Saturday, December 20, 2014
IT DOESN’T GET ANY MERRIER THAN THIS This radiant revival is Light Opera Works’ fourth coming of Franz Lehár’s masterpiece from an earlier turn of the century. Rudy Hogenmiller’…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 01:04PMThursday, December 18, 2014
YES, VIRGINIA, THERE IS A CHRISTMAS CIRCUS It’s dazzle central and a welcome return to Chicago by the one-ring, 20-feat Cirque Dreams performers, but only through December 21. Their extrav…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:25PMWednesday, December 17, 2014
A POOR MAN’S LANFORD WILSON Only in New Orleans could a dumpy parking lot flanking a decrepit motel on a highway leading only to the airport be transformed into a lagniappe-soaked, Mardi G…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:29PMSaturday, December 13, 2014
HAWKING HAPPINESS Winner of two 2012 Tonys for best score and choreography, the rampaging romp called Newsies is a special delivery indeed. It comes from the Disney dreamers who fleshed out …
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:39PMThursday, December 11, 2014
SUGAR PLUMS AND COALS—ALL IN A VERY STUFFED STOCKING Goodman Theatre just got schizoid. On one end of its block-long Dearborn Street lobby is the Albert Theatre, where the sacred cash cow …
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 08:20PMTuesday, December 9, 2014
HUMOR CAN BE HOLY When, earlier this year, I saw Bluebird Arts’ revival of Sarah Ruhl’s magically realistic domestic drama, I couldn’t grasp the buzz behind her successful whimsy. Yes,…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 03:47PMSunday, December 7, 2014
HANDEL WITH CARE Talk about a 135-year labor of love! This all-volunteer choir—founded in 1872 after the Great Chicago Fire and performing at the opening of the Auditorium Theatre in 1899 …
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:45PMSaturday, December 6, 2014
CHRISTMAS CHESTNUTS NEED A NUTCRACKER Even though the second half of this holiday favorite actually seems set in spring (with the “Waltz of the Flowers” as chief evidence), its warmth is…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:59PMFriday, December 5, 2014
NOT TOO FAST TO FEEL This latest revue from Chicago’s comedy empire won’t be confused with its 102 predecessors. The Second City’s Panic on Cloud 9 isn’t half as frenzied as the titl…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:07PMMonday, December 1, 2014
IF THERE’S A BUDDY COP 3, THEN THERE IS NO GOD Strange doings happen for arbitrary reasons in the police station in Shandon, Indiana, the setting for an inconsequential one-act called Budd…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 01:54PMSunday, November 30, 2014
EPIPHANY CENTRAL Winner of this year’s ATCA Steinberg Award, Lauren M. Gunderson’s I and You is even more a gift to actors than to audiences. Her taut, 85-minute, two-character drama off…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 01:16PMMonday, November 24, 2014
SCROOGE GETS RAPPED These eighty glorious minutes of boom-box beats get into your blood and bones—and inevitably they reach the heart. Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s latest “ad-rap-tati…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 01:21PMCURSES! SAVED AGAIN! Thanksgiving hasn’t happened but, yes, it’s time for the 37th second coming of Goodman Theatre’s beloved cash cow. A Christmas Carol remains their venerable, popul…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 12:40PMSunday, November 23, 2014
CURIOUSER AND CURIOUSER MADE BETTERER AND BETTERER A signature work ripe for revival, the eponymous Lookingglass Alice is back for the holidays and New Year, brilliantly tricked-up with the …
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 01:18PMSaturday, November 22, 2014
PERFECT PLACEMENT AND PERPETUAL MOTION Making a too-brief, always welcome return to Chicago’s gorgeous Auditorium Theatre (now celebrating its 125th anniversary), Dance Theatre of Harlem n…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 12:31PMFriday, November 21, 2014
GRINCH AND BEAR IT As with Sweeney Todd, the Grinch is bent on revenge, though his motivation is much murkier. He’s your typical green outsider, like Little Shop’s plant Audrey II, the F…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 01:58PMTuesday, November 18, 2014
JUST A CLOSER WALK WITH PATSY Patsy Cline, the once and future crossover country icon who made audiences “fall to pieces,” couldn’t be more fondly or accurately recalled. It happens we…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 08:50PMMonday, November 17, 2014
ROASTING CHESTNUTS Nothing if not all-inviting, this modestly entitled holiday revue, It’s A Wonderful Santaland Miracle, Nut Cracking Christmas Story…Jews Welcome! is Stage 773’s seco…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:17PMSaturday, November 15, 2014
A NOT QUITE FRACTURED FAIRY TALE A late bloomer, Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale belies its adage that “A sad tale’s best for winter.” This tragi-comedy has a spring to it as well,…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 12:48PMFriday, November 14, 2014
GETTING THERE IS HALF THE FUN One of Chicago’s longest running, righteously rooted hits, Hellcab follows a strong and simple formula: Depict the encounters a Chicago cab driver experiences…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 05:41PMWednesday, November 12, 2014
THE SLEUTH, THE DIVA, AND THE NAPOLEON OF CRIME Over many seasons P.G. Wodehouse and Arthur Conan Doyle have been very good to City Lit, rightly since the theater fully returns the complimen…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 12:42PMMonday, November 10, 2014
GETTING ROOTS WRONG The Dark Continent just got a bit less light. Concluding their all-Lynn Nottage season (which featured Ruined and Intimate Apparel), Eclipse Theatre Company offers the sa…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 03:59PMFriday, November 7, 2014
SOME VERY MATERIAL MAKE-BELIEVE The self-described “greatest show on Earth” has now reached the greatest city on Lake Michigan. Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey’s very literal Le…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 12:26PMThursday, October 30, 2014
WE SHALL DANCE! It’s no puzzlement why this sumptuous reclamation of Broadway greatness, Marriott Theatre’s The King and I, is such a grand night for singing, an enchanted evening, and, …
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:24PMMonday, October 27, 2014
PRIDE COMETH BEFORE AN ICEBERG Griffin Theatre Company’s total triumph is a strange success. It’s odd that a more intimate version of a musical called Titanic can so succeed. The cast is…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:18PMSunday, October 26, 2014
FACELESS FOLLOWERS OF TWITTER AND MAO There’s a fascinating paradigm shift in the middle of The Hundred Flowers Project, Christopher Chen’s cautionary stage and video thriller. Whether y…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 12:57PMSaturday, October 25, 2014
LEAPING BIPEDS! There’s one more chance—tonight—to see five intriguing dances on display at the Harris Theater, exciting work from the reliable 52-year-old Giordano Dance Chicago troup…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 01:15PMSunday, October 19, 2014
IN SOME WAYS, THIS PARADE PASSED ITSELF BY First performed in Chicago by Bailiwick Repertory, now dutifully revived by BoHo Theatre, the potentially pile-driving Parade by bookwriter Alfred…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 01:21PMFriday, October 17, 2014
LEAPS AND LAUGHS: A STRANGE AMALGAM It’s a worthy experiment, even if the eclectic results seem maddeningly inconclusive. For three more performances, two very different Chicago arts troup…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 12:45PMThursday, October 16, 2014
A DREAM WITHIN A DANCE Borrowed from the Pennsylvania Ballet, Joffrey Ballet’s latest offering (running through Oct. 26 at the Auditorium Theatre) is not your usual Swan Lake. Not to be co…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:33PMWednesday, October 15, 2014
STEALING CREDIT WHERE IT’S DUE The Submission is a devious, double-edged title for Jeff Talbott’s equally transgressive play. It refers both to the cold (as in out-of-nowhere) entry of a…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:54PM 
