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CHICAGO THEATER REVIEWS

The latest reviews and critic recommendations from Chicago
BWW Review: THE MAGIC FLUTE Brings New Life to a Classic at Lyric Opera

BWW Review: THE MAGIC FLUTE Brings New Life to a Classic at Lyric Opera

by Kathleen Anwar — November 7, 2021
A boy and girl falling in love, a vengeful mother-in-law hunting an alleged kidnapper, and ... a group of Freemasons completing their initiation rituals? Mozart's The Magic Flute is full of surprises at Chicago's Lyric Opera. For opera fans, the greatest surprise of all may be the show's unusual pro...
BWW Review: PUMP BOYS & DINETTES at Porchlight Music Theatre

BWW Review: PUMP BOYS & DINETTES at Porchlight Music Theatre

by Rachel Weinberg — November 5, 2021
After the long pandemic hiatus, Porchlight Music Theatre returns to in-person productions with a feel-good staging of PUMP BOYS & DINETTES. It’s clear that Artistic Director Michael Weber knew that audiences would be craving some classic, lighthearted musical theater sentiment after such a long ti...
BWW Review: WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME at The Broadway Playhouse

BWW Review: WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME at The Broadway Playhouse

by Patrick Rybarczyk — October 29, 2021
Is it a patchwork? Is it a cauldron? Is it a document that needs to abolish, essentially scrapped, and rewritten? It can be argued that The Constitution of the United States is any of these things. That's precisely what is discussed in the fascinatingly urgent WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME....
BWW Review: FANNIE at Goodman Theatre

BWW Review: FANNIE at Goodman Theatre

by Rachel Weinberg — October 26, 2021
E. Faye Butler gives a formidable performance as civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer in Cheryl L. West’s one-woman play....
BWW Review: AS YOU LIKE IT at Chicago Shakespeare Theater

BWW Review: AS YOU LIKE IT at Chicago Shakespeare Theater

by Rachel Weinberg — October 17, 2021
Cloran’s production cleverly unites Shakespeare’s text and the Beatles’ music to come together (pun intended) in a lively and original version of AS YOU LIKE IT....
BWW Review: AMERICAN MARIACHI at Goodman Theatre

BWW Review: AMERICAN MARIACHI at Goodman Theatre

by Rachel Weinberg — September 28, 2021
AMERICAN MARIACHI is an enchanting celebration of female empowerment and mariachi music....
BWW Review: THE WORLD GOES 'ROUND Kicks off Season at The Marriott Theatre

BWW Review: THE WORLD GOES 'ROUND Kicks off Season at The Marriott Theatre

by Kathleen Anwar — September 26, 2021
From beginning to end, the five actors left it all on the stage as they sang, belted and tapped their way through numbers largely focused on love, loss, andhttps://cloudadmin.broadwayworld.com/columnadmin.cfm looking for happiness in the wrong places. ...
BWW REVIEW: MR. BURNS, A POST-ELECTRIC PLAY at Theater Wit

BWW REVIEW: MR. BURNS, A POST-ELECTRIC PLAY at Theater Wit

by Rachel Weinberg — September 9, 2021
It’s not just fitting that MR. BURNS is a play about a post-apocalyptic world, but also one that deeply underscores why art is so important to humanity. Indeed, this production demonstrates that art is what makes us human and empowers us to survive. After such a long time without live theater her...
BWW Review: THE SIGNATURE SHOW Enchants Audiences at The Chicago Magic Lounge

BWW Review: THE SIGNATURE SHOW Enchants Audiences at The Chicago Magic Lounge

by Kathleen Anwar — August 9, 2021
The Chicago Magic Lounge is a true wonder-inducing experience featuring Chicago's own unique brand of magic....
BWW Review: SCHOOL GIRLS; OR, THE AFRICAN MEAN GIRLS PLAY at Goodman Theatre

BWW Review: SCHOOL GIRLS; OR, THE AFRICAN MEAN GIRLS PLAY at Goodman Theatre

by Rachel Weinberg — August 3, 2021
After such a long wait, it’s particularly magical to see this uproariously funny but also tender play that puts young Black women right at its center....
BWW Review: WHY DOGS DON'T TALK at First Folio Theatre

BWW Review: WHY DOGS DON'T TALK at First Folio Theatre

by Kathleen Anwar — July 30, 2021
Why Dogs Don't Talk playfully turns the expression- and assumption- 'Man's Best Friend' on its head....
BWW Review: TEATRO ZINZANNI Presented by Broadway In Chicago

BWW Review: TEATRO ZINZANNI Presented by Broadway In Chicago

by Rachel Weinberg — July 17, 2021
TEATRO ZINZANNI is unabashedly designed to entertain — and it’s at its best when it makes high-flying fun literal with the aerial acts on display. The entire evening exudes energy, and the buzz that comes from being reunited with live performance was palpable....
BWW Review: I HATE IT HERE at Goodman Theatre

BWW Review: I HATE IT HERE at Goodman Theatre

by Rachel Weinberg — July 15, 2021
I didn't hate I HATE IT HERE. In fact, Chicago playwright Ike Holter's 'concept album' play was both uproariously funny and thought-provoking....
BWW Review: DINGLEBERRIES at Interrobang Theatre Project

BWW Review: DINGLEBERRIES at Interrobang Theatre Project

by Patrick Rybarczyk — June 24, 2021
There's a lot of vulnerability that comes with creating art. In the theatre, it can be said that it's the playwright who is the most vulnerable player. It is their words, their ideas, and their voice that are the heart of a production. When entrusting a creative team to bring their work to life, the...
BWW Review: OHIO STATE MURDERS at Goodman Theatre

BWW Review: OHIO STATE MURDERS at Goodman Theatre

by Rachel Weinberg — June 17, 2021
Director Tiffany Nichole Greene stages esteemed playwright Adrienne Kennedy’s OHIO STATE MURDERS with a cinematic twist in this second installment in Goodman Theatre’s Live Series. OHIO STATE MURDERS centers on Suzanne (a harrowing Jacqueline Williams), an accomplished writer who returns to Ohio...
BWW Review: TITANIC (SCENES FROM THE BRITISH WRECK COMMISSIONER'S INQUIRY, 1912) at C

BWW Review: TITANIC (SCENES FROM THE BRITISH WRECK COMMISSIONER'S INQUIRY, 1912) at Court Theatre

by Emily McClanathan — June 17, 2021
In TITANIC (SCENES FROM THE BRITISH WRECK COMMISSIONER’S INQUIRY, 1912), playwright Owen McCafferty poignantly dramatizes eyewitness accounts of the Titanic’s sinking. Based on the British investigation into the shipwreck, the play allows the viewer to observe history unfold as if in real time....
BWW Review: Lyric Opera's THE NEW CLASSICS Free Streaming Concert

BWW Review: Lyric Opera's THE NEW CLASSICS Free Streaming Concert

by Rachel Weinberg — June 9, 2021
If you’re looking for something to help fill that show tunes void, look no further than Lyric Opera’s THE NEW CLASSICS streaming concert....
BWW Review: THE SOUND INSIDE at Goodman Theatre

BWW Review: THE SOUND INSIDE at Goodman Theatre

by Rachel Weinberg — May 13, 2021
Broadcast live from Goodman Theatre’s intimate Owen Theatre, THE SOUND INSIDE intrigues because of the twists and turns in Adam Rapp’s script, but also because it combines cinematic-quality streaming with the thrill of live theater. It’s been over a year since I last stepped inside a theater, ...
BWW Review: THE LAST MATCH at Writers Theatre

BWW Review: THE LAST MATCH at Writers Theatre

by Rachel Weinberg — May 10, 2021
THE LAST MATCH derives its greatest level of poignancy from the fact that it lays bare Tim and Sergei’s interior lives for the audiences....
BWW Review: GOODS at Artemisia Theatre

BWW Review: GOODS at Artemisia Theatre

by Emily McClanathan — May 8, 2021
No talking about politics: this is the rule by which Marla and Sam abide. For them, it’s no mere nicety to ease their way through a holiday dinner with relatives. After 20 years of traveling through space together collecting trash, they’re genuinely trying not to drive each other mad....
BWW Review: Porchlight Music Theatre's NEW FACES SING BROADWAY 1961

BWW Review: Porchlight Music Theatre's NEW FACES SING BROADWAY 1961

by Rachel Weinberg — April 19, 2021
With NEW FACES SING BROADWAY 1961, Porchlight Music Theatre has put together a program that will satisfy the cravings of those who desperately miss live musical theater....
BWW Review: Goodman Theatre's Encore of SMOKEFALL (2013)

BWW Review: Goodman Theatre's Encore of SMOKEFALL (2013)

by Rachel Weinberg — April 13, 2021
It seems most fitting that Goodman Theatre's current encore streaming production of SMOKEFALL exists both in and out of time. Noah Haidle's whimsical play, beloved by critics and audiences when it originally premiered at the Goodman in 2013 (and remounted in 2014), occupies an achronological space....
BWW Review: Goodman Theatre's Encore Streaming of PEDRO PARÁMO (2013)

BWW Review: Goodman Theatre's Encore Streaming of PEDRO PARÁMO (2013)

by Rachel Weinberg — March 31, 2021
Although I don’t often preface my reviews, I think this particular write-up deserves one. As I reflect on my viewing of Goodman Theatre’s current Encore showing of PEDRO PARÁMO, I find it important to note that I’m writing about a production that took place eight years ago. The Goodman presen...
BWW Review: THE SPIN at Interrobang Theatre Project

BWW Review: THE SPIN at Interrobang Theatre Project

by Patrick Rybarczyk — November 1, 2020
...
BWW Review: Porchlight Music Theatre's BROADWAY BY THE DECADE

BWW Review: Porchlight Music Theatre's BROADWAY BY THE DECADE

by Rachel Weinberg — September 28, 2020
Porchlight's streaming program BROADWAY BY THE DECADE provides some much needed musical theater cheer in this unprecedented and challenging year for Chicago theater....
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