Chicago Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations

Review: AMADEUS at Steppenwolf Theatre Company
by Rachel Weinberg - November 17, 2025

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 seen. ...

Review: HELL'S KITCHEN National Tour Presented by Broadway In Chicago
by Rachel Weinberg - November 13, 2025

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 incor...

Review: Kokandy's JEKYLL & HYDE at the Chopin Theatre is not to be missed
by Misha Davenport - October 27, 2025

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

Review: THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW at BrightSide Theatre
by Tina St. Angelo - October 25, 2025

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....

Review: THE SOUND OF MUSIC at The James M. Nederlander Theatre
by Tina St. Angelo - October 25, 2025

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

Review: PARANORMAL ACTIVITY at Chicago Shakespeare Theater
by Rachel Weinberg - October 17, 2025

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 terr...

Review: HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS OF STARS at TimeLine Theatre Company
by Rachel Weinberg - October 16, 2025

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....

Review: REVOLUTION(S) at Goodman Theatre
by Rachel Weinberg - October 16, 2025

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 that is...

Review: ROME SWEET ROME at Chicago Shakespeare Theater
by Rachel Weinberg - September 29, 2025

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, t...

Review: Ava: The Secret Conversations
by Tina St. Angelo - September 28, 2025

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”....

Review: GREASE at Metropolis Performing Arts Centre
by Tina St. Angelo - September 22, 2025

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...

Review: MR. WOLF at Steppenwolf Theatre Company
by Rachel Weinberg - September 22, 2025

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....

Review: ASHLAND AVENUE at Goodman Theatre
by Rachel Weinberg - September 22, 2025

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, metaphorical “bloo...

Review: JOFFREY BALLET CARMEN at Lyric Opera Of Chicago
by Tina St. Angelo - September 21, 2025

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....

Review: THINGS WITH FRIENDS at American Blues Theater
by Rachel Weinberg - September 08, 2025

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....

Review: 44 THE MUSICAL at The Studebaker Theater
by Zac Thriffiley - September 07, 2025

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. ...

Review: CATCH ME IF YOU CAN THE MUSICAL at Marriott Theatre, Lincolnshire IL
by Tina St. Angelo - September 04, 2025

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....

Review: COME FROM AWAY at Paramount Theatre Aurora, IL
by Tina St. Angelo - September 02, 2025

The town of Gander, Newfoundland, is called the Rock. The current production at Paramount Theatre is the emotional but uplifting true story Come From Away by Irene Sankoff and David Hein....

Review: A NEW BRAIN at PrideArts
by Zac Thriffiley - September 02, 2025

While this iteration leans heavily into Finn's chaotic sense of fun, it occasionally rushes through the emotional beats and connections that make the show such a powerful study of illness, hope, and community....

Review: THE TWENTY-SIDED TAVERN Presented by Broadway in Chicago
by Zac Thriffiley - August 18, 2025

This hilarious show should entertain nerds and newcomers alike, though its rules may occasionally test the patience of less familiar viewers....

Review: SIDE BY SIDE BY SONDHEIM at Oil Lamp Theater
by Tina St. Angelo - August 17, 2025

What did our critic think of SIDE BY SIDE BY SONDHEIM at Oil Lamp Theater? I’m Still Here. In a career spanning 69 years and countless songs, it is safe to say that 4 years after the passing of one of the greatest songwriters of the 20th Century, Sondheim is still here. The current production at Oil...

Review: FIDDLER ON THE ROOF at Music Theater Works at The North Shore For The Performing Arts
by Tina St. Angelo - August 10, 2025

The new production at Music Theater Works at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie is Fiddler on the Roof. ...

Review: PARADE at CIBC Theatre Presented By Broadway In Chicago
by Zac Thriffiley - August 07, 2025

Led by two powerful performers and a stunning directorial vision, PARADE marches us into the past to better understand our present....

Review: AMÉLIE at Kokandy Productions
by Rachel Weinberg - August 05, 2025

With AMÉLIE, Kokandy Productions has turned an obscure musical into a charming and intimate production sure to give the warm fuzzies. ...

Review: TRUE WEST at Copley Theatre, Aurora IL
by Tina St. Angelo - July 31, 2025

Part of the dialogue from the current production in the BOLD series at Paramount’s Copley Theatre. The late, great Sam Shepard’s 1980 play True West is running through August 31. There is a reason this series is called BOLD. This is an intense, dark and, at times, funny play. There are moments of ho...