No one famous died when an excursion boat called the Eastland tipped over in the Chicago River on July 24, 1915. “Only dusty men with dusty books know or care who was lost,” a character sings near the sorrowful conclusion of Lookingglass Theatre’s new musical “Eastland.” By the end of Andrew White’s moving and finely […]
As the curtain signifying the end of another fabulous North Shore summer closes, many others are set to rise for the area’s shining stage hopefuls who seek to become the next Megan Hilty or Matthew Morrison.
If the review of a long-loved musical-theater standard begins with kudos for outstanding sound engineering and a fantastic pit orchestra, it probably doesn’t conclude with the words, “highly recommended.”
One word offered up by my friend summed up our experience at the opening performance of “The Blonde, the Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead.”
Chicago’s summer theater scene runs the gamut—from serious to silly, musical to moving.
The meta-musical isn’t all that new an idea.
You’ve never seen a puppet show like this before! Eric Carle’s stories come to life in a magical new performance produced by Chicago Children’s Theatre and the Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia. The show, “A Brown Bear, a Moon and a Caterpillar: Treasured Stories by Eric Carle,” showcases three of Carle’s time honored classics with […]
It feels good to laugh, and Citadel Theatre’s production of the popular farce “Lend Me a Tenor” has everything from chuckles to just plain guffaws. The little stage in the 150-seat theater on the west campus of Lake Forest High School rocks with the antics of overblown characters who find themselves in bizarre situations. And […]
“Timon of Athens” is not among Shakespeare’s greatest hits, but its production at Chicago Shakespeare Theater directed by the company’s founder and artistic director Barbara Gaines, is surprisingly powerful.
The combination of Eugene O’Neill, Brian Dennehy, and Robert Falls has yielded huge artistic returns over the years for the Goodman. Falls’ current staging of O’Neill’s “The Iceman Cometh” raises the already-formidable stakes by tossing the star wattage of Nathan Lane into the mix. But even if you go into this long (five hours with […]
