Review: WINDFALL at Steppenwolf Theatre Company
by Rachel Weinberg - April 20, 2026
Tarrell Alvin McCraney’s world-premiere play WINDFALL is part somber, part whimsy — which is true to his unique playwriting style. It’s a poignantly topical play, yet sometimes too on the nose. I enjoyed how McCraney blends the hyperreal and the surreal in a play that asks the question: Should...
Review: HEARTBREAK HOTEL at Marriott Theatre, Lincolnshire
by Tina St. Angelo - April 20, 2026
What did our critic How great to be known by one name…. Dixie Locke (Anna Louise Bramlett) says that to Elvis Presley about Marlon Brando before Elvis becomes one name. The current production at the Marriott Lincolnshire Theatre is Heartbreak Hotel. This tells the story of Elvis’ rise up to the ...
Review: GOODNIGHT MOON At Chicago Children's Theatre
by Emily Werner - April 14, 2026
What did our critic think of REVIEW: GOODNIGHT MOON AT CHICAGO CHILDREN'S THEATRE at Chicago Children's Theatre? The 65-minute performance is filled with music, dance, comedy, acrobatics and puppetry....
Review: MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM at Goodman Theatre
by Rachel Weinberg - April 07, 2026
MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM is a well-acted, slow-burn character study. August Wilson’s 1982 play centers on a fictitious 1927 Chicago album recording, as the musicians gather and wait for the notorious Ma Rainey (or Madam Rainey, as she demands they call her) to record her latest album. Ma Rainey ...
Review: THE ALLY at Theater Wit
by Emily Werner - April 01, 2026
Theater Wit opens the Midwest premiere of The Ally on March 30, 2026. Originally premiering in February 2024 at New York City’s Public Theater, Itamar Moses’ play was a finalist for the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Blending dark comedy with urgent social questions, The Ally challenges its audi...