on a cramped yet colorful stage, decorated with the appropriate amount of Christmas kitsch, and begins with Santa Claus (Michael Hampton) deciding to run for President of the North Pole. His campaign is enormously unpopular and offensive, he wins on a technicality, and he’s an obvious parody of a certain Hairy Tangerine in the White House, complete with his own reindeer version of Kellyanne Conway. I understand, of course, that this twenty-year-old show pokes fun at whatever political era it’s being performed in. The problem, however, is that comedy involving our president’s childish, horrifying, and legitimately dangerous antics feels incredibly empty nowadays. This is partly because this administration parodies itself, and partly because every time somebody mentions our president’s name in this country, he gets a massive erection.
Review: WIFE MATERIAL at Prop Thtr
Addressing female sexuality in the way this show does is freeing for both the performers and the audience, and serves as a mirror of past actions and a call to action in the future.
Review: LITTLE RED CYRANO at Red Theater
The enthusiasm and physical specificity of the chorus of part-animal-part-human characters is a constant source of energy and play for the audience to connect with.
Review: THE NUTCRACKER at Joffrey Ballet of Chicago
Set in December, 1892, Wheeldon’s “Nutcracker” takes place about 15 years before Sinclair’s harrowing novel of the poorest of Chicago’s poor, and while the lavishness is gone from Marie’s Christmas Eve party, the magic and the joy remains.
Review: PINE at Uncommon Ground Edgewater
This production was designed to be a challenge for the audience, inviting them to brave the cold weather as PINE unfurls the stories of four millennials in 2017 England.
Review: BARNEY THE ELF at Other Theatre
(left to right) Colleen DeRosa, Lance Spencer, Courtney Dane Mize, Jaron Bellar, Dixie Lynn Cartwright, Roy Samra, Maggie Cain, Cody Talkie and Emilie Rose Danno. Photo by Carin Silkaitis. By Phillip Lewis To describe Other Theatre’s annual BARNEY THE ELF in a nutshell: it is ridiculous. For those in the market of ridiculousness, this is a show to add to the...