CHICAGO THEATER REVIEWS

If family-friendly musicals were Easter eggs, NightBlue Performing Arts Company's production of Disney's MARY POPPINS is Faberge....

Under the direction of Bartlett Sher (whose work is currently represented on Broadway with Lincoln Center Theater's revival of The King and I, Charles Gounod's 1867 French opera ROMEO AND JULIET comes to opulent, dramatic life--with the quality and grandiosity that characterize Lyric Opera's product...

Coming off of an impressive five 2015 Broadway World awards, suburban-based Up And Coming Theatre stages one of its most ambitious theatrical events yet --Andrew Lippa's THE WILD PARTY--in an Elk Grove Village nightclub. For the most part, it pays off handsomely....

BroadwayWorld.com Chicago reviews the national tour of IF/THEN...

One of the most pervasive images in Sarah Gubbins's play COCKED, now in its world premiere production at Victory Gardens under the direction of Joanie Schultz, is an incredibly shiny silver pistol. This prop pistol reveals itself at the end of the first scene in the play--and while it then quickly d...

When it comes to boosting attendance at Sunday mass, the Chicago Archdiocese could learn a thing or two from the nuns in The Marriott Theatre's latest production, SISTER ACT....

Upon entering the Den Theatre's Heath Main Stage to take in The Hypocrites' production of THE GLASS MENAGERIE, I was immediately struck by the bottles upon bottles of breathtaking glass that cover Grant Sabin's decrepit-yet-beautiful set. Like director Hans Fleischmann's production itself (a remount...

BroadwayWorld.com Chicago reviews the Chicago premiere of Annie Baker's 'The Flick...

Porchlight Music Theatre's production of FAR FROM HEAVEN marks the musical's Chicago premiere--the show debuted Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons in 2013 and takes the titular 2002 Todd Haynes-directed film as its source material. And while this musical from composer-lyricist team Scott Frankel a...

The touring production of Roundabout Theatre Company's CABARET dazzles just as much as it did on Broadway--where it was a critical and commercial success both from 1998-2004 and more recently, when it was remounted from March 2014-March 2015. Now Chicago audiences have the opportunity to witness ori...

'Tend her garden,' Josh Hyman tells the men in the audience at MEN ARE FROM MARS, WOMEN ARE FROM VENUS LIVE! 'And ladies, throw us some fish.'...

Don't change a thing, HIGH FIDELITY; you make the list....

By jove, Mercury Theater cracks the case in adapting a Sherlock Holmes musical!...

Pride Films and Plays heats up the Uptown Underground with BOYS IN BRIEFS: AT THE BEACH!...

Dan LeFranc's world premiere play BRUISE EASY, his second collaboration with American Theater Company, begins by introducing us to the story of two estranged siblings (played by Kelly O'Sullivan and Matt Farabee)-reunited for the first time in several years on the driveway of their mother's house in...

Tony Award-winning director/choreographer Jerry Mitchell scores again with a light-hearted, uplifting GOTTA DANCE....

Equal parts self-congratulatory and self-deprecating--and wholly entertaining--the three-man show BARITONES UNBOUND pays homage to that elusive vocal part between the tenor and the bass: the titular baritone. Conceived by Marc Kudisch (who originated the role of Pastor Greg last spring in Broadway's...

The Chicago engagement of the first national tour of BEAUTIFUL--THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL rightfully earns the show's title. This entertaining and emotional production delivers tons of heart and talent at the Oriental Theatre. This engagement also signals the homecoming for lead Abby Mueller in the ro...

The prince of Chicago Camp, David Cedra is back with a laugh-out-loud homage to Charles Dickens' immortal A Christmas Carol, CHRISTMAS DEAREST....

Like its blessed branch, take it and pass it on....

December 12 marks the 100th birthday of music icon Frank Sinatra and Theo Ubique's winter cabaret is serving up a timely, well-sung tribute to Ol' Blue Eyes, MY WAY...A MUSICAL TRIBUTE TO FRANK SINATRA. Anyone burnt out on the usual holiday fare will find it a soothing tonic....

A grisly tale about the worst theater tragedy in American history in which approximately 600 mostly women and children lost their lives ends up being both life and art-affirming....

Quest presents a sweet, musical version of Dickens' holiday classic....

Audiences looking for a jazzy and celebratory way to get into a holiday mood should look no further than Porchlight Music Theatre's AIN'T MISBEHAVIN'. This Fats Waller musical revue provides plenty of joy and entertainment but remains distinct among the city's holiday offerings because the show's co...

With artful direction and choreography from Susan Stroman, Lyric Opera's mounting of Franz Lehar's well-known 1905 operetta THE MERRY WIDOW sweeps audiences into a joyful waltz, complete with exquisite talent and a production with opulence to spare. This production debuted at the Metropolitan Opera ...