All stories by Lawrence Bommer on BroadwayStars

Thursday, December 13, 2018

Tour Theater Review: CIRQUE DREAMS HOLIDAZE (Chicago Theatre) by Lawrence Bommer

IT’LL LEAVE YOU DAZED AND CIRQUE-FUSED Neil Goldberg has a fine formula for his fantastic franchise. His eleven Cirque Dreams spectaculars feature ever-changing processions of dazzling…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 04:30PM
Tuesday, December 11, 2018

Theater Review: THE FULL MONTY (Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre in Evanston) by Lawrence Bommer

GET YOUR FULL For the sake of the butterfly we love the cocoon. The Fully Monty, a musical version by David Yazbek and Terrence McNally, is industriously inspired by the popular 1997 film a…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 03:22PM
Saturday, December 8, 2018

Chicago Dance Review: HUBBARD STREET DANCE CHICAGO (Season 41 Winter Series at the Harris) by Lawrence Bommer

GROUP DYNAMICS SURGE AT HUBBARD STREET DANCE CHICAGO Four world premieres, especially crafted by in-house choreographers for the skills and needs of their company colleagues, display a tales…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:33AM
Thursday, December 6, 2018

Theater Review: THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG (National Tour) by Lawrence Bommer

THE PLAY ABOUT THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG GOES WRONG The title is brutally honest — and you can’t say you weren’t warned. In the style of Monty Python and Michael Frayn’s self-dest…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:33PM
Sunday, December 2, 2018

Chicago Dance Review: Christopher Wheeldon’s THE NUTCRACKER (The Joffrey Ballet) by Lawrence Bommer

TAKING ANOTHER CRACK: AN UPDATE ON MARIE AND THE GREAT IMPRESARIO No matter how many times you see it, you will ALWAYS be amazed by the gorgeous Nutcracker that Christopher Wheeldon imagin…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 01:07PM
Tuesday, November 27, 2018

Chicago Theater Review: FAMILIAR (Steppenwolf) by Lawrence Bommer

STRIDENTLY SILLY, THEN SUDDENLY SERIOUS The title Familiar alludes to family—and, when loved ones squabble over who they are and where they come from, this title questions just what is�…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 01:19PM
Sunday, November 25, 2018

Chicago Theater Review: HELA (Sideshow Theatre and Greenhouse Productions) by Lawrence Bommer

FROM CANCER TO THE COSMOS, OR TO HELA AND BACK There’s cold fusion and then there’s hot fusion–the theatrical kind. In the world-premiere HeLa, an awesome co-production by Sidesho…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:21AM
Thursday, November 22, 2018

Chicago Theater Review: THE STEADFAST TIN SOLDIER: A CHRISTMAS PANTOMIME (Lookingglass) by Lawrence Bommer

A PERFECT TEN OUT OF TIN, OR YOURS, MIME, AND OURS This “soldier” is well worth saluting: There’s an enchanting Christmas Pantomime on Michigan Avenue — Lookingglass Theatre Comp…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 12:49PM
Wednesday, November 21, 2018

Chicago Theater Review: THE DARK AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRS (Eclipse Theatre Company) by Lawrence Bommer

INGE’S NOISY DESPERATION Mission accomplished: Eclipse Theatre Company characteristically concludes its season with a play that wears a big heart on an open sleeve. The troupe, which culti…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:38PM
Sunday, November 11, 2018

Opera Review: IOLANTA (Chicago Opera Theater) by Lawrence Bommer

HOT IOLANTA, OR LOVE REALLY IS BLIND A glorious 126-year-old discovery just happened again. First performed at Saint Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theater in 1892 (on a double-bill with The Nutc…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 03:18PM
Friday, November 9, 2018

Chicago Theater Review: THIS BITTER EARTH (About Face Theatre at Theater Wit) by Lawrence Bommer

BITTER END The gulf is clear from the start. Joe Schermoly’s set consists of interconnected boxes that create shelves which suggest two apartments separated by a crosswalk. It’s an apt d…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 05:29PM
Sunday, November 4, 2018

Chicago Theater Review: 110 IN THE SHADE (BoHo Theatre at Theater Wit) by Lawrence Bommer

A SHOW TO END ANY THEATER DROUGHT It’s a “big sky” story with a ton of heart, this other musical created by Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones, composer and lyricist of The Fantasticks a…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:31PM
Tuesday, October 30, 2018

Chicago Theater Review: LADY IN DENMARK (Goodman Theatre) by Lawrence Bommer

WHEN REALISM IS NOT ENOUGH, SOMETHING IS ROTTEN IN DENMARK It’s strange that an enterprise as lavishly bounteous as Goodman Theatre should seem to shrink itself: Currently it’s hosting t…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 01:45PM
Monday, October 29, 2018

Theater Review: WOMEN OF SOUL (WITH A TRIBUTE TO THE QUEEN) (Black Ensemble Theater) by Lawrence Bommer

A CELEBRATION OF DIVAS Three years ago, Black Ensemble Theater’s associate director Daryl D. Brooks created a kinetic tribute called Men of Soul. The revue embraced solid singers whose he…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 12:11PM
Sunday, October 28, 2018

Theater Review: CIRCOLOMBIA: ACÉLÉRÉ (The Yard at Chicago Shakespeare on Navy Pier) by Lawrence Bommer

A COLOSSAL CIRCUS CARAVAN FROM COLOMBIA Three rings do not make a circus, any more than “two boards and a passion” make a play. Sometimes all you need is fifteen performers for for sixty…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:46PM
Friday, October 26, 2018

Chicago Theater Review: MASTER CLASS (TimeLine Theatre at Stage 773) by Lawrence Bommer

LA DIVINA EXPLAINS IT ALL FOR YOU After she prematurely destroyed her once “smoky,” soaring voice, the “prima donna assoluta” — Greek soprano Maria Callas — decided that …

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 01:58PM
Thursday, October 25, 2018

Theater Review: HELLO, DOLLY! (National Tour) by Lawrence Bommer

IT ONLY TAKES A MUSICAL To start with, let’s agree to never say “Goodbye, Dolly.” Thornton Wilder’s genius for the common touch isn’t just a golden legacy in Our Town or The Ski…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 01:23PM
Monday, October 22, 2018

Theater Review: PRIVATE PEACEFUL (Greenhouse Theater Center in Chicago and on tour) by Lawrence Bommer

TRENCH STAGEFARE It’s a small-scale marvel, a feat to treasure: In only 80 minutes director/adaptor Simon Reade and performer Shane O’Regan do total justice to Private Peaceful, Michael…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 12:58PM
Sunday, October 21, 2018

Chicago Theater Review: GYPSY: A MUSICAL FABLE (Porchlight Music Theatre at Ruth Page Center) by Lawrence Bommer

LET HER ENTERTAIN YOU! Some people say Gypsy: A Musical Fable is the greatest Broadway musical ever written. And some people are probably right. It isn’t just a stirring story of an …

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 03:50PM
Friday, October 19, 2018

Theater Review: FRANKENSTEIN (Remy Bumppo Theatre Company at Theater Wit) by Lawrence Bommer

MARY SHELLEY’S ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: FRANKENSTEIN’S TRICK IS OUR TREAT Creating a Halloween story for all seasons in a novel that launched a terror genre, Mary Wollstonecraft Shel…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 01:27PM
Thursday, October 18, 2018

Theater Review: IT’S ONLY A PLAY (Pride Films and Plays at the Pride Arts Center) by Lawrence Bommer

THIS TURKEY IS SO SCARY, YOU HAVE TO KEEP REPEATING TO YOURSELF, “IT’S ONLY A PLAY… IT’S ONLY A PLAY…” There’s a glaring contradiction in It’s Only a…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 03:02PM
Sunday, October 14, 2018

Theater Review: PIPPIN (Mercury Theater Chicago) by Lawrence Bommer

THE HOLY ROMAN EMPEROR AS FLOWER CHILD Some shows stay young by never growing up: Stephen Schwartz’ silly-stupid 1972 musical is the (im)perfect example of a musical that’s saved by its …

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 01:29PM
Friday, October 12, 2018

Theater Review: FLYIN’ WEST (American Blues Theater) by Lawrence Bommer

FLYIN’ HIGH: THE HEARTLAND SOLIDARITY OF SODBUSTING SISTERS For a while it must have seemed like a black Eden. Founded in 1877, Nicodemus, Kansas was a Reconstruction success story fou…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 05:42PM
Tuesday, October 9, 2018

Theater Review: CRUMBS FROM THE TABLE OF JOY (Raven Theatre in Chicago) by Lawrence Bommer

CRUMBS IS A RICH MEAL Much like Lorraine Hansberry and Tennessee Williams, Lynn Nottage is a memory-monger. She sees truth in small stuff that looms larger later. And as with Arthur Miller o…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 03:34PM
Saturday, October 6, 2018

Chicago Concert Review: JUDY GARLAND: COME RAIN OR COME SHINE (Music Theater Works) by Lawrence Bommer

BACK FROM OVER THE RAINBOW Please don’t take my word for it. See, hear and cherish for yourselves Angela Ingersoll’s wonderful reclamation of the great Judy Garland — the look, voi…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 04:11PM
Thursday, October 4, 2018

Theater Review: CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY (National Tour in Chicago) by Lawrence Bommer

MORE LIKE A SILVER TICKET Saccharinity, like speed, can kill: The guilty pleasure of loving chocolate can, it seems, cover a multitude of sins. Harnessing “pure imagination” as well as a…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 05:49PM
Monday, October 1, 2018

Chicago Theater Review: DOWNSTATE (World Premiere by Bruce Norris at Steppenwolf) by Lawrence Bommer

CHILD MOLESTERS GET A PLAY Some underdogs seem deeply deserving — which makes sympathy for devils a tricky proposition. Pulitzer-winning Bruce Norris has never shied away from upsettin…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:57PM
Sunday, September 30, 2018

Theater Review: NELL GWYNN (Chicago Shakespeare) by Lawrence Bommer

THE BELLE OF COAL YARD ALLEY LEAVES YOU GWYNNING FROM EAR TO EAR When you’re mistress to a monarch, your perch is precarious. Envy supplants praise as, moving from “rags to royalty,” y…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 01:59PM
Tuesday, September 25, 2018

Chicago Theater Review: WE’RE ONLY ALIVE FOR A SHORT AMOUNT OF TIME (Goodman Theatre) by Lawrence Bommer

A RETROACTIVE RECKONING IN 12 SONGS His seventh coming is a gift worth opening. It’s been 13 years since Obie-winner David Cale has appeared on the Goodman Theatre stage. That’s where he…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 03:21PM
Monday, September 17, 2018

Chicago Theater Review: ARMS AND THE MAN (City Lit at Edgewater Presbyterian Church) by Lawrence Bommer

ARMS HAS LEGS George Bernard Shaw was not amused when his serious-minded “pleasant play” Arms and the Man, produced in 1894, was diminished into the 1908 operetta The Chocolate Soldier. …

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 04:57PM
Thursday, September 13, 2018

Theater Review: BIGMOUTH (Chicago Shakespeare) by Lawrence Bommer

FORGET STICKS AND STONES: WORDS WILL ALWAYS HURT YOU Who says words can’t kill? In BigMouth, flawlessly intoning English, Walloon, French, and German (with captions), Belgian solo perfo…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 03:52PM

All that Chat

2024-2025 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 05, 2024: Home - Todd Haimes Theatre
Jul 11, 2024: Oh, Mary! - Lyceum Theatre
Jul 30, 2024: Job - Hayes Theater
Sep 12, 2024: The Roommate - Booth Theatre
Nov 14, 2024: Tammy Faye - Palace Theatre
Dec 12, 2024: Cult of Love - Hayes Theater
Dec 19, 2024: Gypsy - Majestic Theatre
Mar 17, 2025: Purpose - Hayes Theater
Apr 01, 2025: Glengarry Glen Ross
Apr 10, 2025: Smash - Imperial Theatre
TBA: Titanic
TBA: Ragtime