Liz Lauren News

See photos of the Porchlight Music Theatre Chicago premiere of the critically acclaimed musical comedy Ernest Shackleton Loves Me.

Mercury’s production has some fabulous performances, but it doesn’t entirely answer the question of why BIG RIVER needed to be brought out of the archives.

Mercury Theater has released first look production photos from Big River, a musical based on Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Get a look at production photos from Paramount Theatre's production of School of Rock!

It’s only fitting that for his swan song at Goodman Theatre Artistic Director Robert Falls has adapted and directed Anton Chekhov’s THE CHERRY ORCHARD, a play that’s also very much a swan song. With this staging, Falls has completed the cycle of directing all four of Chekov’s full-length plays for the Goodman stage. Fall’s take on THE CHERRY ORCHARD is surprisingly comedic and strips the play of the more obscure Russian references (though it’s still a period piece), which also demonstrates an artful understanding of the text and how 2023 audiences are best primed to receive it. THE CHERRY ORCHARD’s central character, estate owner Lyubov Ranevskaya, desperately clings to her glamorized version of the past even as the world around her moves inexorably forward. It’s a farewell, indeed, and a lesson in learning when to hold on and when to let go.

Chicago Shakespeare Theater Artistic Director Barbara Gaines cleverly marries play and production concept in THE COMEDY OF ERRORS for her final production.

Paramount Theatre has release production photos for Into the Woods, Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's brilliant reimagining of the Grimm Brothers fairy tales, which runs through March 19, 2023. Check out the photos here!

What did our critic think of TONI STONE at Goodman Theatre? TONI STONE is a memory play-in more ways than one. Lydia R. Diamond's play is indeed structured in non-linear (and yet, still mostly chronological order) as the titular Toni Stone recounts her memories as the first woman to regularly play professional baseball. It's also a memory play in the sense that it captures a moment in history that many audiences may not know before they see the work. In real life, Toni Stone played for the Indianapolis Clowns, a Negro League team, in 1953. The play itself never references that year-or any dates in Toni's timeline-outright (the program merely lists the setting as '1920's-1940's USA.') Instead, Toni weaves between different moments in her life, diving in and out of them-much like she might dive to catch a ball in the outfield (although she played second base).

What did our critic think of LADY DAY AT EMERSON’S BAR AND GRILL at Mercury Theater Chicago? To say Alexis J. Roston's performance as Billie Holiday in LADY DAY AT EMERSON'S BAR AND GRILL is a masterclass in acting and singing is no exaggeration. Roston gives the kind of lived-in, seamless performance that only comes from knowing the material intimately well, and indeed, it's a role she's played many times before.

Porchlight Music Theatre has announced, due to popular demand, a new block of tickets for three weeks of performances have been added to its presentation of the Tony Award-winning landmark musical Cabaret, at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts. See photos from the production!

In the ripple, the wave that carried me home, protagonist Janice must metaphorically reckon with her homecoming and her childhood in the fictional Beacon, Kansas.

What did our critic think of CABARET at Porchlight Music Theatre? Porchlight invites audiences into the glittering, gritty world of early 1930s Berlin with John Kander and Fred Ebb’s iconic musical CABARET. Under the direction of Porchlight Artistic Director Michael Weber and with associate direction and choreography by Brenda Didier, this production largely belongs to Erica Stephan in the role of Sally Bowles. As the seductive and desperate nightclub singer, Sally, Stephan is an absolute dream. She not only plays the character’s arc beautifully, moving from artful seduction to total desperation and panic by the show’s end, but she showcases her powerful belt and vocal control in each of Sally’s solo numbers. In this way, Porchlight’s production mirrors Sally’s character arc; as the other characters in the show are awakened to the realities of the Nazi party’s rise to power, they must contend with the fact that life is not, in fact, a cabaret.

Want to know what's coming to Broadway in 2023? This Broadway season will include performances by Jessica Chastain, Josh Groban, Nathan Lane, Laura Linney and many more! Check out a full list of which Broadway shows will open this year.

What did our critic think of TROUBLE IN MIND at TimeLine Theatre Company? TROUBLE IN MIND is a blistering portrait of racial and gender politics on Broadway.

What did our critic think of RENT at Porchlight Music Theatre? Jonathan Larson’s 1996 Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning musical RENT comes to life in a Porchlight production that captures the ethos of the original Broadway production. It also reinvigorates the fresh energy of the musical’s message about love, acceptance, and living in the moment.

Porchlight Music Theatre is presenting the Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical, RENT, music, lyrics and book by Jonathan Larson, at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts through November 27. See photos here!

What did our critic think of SWING STATE at Goodman Theatre? Rebecca Gilman shows her deftness at writing “slice of life” plays in SWING STATE at Goodman Theatre. In this latest collaboration with outgoing Goodman Theatre Artistic Director Robert Falls, Gilman introduces four characters at a crossroads in a small town in rural Wisconsin during summer 2021. It’s marketed as a play about the pandemic, and indeed, SWING STATE contains some references to the COVID-19 pandemic, masks, and vaccines. Ultimately, though, SWING STATE is a pure character study with the notions of pandemic and extinction of the human race in the background, and notions of mortality and despair in the foreground. Yes, it’s a post-pandemic play, but really it’s just allowing us to peer into the lives of these characters at a moment in time. That’s not to say that Gilman’s play isn’t moving, but I found the overall execution to not be as overarching as the set-up purports.

What did our critic think of CLUE at Mercury Theater Chicago? Mercury Theater’s CLUE is a comedic delight of a production. The laughs flow freely and easily in this stage adaptation of the farce-meets-murder-mystery based on the iconic 1985 film. Director L. Walter Stearns’s ensemble lands each and every moment, maximizing the laughs but maintaining the integrity. These actors understand the assignment of both farce and murder mystery: The characters in CLUE take themselves and the outrageous situations of the play deeply seriously, and the ensemble finds the comedy in playing those truths. It’s a near masterclass in how farce should be performed. The fact that the play is only 90 minutes also means the stage adaptation doesn’t overstay its welcome: There’s just enough time to set up the mystery, play the antics, and send audiences home after a delightful, hilarious time.

What did our critic think of THE NOTEBOOK at Chicago Shakespeare Theater? THE NOTEBOOK is a pretty musical indeed. The musical treats Allie and Noah’s love story with a lighter touch than its source material, and the overall result is moving and graceful.

In CLYDE’S, playwright Lynn Nottage posits that salvation comes in the form of a sandwich...in more ways than one.