Review Roundup: SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE Comes to Chicago Shakespeare Theater

Chicago Shakespeare Theater brings to the stage one of the most popular romantic films of all time, Shakespeare in Love-in an enchanting, music-filled theatrical event staged by acclaimed director Rachel Rockwell. Based on the Academy Award-winner for Best Picture with screenplay by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard, Shakespeare in Love is adapted for the stage by Tony and Olivier Award-winner Lee Hall.

Young playwright Will Shakespeare is stuck. He is overdue in finishing his latest play-a half-baked mess of a comedy called Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter. He finds his muse in Viola de Lesseps, who is driven to do anything-even disguise herself as a man-to fulfill her dream of performing on stage, where no women are permitted. Surrounded by familiar players, including Queen Elizabeth herself, backstage antics collide with onstage dramas. Will and Viola's passionate, forbidden love affair goes on to inspire Shakespeare's masterpiece-the most romantic tragedy ever written. Culminating the Theater's 30th Anniversary Season, this high-spirited romantic comedy is magnificently rendered onstage in the magical intimacy of Chicago Shakespeare's Courtyard Theater, now through June 11, 2017.

Check out the reviews below!

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North West Herland (Regina Belt-Daniels): Dash the dog is Spot, a scene stealer to be sure, but very necessary to the plot. Catherine Smitko is the loyal nurse who aids Viola in her dreams and schemes. Michael Perez is a wonderful Marlowe (the balcony scene where he is mentor to Will's wooing is wonderful). And Dennis Grimes is the very unlikeable,unpleasant, cuckolded Lord Wessex. But I do have my favorites. Scott Danielson only is in a few scenes, but his character, Wabash, is teddy-bear lovable and makes a sweet transition I won't spoil by telling. Linda Reiter, every inch Queen Elizabeth I in demeanor, voice and posture, dominates her brief scenes. She may be acidi, but she is knowledgeable and merciful: "I think I know something about a woman in a man's profession." And the swashbuckling leading actor of the times, aka "The Prince of the Provinces," Ned Alleyn magnificently is played by Luigi Sottile.

Hyde Park Herald (Anne Spiselman): Besides being a romance and a fanciful riff on how Shakespeare might have found his voice and written "Romeo and Juliet," the play is a paean to the theater by men obviously besotted by everything from the mystery of how shows elude impending disaster and come together to the business details. Toying with notions of art mirroring life and visa versa, it posits an Elizabethan England not so very different from our own time, except for the fact that women weren't allowed on the stage and theater people were held in disrepute. For fans of the Bard and the period, it's also an elaborate game with lines from his yet-to-be-written works popping up in unexpected contexts, and his contemporaries putting in appearances.

Chicago Tribune (Chris Jones): Rockwell's production is uniformly well-acted (with a few overly broad exceptions). Nick Rehberger is unpretentious and likable as The Man himself, and Kate McGonigle is pleasing as Viola, a woman who dares to violate the prohibition against females appearing on stage. There are several splendid cameos, including Linda Reiter as Queen Elizabeth (she was especially funny when her trapdoor got stuck at Sunday's opening), the dog Dash as Spot, and, most interesting of all, Michael Perez as a Marlowe, mercifully far from the Rupert Everett archetype.

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