Saturday, November 1, 2014
The prescient Both Your Houses attempts to skewer the sausage-making process of churning out legislation. But despite its inherent timeliness, the production has all drama of an 8th grade pr…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 04:52PMFriday, October 31, 2014
There’s no doubt that Laura Marks' Bethany will strike a chord with a wide range of audiences. Answering the question of what seemingly good people are capable of doing when they are despe…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 09:01PMWednesday, October 29, 2014
The producers have hired some of the best in the business and these actors and designers give us their “A” game. Nonetheless, a musical's gotta have music you want to hear again and agai…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 09:39PMMonday, October 27, 2014
while aimed at small children, Bingo's Birthday never talks down to them. By approaching children with respect, this show is not only bearable for adults, but actually fun to witness. If you…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 01:45PMSunday, October 26, 2014
As a theatrical production, Hack/Slash needs both more and less. More elements that tie the story together, more violence, more action, and less drawn-out moments, transitions and dragging s…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 07:02PMFriday, October 24, 2014
Technically flawless and, of course, brilliantly composed, Don Giovanni ranks near the top of any opera lover’s must-see list. This production is a luscious interpretation from vocals to v…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 09:44PMThursday, October 23, 2014
Sumptuous, unexpected and breathtaking, Joffrey Ballet's Swan Lake is a sublimely executed and unexpected interpretation of the classic ballet. In Christopher Wheeldon’s telling of the tra…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 09:14AMMonday, October 20, 2014
Bailiwick’s revival of Michael John LaChiusa’s The Wild Party succeeds in doing what a great party should do - you leave exhilarated, excited, and more than a little exhausted. Director-…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 09:37PMSaturday, October 18, 2014
Trap Door Theatre’s John Doe is a remarkable effort, one an uninitiated audience in avant-garde can enjoy. Though the production is decidedly imperfect, it’s oddly compelling and represe…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 06:55PMThe Clean House is the kind of quirky show that can turn from theatre to sitcom on the strength of its execution in the finer points. New-to-the-scene Bluebird Arts has taken this crowd plea…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 03:05PMThis is the first time these venerable Chicago cultural treasures have co-created an entire show, and they blend together beautifully. The six Second City actors bring the comedy through ske…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 12:14AMFriday, October 17, 2014
With dramatic lighting, an ominous sound design and a disquieting set, Lifeline’s Jane Eyre captures the wondrously Gothic atmosphere of Charlotte Brontë’s 1847 thriller-romance. Direct…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 04:45PMAt Home at the Zoo offers, all in less than two hours, a chance to view both the earliest and a much later sample of Edward Albee’s writing - and the two plays blend together perfectly. By…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 01:09PMWednesday, October 15, 2014
It was a big and bold Porchlight Music Theatre triumph nine years ago, and it's just as painfully powerful in the fall of 2014 (just in time for Halloween). Seldom has a more unstoppable sto…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 09:42AMMonday, October 13, 2014
With flawless direction and performances, Goodman Theatre's Smokefall is a haunting play that will remain with you for days after seeing it. Highly Recommended. (read John Olson's review, an…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 08:14PMThursday, October 9, 2014
Often dark and frequently dissonant, Kurt Weill's music is as treacherous as it is haunting. Theo Ubique puts a very young cast through the German composer’s paces. The result is not great…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 11:29PMAmanda Peet's first foray into playwrighting was inspired by seeing Ruth Madoff, the wife of convicted Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff, on 60 Minutes. It was a good inspiration – to explore t…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 08:23AMWednesday, October 8, 2014
There is certainly passion behind Another Bone - it is all an extremely admirable effort, yet the show has a fatal flaw - the story is entirely nonsensical. Written by Chicago playwright Cat…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 05:26PMMonday, October 6, 2014
There’s really nothing not to like about this production. Rest provides both a cathartic theatrical experience as well as much to think about and discuss afterwards. You’ll love the stor…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 11:17AMThursday, October 2, 2014
Season on the Line is not typical House Theatre fare. However, the show possesses the clear direction, cohesive storytelling, robustly talented cast and gorgeous production values that have …
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 09:50PMWednesday, October 1, 2014
What happens to the Michael Milligan's character in Mercy Strain is appalling - and relaying this story is critically important. The telling of it? That needs some fine-tuning. (read Catey …
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 10:29PMTuesday, September 30, 2014
Death, dying, aging and health care are dramatic topics that Anna Deavere aptly explores here, but no matter how enthralling each individual monologue culled from her many interviews is, the…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 09:45AMSunday, September 28, 2014
South African theater company Isango Ensemble offers an interpretation of the Mozart classic opera that is unlike any other. Music arrangers Pauline Malefane and Mandisi Dyantyis orchestrate…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 04:58PMSaturday, September 27, 2014
An import from our neighbor to the north, Evil Dead: The Musical is a blood-splattering, silly-ass confection based on the gag-inducing 80s film franchise. A huge hit for over a decade in T…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 11:20PMOften thought of as a slow-burn type of piece, director Michael Menendian wastes no time in getting the early tremors of the eruption vibrating amongst his electrifying cast. And when you’…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 11:31AMWednesday, September 24, 2014
Very little goes wrong on the Strawdog stage, which is no small feat considering the considerable technical and thespian interconnectedness of the detailed set and complex scenes. It all cul…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 10:19PMFrom an opening pablum to an utterly unsatisfying denouement that includes an incredibly tedious science panel, Mnemonic is an unfocused mess with potentially interesting ideas scattered abo…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 01:53PMSaturday, September 20, 2014
The Coward Written by Nick Jones Directed by Vance Smith at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont (map) thr…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 05:53PMFriday, September 19, 2014
True to its choose-your-own-adventure roots, this play becomes a different beast than it was at the beginning. The Plagiarists managed to surprise me alongside making me nostalgic for childh…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 10:00PMThursday, September 18, 2014
Playwright Chuck O’Connor has a good ear for dialogue, and Aaron Stephenson’s sound design incorporating provides a sense of period authenticity. There’s something appealing about a pl…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 12:27PMWednesday, September 17, 2014
Joe Forbrich's The Whaleship Essex ably straddles genres. It is at once a first-rate adventure story, a survivalist thriller and a meditation on depravity spawned by abject terror and the ab…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 09:47PM 
