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Monday, February 22, 2016

Chicago Theater Review: ZIRYAB: THE SONGBIRD OF ANDALUSIA (Silk Road Rising) by Lawrence Bommer

MEETING IN MUSIC In the basement of the Chicago Temple, playwright/actor/musician Ronnie Malley displays his electric affinity for and considerable fluency in a dozen musical tongues. In 75 …

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 07:20PM
Saturday, February 20, 2016

Chicago Theater Review: COCKED (Victory Gardens Biograph Theater) by Lawrence Bommer

PLAY CONTROL A clumsy comedy about our gun-crazed nation, Cocked packs heat but no warmth. Glib, slick and slippery, Sarah Gubbins’ world premiere from Victory Gardens Theater proves there…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 08:28PM
Thursday, February 18, 2016

Chicago Theater Review: 2666 (Goodman Theatre) by Lawrence Bommer

LIFE IS TOO SHORT WHEN ART IS THIS LONG A dozen years ago, dying at 50, Roberto Bolano left his unfinished 2666 as his valedictory. It was, quite simply, the swan song of a spellbinding crea…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 05:38PM
Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Chicago Theater Review: IN A WORD (Strawdog) by Lawrence Bommer

THE LOSSES THAT GROW Only 75 minutes long, this slice of loss by Lauren Yee–a “rolling world premiere” from the National New Plays Network–charts one mother’s tailspin afte…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 04:13PM
Sunday, February 14, 2016

Chicago Theater Review: THE FLICK (Steppenwolf) by Lawrence Bommer

THE SILVER SCREEN IS NOT A MIRROR At three hours long, The Flick takes its—and our—time to not tell a story. Almost all atmosphere (more specifically, totally character), Annie Baker’s…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 03:55PM
Saturday, February 13, 2016

Chicago Theater Review: FAR FROM HEAVEN (Porchlight Music Theatre at Stage 773) by Lawrence Bommer

THE HEART KEEPS ITS REASONS Starring Julianne Moore and Dennis Quaid, Todd Haynes’ 2002 film Far From Heaven told a tale timeless as Romeo and Juliet. But its glimpse of hearts out of sync…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 10:12PM

Chicago Theater Review: LOOKING OVER THE PRESIDENT’S SHOULDER (American Blues Theater) by Lawrence Bommer

PRESIDING OVER HISTORY This is a discovery-rich, impeccably presented journey through our political past: American Blues Theater’s Looking Over the President’s Shoulder takes audiences o…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 08:49AM
Thursday, February 11, 2016

Chicago Dance Review: BOLD MOVES (Joffrey) by Lawrence Bommer

FRENZY IN FEBRUARY Detonating across the Auditorium Theatre’s vast stage through February 21, Joffrey Ballet’s Bold Moves has more of the latter than the former stuff. But this kinetic w…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 09:11PM

Chicago Theater Review: THE EXPLORER’S CLUB (Windy City Playhouse in Irving Park) by Lawrence Bommer

TALLY LOW Doggedly determined to fight yesterday’s battles, Nell Benjamin’s chronic farce The Explorers Club manically mocks the heyday of male British explorers. Fuddy-duddy adventure s…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 12:37AM
Thursday, January 28, 2016

Chicago Theater Review: THE MAN WHO MURDERED SHERLOCK HOLMES (Mercury Theater Chicago) by Lawrence Bommer

TO BAKER STREET AND BEYOND! Not to give anything away but the title character in The Man Who Murdered Sherlock Holmes is not Professor Moriarty, “the Napoleon of crime.” In this life-imi…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 09:24PM
Sunday, January 24, 2016

Chicago Theater Review: THE HAIRY APE (Oracle) by Lawrence Bommer

THE DESCENT OF MAN AS DRAMA Another incendiary offering from Oracle Productions, Monty Cole’s bold take on Eugene O’Neill’s The Hairy Ape is pugilistic and powerful. In his athletic to…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 06:34PM
Saturday, January 23, 2016

Chicago Theater Review: LE SWITCH (About Face Theatre at Theater Wit) by Lawrence Bommer

COMMITMENT CRISES FUEL A CRACKLING COMEDY Many, many gay plays since Stonewall have pitted fidelity against promiscuity, love against sex, and, nowadays, marriage against friendship. Same-se…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 05:51PM
Friday, January 22, 2016

Chicago Theater Review: BYE BYE BIRDIE (Drury Lane) by Lawrence Bommer

EVERYTHING’S FINE IN ‘59 It’s as welcome as flowers that bloom in the spring: A cascading, minute-by-minute hit, Bye Bye Birdie is a showcase for happiness even as it merrily mocks t…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:49PM

Chicago Theater Review: SUNSET BABY (TimeLine) by Lawrence Bommer

LEARNING TO BE LOVED The past clashes with the future in Dominique Morisseau’s Sunset Baby, a drama more of reckoning than reconciliation. Despite her rage at the father she thinks desert…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 12:39PM
Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Chicago Theater Review: THE MUTILATED (A Red Orchid Theatre) by Lawrence Bommer

ANOTHER WALTZ WITH TENNESSEE Tom “Tennessee” Williams never buried his treasures. The ultimate, unashamed “bleeding heart,” this passionate playwright put his soul and guts into ever…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 10:44PM
Monday, January 18, 2016

Chicago Theater Review: THE GILDED AGE: A TALE OF TODAY (City Lit) by Lawrence Bommer

TOO TRUE TO BE NEW Subtitled “A Tale of Today,” Mark Twain’s early novel The Gilded Age was written in (and from) 1873, a dozen years before Huckleberry Finn rafted down the Mississi…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 11:03PM
Thursday, January 14, 2016

Chicago Theater Review: MUTT (Stage Left Theatre and Red Tape Theatre at Theater Wit) by Lawrence Bommer

A SERIOUSLY STUPID SCREAMFEST Premiering in politically correct San Francisco in 2014, Christopher Chen’s cartoon drama purports to address multi-culturalism in politics. This two-act trif…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 09:40PM
Monday, January 11, 2016

Chicago Theater Review: NO WAKE (Route 66 Theatre Company at Greenhouse Theater Center) by Lawrence Bommer

BAGGAGE HANDLING Unprocessed pain can supply grist enough for a playwright’s mill. But an unprocessed play is a lot less. Alas, there’s little design for loving in William Donnelly’s …

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 08:00PM
Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Theater Review: GOTTA DANCE (Pre-Broadway World Premiere at Bank of America Theatre in Chicago) by Lawrence Bommer

SENIOR RUSH No, despite the title, Gotta Dance, a world premiere at Chicago’s Bank of America Theatre, is no musical homage to Gene Kelly or MGM’s musicals. It’s a true-life, feel-goo…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 04:21PM
Monday, December 21, 2015

Chicago Theater Review: DYNAMITE DIVAS, A TRIBUTE TO WOMEN OF SOUL (Black Ensemble) by Lawrence Bommer

A SOUL STORM SUNG TO THE SKIES A tribute to women of soul, Dynamite Divas, despite the title, is not about terrorists with tonsils. A remake and update of a 2001 hit at the Black Ensemble T…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 09:58PM
Monday, December 14, 2015

Chicago Theater Review: BARITONES UNBOUND (Royal George Theatre) by Lawrence Bommer

A VOICE GETS ITS OWN SHOW Despite the name, Baritones UnBound is no comedy about musical kinkiness. A kind of theatrical rebuttal to The Three Tenors (and its many spinoffs), it offers e…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 04:13PM

Chicago Theater Review: DOMESTICATED (Steppenwolf Theatre Company) by Lawrence Bommer

A POUND OF LOVE EXPLODES INTO A TON OF HATE Short of screaming “Fire!” in the theatrical darkness, you can’t imagine a more polemical provocation than Domesticated. As with Grand Con…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 07:33AM
Saturday, December 12, 2015

Chicago Dance Review: HUBBARD STREET DANCE CHICAGO (Season 38 Winter Series at the Harris) by Lawrence Bommer

LEAPING TO THE SOLSTICE Between now and Sunday, four innovative female choreographers offer an evening of motion quests. The Harris Theatre is the backdrop for themes of not-so-close encount…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 12:40PM
Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Chicago Theater Review: THE HEIR APPARENT (Chicago Shakespeare Theater) by Lawrence Bommer

HILARITY HAMMERED HOME, OR AN HEIR TO MISFORTUNE The tone is set from the start: The Heir Apparent begins with a chamber pot being emptied from a balcony window. It answers a question not …

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 05:39PM
Sunday, December 6, 2015

Chicago Dance Review: THE NUTCRACKER (Joffrey) by Lawrence Bommer

TO HAVE AND HAVE NUT After 28 years the Joffrey Ballet is ending Robert Joffrey’s The Nutcracker. All good things, it seems, must come to an end. Next year Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s be…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 06:50PM
Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Chicago Theater Review: A CHRISTMAS CAROL (Goodman Theatre) by Lawrence Bommer

DUMBING DOWN DICKENS It doesn’t matter that A Christmas Carol has drifted from Dickens: Goodman Theatre will never slaughter its sacred (cash) cow. For 38 years now, playing three venues…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 09:04AM
Monday, November 23, 2015

Chicago Theater Review: NO MORE SAD THINGS (Sideshow Theatre Company at Victory Gardens) by Lawrence Bommer

AN ABORTED AFFAIR The “Maui Pipeline,” it seems, has run out of waves. This “co-world premiere” from Boise Contemporary Theater and Chicago’s Sideshow Theatre Company offers an une…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 07:41AM

Chicago Theater Review: ANGINA PECTORIS (ShPIeL–Performing Identity at Theater Wit) by Lawrence Bommer

QUIT WHILE YOU’RE BEHIND Some absurdities are just too stupid for satire. Transparently ridiculous, they automatically self-indict, hanging themselves on their own petard. Such is the obje…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 07:41AM
Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Chicago Theater Review: THE LONG CHRISTMAS RIDE HOME (Strawdog Theatre Company) by Lawrence Bommer

COALS IN EVERYONE’S STOCKINGS Sometimes an entire life can crystallize around a seminal recollection. It can freeze a moment of time into a measure of what did and didn’t come true, what…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 04:55PM
Monday, November 9, 2015

Chicago Theater Review: THE LISBON TRAVIATA (Eclipse Theatre Company) by Lawrence Bommer

WHEN LIFE IMITATES OPERA Life imitates opera: Concluding Eclipse Theatre Company’s season-long retrospective of oeuvres by Terrence McNally (Lips Together, Teeth Apart and A Perfect Gane…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 05:05PM
Friday, November 6, 2015

National Tour Dance Review: TWYLA THARP – 50TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR (Auditorium Theatre in Chicago) by Lawrence Bommer

A HALF CENTURY OF HOOFING After 50 years of high-impact dancing, it’s worth taking a five-city victory lap. Twyla Tharp’s troupe, featured at Chicago’s Auditorium Theatre this weekend,…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 01:30PM

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 10, 2025: Smash - Imperial Theatre
TBA: Titanic
TBA: Ragtime