CHICAGO THEATER REVIEWS

What did our critic think of SWING STATE at Goodman Theatre? Rebecca Gilman shows her deftness at writing “slice of life” plays in SWING STATE at Goodman Theatre. In this latest collaboration with outgoing Goodman Theatre Artistic Director Robert Falls, Gilman introduces four characters at a cro...

What did our critic think of CLUE at Mercury Theater Chicago? Mercury Theater’s CLUE is a comedic delight of a production. The laughs flow freely and easily in this stage adaptation of the farce-meets-murder-mystery based on the iconic 1985 film. Director L. Walter Stearns’s ensemble lands each ...

What did our critic think of BULL: A LOVE STORY at Copley Theatre, Aurora IL?...

What did our critic think of THE NOTEBOOK at Chicago Shakespeare Theater? THE NOTEBOOK is a pretty musical indeed. The musical treats Allie and Noah’s love story with a lighter touch than its source material, and the overall result is moving and graceful....

Wicked is back in Chicago. The first time it played here, it ran for more than three and a half years. Directed by Joe Mantello, musical staging (choreography) by Wayne Cilento and a stunning set by Eugene Lee along with the lighting by Kenneth Posner once again transports the audience back to Oz an...

What did our critic think of SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET at Chopin Theatre?...

Feed Me/Do Not Feed the Plants - which is it?...

In CLYDE’S, playwright Lynn Nottage posits that salvation comes in the form of a sandwich...in more ways than one....

It's so nice to have you back!...

What did our critic think of THE MOST SPECTACULARLY LAMENTABLE TRIAL OF MIZ MARTHA WASHINGTON at Steppenwolf Theatre Company? Steppenwolf’s season opener THE MOST SPECTACULARLY LAMENTABLE TRIAL OF MIZ MARTHA WASHINGTON is a wild fever dream of a play. James Ijames’s play asks audiences to grappl...

What did our critic think of ARSENIC AND OLD LACE at Court Theatre? Joseph Kesselring's 1941 play ARSENIC AND OLD LACE combines farce, explicitly dark comedy, and a little murder. Director Ron OJ Parson's decision to envision the central Brewster family as a wealthy Black American family gives the p...

What did our critic think of DREAMGIRLS at Paramount Theatre Aurora IL?...

What did our critic think of MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS at Drury Lane Theatre Oakbrook Terrace IL?...

What did our critic think of THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA at Nederlander Theatre? Haute mess. Fashion weak. Prêt-à-poor taste. I could go on with the fashion puns all day, but suffice to say THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA, the new musical which opened Sunday in not quite ready for the runway in its current state....

What did our critic think of REVIEW: MERCURY'S MAGICAL PRISCILLA QUEEN OF THE DESERT at Mercury Theater Chicago?...

What did our critic think of GET OUT ALIVE at Haven Chicago? Lynette is not afraid to share the vivid, traumatic details of her life with the audience, including her suicide attempt. While I don’t usually provide content warnings for any theater, the way Lynette recounts some of her past experienc...

What did our critic think of IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE at Chicago Shakespeare Theater? Kellen Blair and Joe Kinosian’s IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE is campy musical theater fun that pays homage to the 1953 “B-movie” from which it’s adapted. In the vein of musicals like LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, Bl...

What did our critic think of WHERE WE BELONG at Goodman Theatre? Madeline Sayet proves herself to be a powerful and magnetic storyteller in her one-woman play WHERE WE BELONG. Sayet has structured her text so the story becomes more personal and poetic as it progresses, and under the direction of Mei...

What did our critic think?With direction by Kent Gash, Steppenwolf’s staging of CHOIR BOY hits all the right notes. Steppenwolf ensemble member Tarell Alvin McCraney’s play is is a heartwrenching and tuneful story about Pharus— a young gay Black man who relishes nothing more than his role as t...

Britta Johnson's LIFE AFTER is a deeply moving and creative new musical that beautifully probes the complexities of grief and the accompanying anxiety and unanswered questions it brings in its wake. See what our critic had to say. ...

What did our critic think? Kokandy Productions' staging of CRUEL INTENTIONS: THE '90S MUSICAL is a fun romp filled with '90s nostalgia and some banging vocals from director Adrian Abel Azevedo's ensemble....

What did our critic think of STEEL MAGNOLIAS at Drury Lane Theatre Oakbrook Terrace, IL? Walking into Drury Lane Theatre in Oakbrook Terrace, the set jumps out immediately. There is no curtain. I had to walk up to the lip of the stage to look at it. Angela Weber Miller's design is perfection. A can ...

In cullud wattah, Erika Dickerson-Despenza compellingly weaves the personal and political. The play is ultimately a narrative of resilience as the women in the play struggle with environmental racism and to econcile with the tension between their desire for justice (especially in ainee’s case) and...

American Idol alumni and real-life married couple Diana DeGarmo and Ace Young take the stage in SKATES: A New Musical. While Christine Rea and Rick Briskin’s musical bills itself on the whole as an exercise in nostalgia, the most nostalgic part of SKATES for me was seeing DeGarmo and Young perform...

Lookingglass Theatre Company’s signature LOOKINGGLASS ALICE has returned to Water Tower Water Works—and it’s just as whimsical and delightful as I remember it when I first saw the production back in high school. Director David Catlin’s charming and inventive adaptation combines storytelling ...