Monday, October 13, 2014
By Hugh Iglarsh If any one play embodies Theater of the Absurd, it’s Samuel Beckett’s “Happy Days,” in which protagonist Winnie chatters away through Act I while buried above her wai…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 11:17AMRECOMMENDED It’s been said that life can be more hilarious than fiction. So, what happens when someone has a stroke, their spouse loses their job, and both husband and wife are faced with …
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 10:00AMSunday, October 12, 2014
RECOMMENDED “Etta James. Etta James. I love me some Etta James!” The fabulous Ms. Real (played by the equally fabulous Ruben D. Echoles) proclaims that message more than once throughout …
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 07:00PMSaturday, October 11, 2014
There was a moment in Akvavit Theatre’s US Premiere of “The Frozen on the Square (1982)” when the lonely extras that populate the action were staring out into the black nothingn…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 01:00PMI don’t know what New York City did to Theresa Rebeck to piss her off so mightily, but whatever it was she seems to have really taken it to heart. Of course, that’s not quite true. I do …
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 11:00AMFriday, October 10, 2014
RECOMMENDED Playwright Hamish Linklater’s first play is being billed by Steep Theatre as “funny.” But there was not a single laugh from the audience the night I saw the show. Alright, …
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 06:00PMThursday, October 9, 2014
RECOMMENDED Somewhere in the dusky realm between classic and forgettable lies Maxwell Anderson’s political tragicomedy “Both Your Houses.” Now undergoing a nifty revival by Remy Bumppo…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 02:30PMRECOMMENDED At the end of a party I usually feel exhausted. All my energy has been spent. Walking out of Bailiwick Chicago’s “The Wild Party” I felt much the same way. Dulled and listl…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 08:30AMTuesday, October 7, 2014
RECOMMENDED Loaded with the star power of soprano Renée Fleming, propelled by music director and conductor Sir Andrew Davis’ unique understanding of the score, and set in the 1920’s fra…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 04:00PMMonday, October 6, 2014
RECOMMENDED From our youth we are indoctrinated to believe that only the “best” are rewarded. The “best” student gains admission to the premier university. The “best” athlete win…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 02:00PMRECOMMENDED Comedian Shawn Bowers has an intriguing, slightly stomach-churning hobby: he poses as a young, attractive woman (Margie) on dating sites, baiting and then reeling men in for reve…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 08:00AMThursday, October 2, 2014
Think of a suburban neighborhood – the kind that is mostly quiet, where neighbors all know each other by name and often greet each other from day to day, help each other with errands and t…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 06:00PMRECOMMENDED More than 60 years after its Broadway debut, Arthur Miller’s “All My Sons” continues to stand the test of time. This poignant story, which centers on a man grappling with t…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 04:00PMRECOMMENDED The Gift might be the place I would take an out-of-towner in order to describe the phenomenon of Chicago storefront theater. The lobby is about the size of a modest walk-in close…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 01:00PMRECOMMENDED When I tell you that the House Theatre’s newest show is a theatrical adaptation of “Moby Dick” that is also about a theater company attempting to put on a theatrical adapta…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 11:00AMBy Sean Kelley In the world of American acting, fame and fortune are to be found on the coasts in Los Angeles and New York. However, many of America’s most successful actors and comedians …
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 10:14AMTuesday, September 30, 2014
RECOMMENDED At a point early on in Noah Haidle’s moving morality/mortality tale, troubled father Daniel (a world-weary Eric Slater, effectively straddling inner sadness and external buoyan…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 04:30PMMonday, September 29, 2014
RECOMMENDED “The Magic Flute” is one of those indelible works of art. Even people who do not like opera will perk up when you mention it’s being performed. Its musical refrains such as…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 03:00PMSunday, September 28, 2014
RECOMMENDED Disheveled, run-down and struggling for work, aging Tommy (portrayed with a lived-in sort of grace by Francis Guinan) lives in a disheveled, run-down room in his uncle’s…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 08:00AMThursday, September 25, 2014
RECOMMENDED The main issue one encounters when judging a musical based on the “Evil Dead” series of movies is how to pull it off without Bruce Campbell. The beloved B-movie actor anchors…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 12:00PMRECOMMENDED Kurt Weill’s career, like this show, had two very distinct acts: the first superb, the second not so much. Act I was set in Weimar Germany in the late 1920s, where the conserva…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 09:00AMTuesday, September 23, 2014
RECOMMENDED What does it mean to be “let down easy?” When put in the context of being “let down easy” in terms of healthcare, does that idea change? One might interpret the saying to…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 05:00PMMonday, September 22, 2014
RECOMMENDED As I walked into the theater and was greeted by the set for “Mercy Strain” I had to smile to myself. The show has been advertised as a hit at the 2013 Edinburgh Fringe Festiv…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 04:00PMThe image one usually comes away with from a production of “King Lear” is that of the aged king, stripped down to his skivvies and raging against the elements. But one comes away from Ch…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 01:00PMSunday, September 21, 2014
RECOMMENDED In a “Poem About My Rights” June Jordan pens these words, “Wrong is not my name/ My name is my own my own my own/and I can’t tell you who the hell set things up like this…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 06:00PMSaturday, September 20, 2014
RECOMMENDED In the Midwest Premiere of “Rest” by 2014 MacArthur “Genius” Grant recipient Samuel D. Hunter a character expresses his disdain for jig-saw puzzles. He professes he enjoy…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 04:00PMWednesday, September 17, 2014
RECOMMENDED Before Caitlin Parrish began to write for television’s “Emily Owens, M.D.” and “Under the Dome,” she was an award-winning playwright. With director Erica Weiss at the h…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 08:00AMTuesday, September 16, 2014
RECOMMENDED Shakespeare’s play of the same name came to be called “The Bard’s Opera” because producers would schedule the widely popular piece when revenues were low, giving the play…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 08:00AMMonday, September 15, 2014
RECOMMENDED Lucas Hnath is not concerned with getting it right. He’s concerned about getting it true. From the outset of his devious new play “Isaac’s Eye” he states that this story …
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 10:00AMRECOMMENDED Tony Fitzpatrick is moving to New Orleans, and his friend Stan isn’t happy. That about sums up the premise of “The Midnight City,” currently playing at the Steppenwolf Gara…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 08:00AMThursday, August 28, 2014
By Hugh Iglarsh Before the black gold of petroleum became the driving force of business and empire, it was whale blubber that lit the lamps and lubricated both the machinery and the ambition…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 04:00PM 
