CHICAGO THEATER REVIEWS

The very first snowflakes of Chicago?s coming winter season started to fall on me this past Sunday afternoon, as I made my way out of Steppenwolf Theatre Company?s Near North Side complex and a press performance in the Upstairs Theatre of Conor McPherson?s ?Dublin Carol.? That is the most Christmasy...

The Chicago Jazz Orchestra took on a big challenge - honoring the work of the late, great Ella Fitzgerald and they met it with imagination, class, great music and sass. The result was an almost perfect afternoon hearing some of jazz's' great songs interpreted by three of today's most gifted jazz sin...

After extensive development in New York at the York Theatre and the Vineyard Theatre, the world premiere of the musical 'The Medium at Large' took place Sunday afternoon, October 19, 2008, at the Village Players Performing Arts Center in Oak Park, Illinois, just over Chicago's western border. Starri...

Victory Gardens, the 2001 Tony winning Chicago Theater, opened its 2008/09 season last night (October 13, 2008) with an interesting take on the Orpheus Myth. Eurydice, by Sarah Ruhl, is definitely not your college professor's version of the Greek Myth... ...

The title alone with its irreverent reference to one of the most iconic proto-feminist figures of the 20th century is enough to scare a few people off. Those theatergoers who do decide to take the plunge will undoubtedly walk in…for a pleasant surprise....

Three years after its Broadway debut, the lively musical comedy 'All Shook Up' has found a perfect Chicagoland setting at Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire. This fast-paced show is a real crowd-pleaser, with frequent moments of mistaken identity, gender confusion and unexpected love triangles....

Where to begin? I have so many things to say about the world premiere production of the musical 'Turn of the Century' at Chicago's Goodman Theatre, a show with more than a dash of incisive sophistication, that I hardly know how to start this review. I'll just say that it is an extraordinarily beauti...

'Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde', which opened September 25th at the Northlight Theatre in suburban Chicago, is a beautifully mounted production and well worth two hours of your time. The two level set by Collete Pollard is minimalist but combined with John Horan's lighting amply support the excellent stagin...

There is a big, steaming bowl of borscht on display in northwest Indiana, where Theatre at the Center's production of the 2000-2001 hit stage musical 'The Producers' is playing now through October 19th....

I have news for all you fans of Donna Sheridan: 'Mamma Mia!' isn't about her, it's about her daughter!...

For the zippiest and most whimsical performance on the boards in Chicago this fall, look no further that the under-two-hours, no intermission production of the legendary 'Candide,' produced by Porchlight Music Theatre at Lakeview's Theatre Building Chicago....

In development since 2003, and with three showcase productions in its hip pocket, the original musical 'Love in the Middle Ages' had its fully-staged world premiere Friday night, August 22, 2008, much to the pride and delight of the opening crowd of well-wishers at the suburban Oak Park Village Play...

Young producers Kyle and Drew DeSantis and Artistic Director William Osetek are on a roll with their Drury Lane Oakbrook Terrace revisal of Rodgers and Hart's 'The Boys from Syracuse.'...

The eight-year-old musical 'The Full Monty' is receiving what is surely one of its very best productions to date, now through September 21st at the Marriott Theatre in the far north Chicago suburb of Lincolnshire, Illinois....

Veteran Chicago theatergoers will recall the long-running production of the musical called simply 'Phantom,' at the now-razed Candlelight Dinner Playhouse in southwest suburban Summit, Illinois. The show, written in the 1980s by composer/lyricist Maury Yeston and bookwriter Arthur Kopit as a follow-...

That roar you heard in Chicago's Loop Monday evening, June 30th, was the enthusiastic opening night audience at the Goodman Theatre, where the volcanic excitement generated by a summertime, homegrown production of the 'Fats' Waller musical 'Ain't Misbehavin' will very nearly blow the roof off the pl...

'Gutenberg! The Musical!' is a fun night out, delivering more laughs than many a big budget show......

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Now on tour in celebration of more than 50 years as a recording artist, the legendary Johnny Mathis showed the kids how it's done on Saturday night, May 31st....

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Simply put, 'Avenue Q' is a brilliant musical comedy, written, staged and performed by brilliant people, saying brilliant, insightful things about young adulthood and life in general-and the actors are having a fantastic time on stage every single night....

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Multicultural story theater, with a touch of romance and a large dollop of stage fights, is on display now at the Lookingglass Theatre Company in Chicago......

The current national tour of the Stephen Sondheim/Hugh Wheeler musical 'Sweeney Todd' blew into the Windy City for a two-week engagement at the Cadillac Palace Theatre this week, revealing that the show is so strong as originally written that almost any style of storytelling will reveal its truths. ...