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 […]
Joyce Piven and her late husband, Byrne Piven, began telling stories 40 years ago at their eponymous theater. Creating a distinctive theatrical style, they started with a show based on some of Anton Chekhov’s stories. Evanston’s small but influential Piven Theatre is now celebrating its 40th anniversary with show aptly titled “Encores.” It isn’t a […]
It’s hard to watch “the nicest kids in town” without reflecting on the iconic “American Bandstand’s” place in the nation’s history. And the death of Dick Clark just days before Drury Lane’s opening of the musical, “Hairspray,” makes it darn near impossible. That’s mostly a good thing. With introspection evident in the opening night crowd, […]
With May comes celebration of the hardest job on the planet—motherhood. What better way to say thank you to the woman who facilitated one’s worldly existence than the gift of live theatre? These Chicagoland offerings deserve to be included among this May’s flowers. MARRIOTT LINCOLNSHIRE THEATRE FOR YOUNG AUDIENCES “JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT” […]
“The March” is about war, but Frank Galati’s stage adaptation of E.L. Doctorow’s novel doesn’t feel like a battle. Gunshots ring out a few times, and bodies spill blood on the Steppenwolf Theatre’s stage. But this Civil War drama is more about the the moments of fearful anxiety before the bullets fly, and the quiet […]
The press release is spot on. “The Marriott Theatre (in Lincolnshire) presents A TREASURE CHEST OF ALL-STARS in, ‘The Pirates of Penzance’” through June 10. Led by hometown-boy-back-from-Broadway-success Kevin Earley as the Pirate King and Broadway-credentialed Omar Lopez-Cepero as Frederic, a massive ensemble of regional and local stars energetically swashbuckles its way through the W.S. […]
If you had told me 22 years ago, back when I was managing Frontera Grill and Topolobampo, that in 2012 I would be writing a theatre review of Chef Rick Bayless starring in a Tony-winning theater production, I would have laughed. Sure, Rick is a fantastic chef. But can he act? Can he dance? Can […]
