CHICAGO THEATER REVIEWS

The current production at Drury Lane Theatre is Always…Patsy Cline. This is based on a true story, was originally conceived by Ted Swindley and licensed by the Estate of Patsy Cline. It contains 27 of Patsy’s songs and is a two-woman show....

Noah Diaz’s YOU WILL GET SICK is an affecting and unusual play. With direction from Steppenwolf Co-Artistic Director Audrey Francis, it closes out the season in a moving and intriguing manner. ...

This 1972 musical written by Roger O. Hirson with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz – yes of Godspell and Wicked fame – and directed by Bob Fosse, is the current production at BrightSide Theatre. It originally stared John Rubenstein as Pippin and Ben Vereen as Leading Player....

The Second City e.t.c.’s CHAOS THEORY OF EVERYTHING is a potpourri of comedy....

IRAQ, BUT FUNNY serves not only as a masterful satire of British and American colonialism in the Middle East but also as a moving, multigenerational family drama....

KIMBERLY AKIMBO is as oddball of a musical as its name. ...

“What makes a man try to fly in a lawn chair?” is 42 BALLOONS most repeated lyric. It’s on the nose — and it’s repeated across six interludes in Jack Godfrey’s new musical. Based on the real-life story of Larry Walters, who in 1982 reached a height of 16,000 feet flying a lawn chair acco...

The final production of the Joffrey Ballet season is Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. This is a busy ballet created by Tony Award-winning choreographer Christopher Wheeldon. The music by Joby Talbot is rich and aligns precisely with the choreography. Bob Crowley’s costumes also help tell the st...

DIANA THE MUSICAL, the ill-fated Broadway musical about the former Princess of Wales (a filmed version of which was one of the top “hate-watching”programs on Netflix last year) is enjoying its Midwest debut at Theo Ubique....

Despite a few growing pains and a rushed finale, SWEET CHARITY is a great vehicle for the cast’s charming female lead and further evidence that Blank attracts some of the best young musical talent in the city while pushing the envelope of what Chicago storefront theater can accomplish....

Jordan Harrison’s new play THE ANTIQUITIES asks the question, “What does it mean to be human?” It opens with two museum curators inviting the audience to tour a museum displaying relics from the late human era...with the implication that said place exists in a post-human one. This is the first...

The newest production – and it is new in every way – at the Paramount Theatre in Aurora is Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats. Director Trent Stork and a cast of 31 will leave you breathless with this new interpretation....

Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s all-Chicago production of Lolita Chakrabarti’s HYMN is beautifully performed, but the script never quite delivers on the thematic complexity promised by the play’s premise....

Zora Howard’s BUST: AN AFROCURRENTIST PLAY opens with a mystery. In Huntsville, Alabama, Retta (Caroline Stefanie Clay) and Reggie (Ray Anthony Thomas) witness an all too familiar interaction between their friend Randy (Keith Randolph Smith) and two police officers — Tomlin (Mark Bedard) and Ram...

The beginning of Puck’s final monologue in William Shakespeare’s much loved and performed A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This is the current production being performed at BrightSide Theatre in Naperville....

These are lyrics from the song The Blame sung by Captain E.J. Smith, J. Bruce Ismay the owner and Thomas Andrews the ship designer. The ship? The Titanic. The current production at Marriott Theatre is Titanic the Musical. David Girolmo portrays the Captain, Adam Pelty is the owner and Christopher Ka...

Now in its Chicago-area premiere, Joshua Harmon’s Tony-nominated sprawling and ambitious PRAYER FOR THE FRENCH REPUBLIC is a searing and inquisitive look at contemporary Judaism and anti-Semitism....

I usually appreciate when plays show and don’t tell, but THE BOOK OF GRACE really needs more exposition. Directed by Steve H. Broadnax III. Steppenwolf’s production is a new version of Parks’s 2010 play, expanded from its original 100-minute run-time to two and a half hours. Even with the extr...

Near, far, wherever you are…you need to see TITANIQUE if you love musicals and parody. Porchlight Music Theatre’s production, presented in partnership with Broadway In Chicago, easily passes the Marie Kondo test: This show sparks immense joy....

If you enjoy the music of The Kinks, you’ll enjoy SUNNY AFTERNOON....

IT’S BEEN TEN YEARS SINCE EVERYBODY DIED misses the mark on both scares and astute social commentary, but through no fault of its talented and refreshingly diverse cast....

The newest production at the Copley Theatre in Aurora is The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. It’s the story of “12” year olds competing in a spelling bee. Under the direction of Jeff Award-winning Stephen Schellhardt and a set designed by Lauren M. Nichols showcasing a gymnasium, this ...

What did our critic think of LA BOHEME at Lyric Opera Of Chicago? Giacomo Puccini’s heartbreaking La Boheme is playing for 10 performances at the Lyric. Bring a handkerchief. Director Melanie Bacaling, in her Lyric directorial debut, has given this production an emotional feel which is the heart o...

Guys and Dolls is a show to be seen and enjoyed. Vibrant, energetic and just fun. Sometimes an old fashioned Broadway show is needed. Guys and Dolls is that show....

While the play may be meager fare compared to other recent professional offerings, CLUE is undeniably a well-polished evening of hijinks and hilarity—if audiences know what they’re getting themselves into....