All stories by Erika Mikkalo on BroadwayStars

Saturday, December 3, 2016

Chicago Theater Review: BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (ONEOFUS at MCA) by Erika Mikkalo

THE BEAST DOESN’T CHANGE WHEN KISSED: A HAPPY ENDING Fairy tales may seem ready for ditching into the dustbin of abandoned narrative, taking all their happily ever afters, glittering princ…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 03:10PM
Thursday, October 9, 2014

Chicago Theater Review: ALICE (Upended Productions) by Erika Mikkalo

ALICE IN ANDERSONVILLELAND Fall down the rabbit hole of the thoughtfully absurd Alice by Noelle Krimm, directed by Bilal Dardai. This performance—a reprise of the popular 2004 staging—sh…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 05:36PM
Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Chicago Theater Review: SEASON ON THE LINE (The House Theatre of Chicago at Chopin Theatre) by Erika Mikkalo

STOREFRONT SHENANIGANS Have you ever heard of Bad Settlement Theatre Company? Well, don’t worry about it if you haven’t. Up until the opening of House Theatre’s production of Season on…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 07:46PM
Saturday, September 13, 2014

Chicago Theater Review: THE MIDNIGHT CITY (Firecat Projects at Steppenwolf Theatre) by Erika Mikkalo

THIRTEEN WAYS OF LOOKING AT A CITY As artist, poet, and actor Tony Fitzpatrick prepares to leave Chicago for New Orleans, he presents his theater piece, The Midnight City: a personal convers…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 11:33AM
Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Chicago Theater Review: OTHELLO (The Gift Theatre) by Erika Mikkalo

A JEWEL OF THEIR SOULS The Gift Theatre’s production of Othello – their first Shakespeare, and my first exposure to this company – is a gift indeed. The doubly minimal set, combined wi…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 03:37AM
Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Chicago Theater Review: BELLBOYS, BEARS AND BAGGAGE (Redmoon) by Erika Mikkalo

BUILD-A-BEAR NARRATIVE In this year’s Spring Spectacle, Redmoon provides some characters, some comedy, some cruelty, their trademark whimsy, and ornate production values, but the chronolog…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 01:14AM
Sunday, March 16, 2014

Tour / Chicago Theater Review: ARGUENDO (Elevator Repair Service) by Erika Mikkalo

NUDITY IS AS NUDITY DOES For the sake of argument (“arguendo”), let us consider g-strings as tools of oppression, and pasties as violations of our First Amendment rights. This was the pe…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:12AM
Monday, February 17, 2014

Chicago Theater Review: INTO THE WOODS (The Hypocrites at Mercury Theater) by Erika Mikkalo

WHEN PLAYTIME IS OVER Somewhere between “Once Upon a Time” and “Happily Ever After” there is a very adult world of tests, losses, disappointments, and grief. Despite this, we assert …

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:45AM
Monday, December 16, 2013

Chicago Theater Review: WINTER PAGEANT (Redmoon) by Erika Mikkalo

WAY BETTER THAN A PARTRIDGE IN A PEAR TREE Redmoon’s seasonal performances are not events or even experiences, but passages to a fleeting world of contemporary fable, complete with masks, …

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 07:08PM
Thursday, December 5, 2013

Chicago Theater Review: SANDYLAND (MCA) by Erika Mikkalo

TO KNOW, KNOW, KNOW HER… Singer, comedienne and anti-glam diva Sandra Bernhard thrives on delightfully toying with her adoring throngs. I remember the first time I saw her on the David Let…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 12:27PM
Monday, December 2, 2013

Chicago Theater Review: BLOOD ON THE CAT’S NECK (Trap Door Theatre) by Erika Mikkalo

A CHORUS FELINE A prolific author and auteur, Rainer Werner Fassbinder exulted in display of the seamy and hypocritical side of the post-war German bourgeoisie. He directed forty films, wrot…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:25PM
Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Chicago Theater Review: WHITE RABBIT RED RABBIT (Museum of Contemporary Art) by Erika Mikkalo

THE SPECIFIC ENIGMA OF A BUNNY A play is generally defined as “a staged representation of a story – see: DRAMA.” A circle ensues, because drama is explained to be “a piece of writing…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:52AM
Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Chicago Theater Review: RICHARD III (Wayward Productions at the Den Theatre) by Erika Mikkalo

HAND IN HAND TO HELL’S ANGELS Deceit and destruction reign in Wayward Productions’ hell-bent for leather staging of Richard III, which has been reimagined as biker gang mayhem in a …

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 06:17PM
Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Chicago Opera Review: THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER (Harris Theater) by Erika Mikkalo

THE HORROR OF SELF-DENIAL FUELS INVENTIVE STAGING Chicago Opera Theater has teamed up with Long Beach Opera in California to produce a delightfully disturbing presentation of Philip Glass’…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 12:23PM
Thursday, February 21, 2013

Chicago Theater Review: CRIME SCENE: A CHICAGO ANTHOLOGY (Collaboraction) by Erika Mikkalo

THEATER FOR SOCIAL CHANGE With fifty-two murders to date in 2013 as I write this review – over a murder a day – the death toll in Chicago seems as ubiquitous as it is tragic. Collaboract…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 03:37PM
Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Chicago Theater Review: BENGAL TIGER AT THE BAGHDAD ZOO (Lookingglass) by Erika Mikkalo

FEARFUL SYMMETRY In Rajiv Joseph’s Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, inspired by an actual 2003 event involving occupying soldiers in Iraq, a slain tiger takes center stage and discusses fr…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 10:36PM
Thursday, February 7, 2013

Chicago Theater Review: THE BIRTHDAY PARTY (Steppenwolf) by Erika Mikkalo

PIÑATA FULL OF DARKNESS Don’t be concerned if you don’t receive an invitation to Harold Pinter’s The Birthday Party – the Steppenwolf’s revival production is still an event not to…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:58AM
Friday, January 25, 2013

Chicago Theater Review: CONCERNING STRANGE DEVICES FROM THE DISTANT WEST (TimeLine Theatre) by Erika Mikkalo

A SPECTACULAR AND FASCINATING JOURNEY IN WHICH THINGS ARE NOT AS THEY SEEM Cameras have evolved from room-sized camera obscuras, to the box-like contraption of the nineteenth century, to the…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 03:19PM
Friday, December 7, 2012

Chicago Theater Review: CLOSER THAN I APPEAR (Steppenwolf) by Erika Mikkalo

WHEN THE DECONSTRUCTION OF COMEDY BUILDS LAUGHTER Jeff Garlin, comedian and star performer in HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, appears in his one-man show Closer Than I Appear at the Steppenwol…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:51PM
Thursday, October 4, 2012

Chicago Theater Review: FRESHLY FALLEN SNOW (Chicago Dramatists) by Erika Mikkalo

MEMORIES MAY BE DANGEROUS TO YOUR HEALTH Freshly Fallen Snow, by Chicago Dramatists’ resident playwright M. E. H. Lewis, builds its plot upon a recent scientific advancement:  the possibi…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:57AM
Saturday, September 29, 2012

Chicago Theater Review: GEOGRAPHY OF A HORSE DREAMER (Mary-Arrchie) by Erika Mikkalo

“SINCERE EFFORT” BY A NOSE IN THE FIFTH Sam Shepard’s Geography of a Horse Dreamer offers the lyric combination of the rough and ridiculous we expect of Shepard, with eponymous…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:00AM
Monday, September 17, 2012

Chicago Theater Review: SHAW VS. CHESTERTON: THE DEBATE (Provision Theatre) by Erika Mikkalo

A HEALTHY DEBATE George Bernard Shaw observed that, “The only service a friend can really render is to keep up your courage by holding up to you a mirror in which you can see a noble image…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 10:03PM

All that Chat

2023-2024 BROADWAY SEASON
May 30, 2023: Grey House - Lyceum Theatre
Jun 26, 2023: Just For Us - Hudson Theatre
Jul 24, 2023: The Cottage - Hayes Theater
Nov 16, 2023: Spamalot - St. James Theatre
Dec 18, 2023: Appropriate - Hayes Theater
Mar 07, 2024: Doubt - Todd Haimes Theatre
Apr 14, 2024: Lempicka - Longacre Theatre
Apr 17, 2024: The Wiz - Marquis Theatre
Apr 18, 2024: Suffs - Music Box Theatre
Apr 25, 2024: Mother Play - Hayes Theater
Jun 10, 2024: The Drama Desk Awards