Tuesday, July 23, 2024
THIS PIGEON ADAPTATION IS NOT FOR THE BIRDS My kids love Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, the popular children’s book by Mo Willems. It’s a simple, comic story about a pigeon that …
SOURCE: stageandcinema.com at 02:50AMSunday, February 18, 2024
MCPHERSON EXPLOITS DYLAN IN GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY Girl from the North Country is one of those shows that sounds promising in the abstract: a musical incorporating songs by Bob Dylan. W…
SOURCE: stageandcinema.com at 02:59AMSaturday, January 6, 2024
One of Chicago’s most thrilling companies, Trap Door Theatre, continues its 30th anniversary season with Bertolt Brecht’s boisterous musical Mother Courage and her Children, translated b…
SOURCE: stageandcinema.com at 05:31PMSunday, December 10, 2023
BOOP! BOPS, HOPS, AND PLOPS Light-hearted, rather silly, and occasionally preachy, BOOP! The Betty Boop Musical could have been so much more. Betty Boop seems an unlikely candidate for reviv…
SOURCE: stageandcinema.com at 01:18AMThursday, June 8, 2023
WEST SIDE STORY HAPPILY REMAINS CLASSICAL AND SADLY REMAINS CONTEMPORARY Lyric Opera’s 2022-2023 season has been a challenging one, especially for audiences. The season began with the seld…
SOURCE: stageandcinema.com at 02:59AMWednesday, November 10, 2021
AN ANIMATED FLUTE FANTASIA This new-to-Chicago production of Mozart’s Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte) is the most unique production this writer has seen in eight years of reviewing Lyric Op…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 05:20PMWednesday, June 23, 2021
Fresh on the heels of a high-stakes digital season, Chicago Opera Theater returns with in-person performances for its 2021-22 Season. The company’s commitment to showcasing new voices, fre…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 09:49PMSunday, May 23, 2021
Tickets now on sale for Lyric Opera of Chicago’s 2021|22 Season Call 312-827-5600 or visit lyricopera.org Here are the shows: NEW PRODUCTION Verdi MACBETH Sung in Italian with projected E…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 09:00PMBroadway-Bound THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA, with music by Sir Elton John (Disney’s The Lion King, Billy Elliot), lyrics by Shaina Taub (Twelfth Night at the Public Theatre), and book by Paul …
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 08:36AMFriday, November 20, 2020
RIMSKY TO THE RESCUE As COVID-19 restrictions continue to evolve, Chicago Opera Theater is pivoting its November show digitally in order to honor commitments to artists while protecting the …
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 06:40PMTuesday, March 6, 2018
A FAUSTIAN BARGAIN OF SORTS Bold, eclectic and experimental, Lyric Opera’s new production (co-produced with Portland Opera) of Gounod’s Faust comes across as rather jumbled, a mishmash, …
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:26AMWednesday, February 21, 2018
A PRODUCTION TO COSÌ UP TO A Lyric Opera season would not be complete without Mozart, so it was with great anticipation that I attended the opening night performance of Così Fan Tutte. Alt…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 01:48AMTuesday, May 2, 2017
STILL THE FAIREST OF THEM ALL This reviewer has a confession to make: I don’t particularly like musicals. I’ll happily laugh at the jokes and delight in the dancing, but the style …
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:19AMTuesday, April 25, 2017
PERFECT IMPERFECTIONS Growing up on a steady diet of animated and live-action Disney films and in the shadow of the Disneyland theme park in Anaheim, which I visited every year until I was 1…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 05:57PMSaturday, February 25, 2017
COPELAND’S MOREL LACKS INVENTION Four years ago, Long Beach Opera (Artistic and General Director Andreas Mitisek’s other company) staged Stewart Copeland’s The Tell-Tale Heart, giving …
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 09:36PMThursday, October 27, 2016
MAKING FUN OF OPERA FUN AGAIN This mostly satirical Lyric Opera/Second City co-production contains little irony apart from the title. For while it definitely IS about Wagner, it most certain…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 01:24AMMonday, May 9, 2016
THE GODS MUST BE ARE CRAZY! It’s not often that one gets to see the same opera twice, especially when the opera in question is a delightful rarity like Francesco Cavalli’s La Calisto, wh…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 06:12AMTuesday, May 3, 2016
A ROYAL PRODUCTION The King and I is a rather curious bundle of contradictions and opposites. First, it’s based on a true story, but plays out more like a fairy tale. In fact, it doesn’t…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:13PMSunday, March 13, 2016
UNEVEN PRODUCTION COMBINES CARNIVAL AND ROMANCE As part of Chicago’s yearlong celebrations marking the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death, Lyric Opera has mounted a product…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 07:36PMThursday, February 11, 2016
MAJESKI’S MAJESTIC MARSCHALLIN Lyric Opera’s new production of Der Rosenkavalier is beautiful, charming, and magnificent. It delightfully exceeded my expectations and gave me a new appre…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 12:37AMTuesday, February 9, 2016
A DAMNED GOOD PAIRING What could be a more appropriate title for an opera than La Voix Humaine? What better source material for an opera than Dante’s Divina Commedia? Chicago Opera Theatre…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 04:12AMWednesday, January 27, 2016
IF BREVITY WAS THE SOUL OF ETHICS… One of the advantages of one-act plays is that if they’re bad, you don’t have to wait long for them to be over. (I can’t ever remember wishing a go…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 10:34PMTuesday, January 26, 2016
STAGNANT STAGING AND CRAZY COSTUMES, BUT THE CAST AND CHORUS CAPTIVATE There’s a good reason why Verdi’s operas are typically described as “grand opera.” They’re big and bold, req…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 03:02PMWednesday, December 9, 2015
DISAPPOINTING DEBUT DELIVERS DAMAGED GOODS Lyric Opera’s world premiere production of Bel Canto fails to live up to its name (translation: beautiful singing). While first-time opera compos…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 06:05AMWednesday, November 18, 2015
A MERRY WIDOW MAKES FOR A MERRY AUDIENCE After the unbearable ugliness of Berg’s Wozzeck, Lyric Opera’s beautiful production of Franz Lehár’s The Merry Widow (Die Lustige Witwe) comes…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 10:43AMTuesday, November 10, 2015
HURRAH FOR HAYMARKET’S HANDELIAN HERO Appropriately enough, Haymarket Opera Company (HOC) is kicking off its fifth season with a Handel opera that premiered on London’s Haymarket Street …
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 04:56PMMonday, November 2, 2015
WHAT’S UP WITH WOZZECK? Alban Berg’s Wozzeck must have been quite shocking in 1925 at its first public performance in Berlin. Why? Musically, it’s regarded as the first opera in the 20…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 10:30PMThursday, October 15, 2015
A MARRIAGE MADE IN CHICAGO Lyric Opera’s season-opening production of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro celebrates love and beauty with vibrant colors, light-hearted laughter and sublime m…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 03:32PMA CINDERELLA FOR ALL AGES You might think you know the story if you’ve seen Disney’s animated version, but Rossini’s Cinderella (or La Cenerentola, literally “little girl of the cind…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 03:32PMWHAT’S GOOD FOR OTTO ISN’T GOOD ENOUGH FOR GIFT Seldom have I sat through such a long-winded play (nearly three hours!) that said so little. I struggled in vain to find some deeper meani…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 10:53AMLUCIO SILLA REVELS IN YOUTH’S BEAUTY Mozart’s early chamber opera Lucio Silla, written at the precocious age of sixteen, is an excellent example of the bel canto style. Not only is the s…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 10:53AM 
