In ‘DISENCHANTED!’, Princesses Take Charge of Their Own Stories
The Broadway in Chicago presentation of the musical revue DISENCHANTED! offers a 90-minute spoof of the classic fairy tale princesses, as made famous to most audiences by Walt Disney. With music, lyrics, and book by Dennis T. Giacino and direction by Christopher Bond, DISENCHANTED! provides some fun. That said, the satire stays surface-level—it’s more of a gentle poking than a true skewering of the gender stereotypes deeply embedded within Disney’s tales. DISENCHANTED! presents itself as a pro-feminist musical comedy, but despite some clever moments, the material doesn’t quite reach the level of sophisticated satire.
THE SIGN IN SIDNEY BRUSTEIN’S WINDOW is Life Purging its Imperfections
Men with big dreams, women fighting for visibility and love at the same time, while ignorance and bigotry divide people; though this sounds like the ingredients to contemporary mayhem, its roots are found in a play set in the 1960s.
CHIMERICA—a Story for Today, Tomorrow, and Generations to Come
The relationship between America and China is complicated, and in a political season where China’s economic power is a constant talking point, Timeline’s production of CHIMERICA seems as timely as it is mentally exhausting.
Sleek CHICAGO Has Plenty of Polish But Lacks Grit
The national tour of CHICAGO that arrived at Broadway In Chicago’s Cadillac Palace Theatre Tuesday night has glimmers of the shine and glitz at the heart of this musical about Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly’s ruthless journey towards fame and notoriety—timely themes that have allowed the current Broadway revival to play on for two decades.
Keeping Magic Relevant in the 21st Century
Wonder and amazement through secrecy, surprise, and trickery are difficult to pull off these days. We may not know how a magic trick works, but we comprehend enough about how magicians dupe us not to be surprised by another version of sawing a lady in half or the cups and balls.
A PIECE OF MY HEART Full of Originality, Grace, and Depth
As a woman, telling your emotional story in a male dominated society is hard. This story is even harder to tell when you are a woman working in the US Army in Vietnam, and there are people dying all around you.
LITTLE SHOP Makes for A Delectable Evening on Skid Row
American Blues Theater’s triumphant LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS will have Chicago audiences clamoring to head downtown to Skid Row. This intimately staged production has a full sound (with music director Austin Cook leading a four-piece band, you can feel the vibrations of the bass in the floor) and provides an all-encompassing, fully entertaining spectacle.
ONCE IN A LIFETIME – A Masterclass at Strawdog
Kaufman & Hart’s 1930’s comedy ONCE IN A LIFETIME stands strong on its own and is also a wonderful tribute to the work that they’ve accomplished in that space.
DEATH OF A STREETCAR Is a Non-Stop Laugh Riot
However you get there, alone or in packs, get ye hence to Writers Theater before Blanche and that “rattle-trap street-car bangs through the Quarter…” for the last time.
MIKE MOTHER Leaves Open Wounds in Its Wake
In the spirit of non-illusory theater (The Neo-futurists pioneered this genre in 1988), I’d like to submit a meta-assessment. MIKE MOTHER weaves in and out of the present moment and current reality, leaving in its wake open wounds, left gaping so they can be pointed at and acknowledged that they gape on purpose by their poetic author, all of it charged by the electricity coming off of a very energetic opening night crowd. The Neos’ community knows best about the strength and vulnerability required for their brand of immediacy.