CHICAGO THEATER REVIEWS

Timeline Theatre and Broadway in Chicago have gifted audiences with a EUREKA DAY that cements the play as one of the most prescient in the contemporary canon while also reaffirming Chicago’s reputation as an ambassador of daring theatrical works....

The 8th AnnChicago International Puppet Theater Festival kicked off with a bang, thanks to Wakka Wakka’s production of DEAD AS A DODO, a visually stunning and absolutely heartfelt piece of theater....

What did our critic think of YESTON & KOPIT'S PHANTOM IN CONCERT at BrightSide Theatre?...

There are 2 artistic performances in Chicago when you know its Christmastime. One is the Goodman’s A Christmas Carol and the other is the Joffrey Ballet’s Nutcracker at the Lyric....

Thanks to Buddy the Elf, ELF THE MUSICAL has plenty of holiday cheer. Jack Ducat has large shoes to fill as the beloved film character Buddy, a now adult man raised on the North Pole by Santa (Andrew Hendrick) and his elves— who must then venture into the wilds of New York City to meet his human f...

This year's timeless and timely production, under the thoughtful yet daring direction of Malkia Stampley, runs through December 31....

Don’t forget where you came from. Words spoken by Sam Phillips, founder and owner of Sun Records, to Elvis Presley. The holiday production at the Marriott Lincolnshire Theatre is Million Dollar Quartet Christmas. It continues the story where Million Dollar Quartet ends. ...

An aptly titled song from one of the greatest songwriters of the 20th Century, Irving Berlin. The holiday offering at Aurora’s Paramount Theatre is Irving Berlin’s White Christmas. Jeff Award-winning director Stephen Schellhardt has created a musical that will stay with you long after the last n...

AMADEUS at Steppenwolf Theatre Company is a lively and sprawling production of Peter Shaffer’s play. Director Robert Falls, the recently retired former Goodman Theatre Artistic Director, makes his Steppenwolf directorial debut with one of the best uses of Steppenwolf’s Ensemble Theater I’ve se...

HELL’S KITCHEN, the Alicia Keys jukebox musical now making its Chicago premiere as part of the first national tour, has a messy storyline wrapped in slick packaging. While the show is loosely based on Keys’s childhood in Manhattan, the storytelling is generic, and the songs are often awkwardly i...

What did our critic think of JEKYLL & HYDE at Kokandy Productions?...

It’s just a jump to the left… famous words that the audience is waiting for.  The first show at BrightSide Theatre for its 14th season dedicated to For the Fun of It is Richard O’Brien’s campy, cult classic The Rocky Horror Show....

What did our critic think of THE SOUND OF MUSIC at Nederlander?...

This new PARANORMAL ACTIVITY play (based on Paramount Pictures’ PARANORMAL ACTIVITY horror films) has terrific stage effects and absolutely creeped me out. Based on the merits of the script alone, there’s not much to recommend in the material. But it leaves plenty of room for creepy effects and ...

HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS OF STARS comes at an eerily relevant time. While I didn’t think all elements of the material worked, this play is a good reminder that navigating the immigrant experience without making any mistakes is an impossible feat....

REVOLUTION(S) is truly unlike any other show I’ve seen at the Goodman. While I think the material still has some rough edges, that’s fitting of the subject matter. The themes introduced here aren’t neat and tidy, so the material shouldn’t be, either. This musical has a pulsing, urgent energy...

ROME SWEET ROME, the latest production from the Q Brothers Collective at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, has a cool concept: JULIUS CAESAR, but make it hip hop. Like the group’s previous endeavors, the show takes a classic Shakespeare play and updates it with modern sensibilities. The resulting show,...

I ruined his life…. Whose life? Frank Sinatra. The newest production at the Studebaker Theater is Elizabeth McGovern’s play Ava: The Secret Conversations. She wrote the play which is based upon Peter Evans’ and Ava Gardner’s book “The Secret Conversations”....

Yes this cast of Grease at the Metropolis Performing Arts Center do go together. The well known musical about life at Rydell High is a joyous, foot stamping, sing along quietly, fun production. The story follows new student Sandy Dumbrowski (Morgan Wolfe in her Metropolis debut) and Danny Zuko (Eric...

MR. WOLF simultaneously fascinated and repulsed me. This play from Rajiv Joseph, now in its Chicago premiere to kick off Steppenwolf’s 50th anniversary season, is gripping and terrifying....

ASHLAND AVENUE is a genial and charming play set in Chicago. Directed by Goodman Theatre’s Artistic Director Susan Booth, the Chicago setting of Lee Kirk’s world premiere certainly seems fitting for the opening of the theater’s centennial season. But this isn’t the kind of gritty, metaphoric...

The Joffrey Ballet’s current production and premiere at the Lyric Opera House is George Bizet’s eternal Carmen. The late, great choreographer Liam Scarlett conceived a ballet which is both classic, modern and seductive....

Kristoffer Diaz’s THINGS WITH FRIENDS is one extremely chaotic, messy dinner party. This world premiere introduces a variety of different flavors that come together for an undercooked meal....

Returning to the Windy City for a second term after a critically acclaimed run last August, 44 ('The Obama Musical') already feels like an artifact from a different, more optimistic time. ...

A young Frank Abagnale, Jr. (JJ Niemann in his bravura Marriott debut) wants to live a more colorful life. Thus begins his criminal career. The current production at Marriott Lincolnshire is the musical Catch Me If You Can which is based upon the movie and book of the same name....