Wednesday, November 13, 2013
The cast of Strawdog’s “Great Expectations” Oh, Pip. That poor orphaned protagonist from Charles Dickens’ classic 1861 novel Great Expectations. The one who moves fro…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 07:00PMTuesday, November 12, 2013
David Cromer, Patrick Andrews and Mary Beth Fisher in Timeline’s “The Normal Heart” Watching David Cromer as gay rights activist Ned Weeks storm the stage, with his hands o…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 08:01AMFriday, October 11, 2013
You’d be hard pressed to think of anything more intimate than the act of making music. Through music, one exposes themselves in a way that transcends mere talking or movement. It’…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 07:50PMMonday, October 7, 2013
High hopes surrounded Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s Cyrano de Bergerac, the 1897 play by Edmond Rostand translated for the stage by Anthony Burgess. This is Harry Groener’s retu…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 01:47PMTuesday, September 24, 2013
Millicent Hurley Spencer and Mike Boone in Raven Theatre’s “The Trip to Bountiful” One of the things I’ll never understand about society is how we treat those who are…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 10:26PMSaturday, September 21, 2013
Evita is a touchstone in the modern musical theater canon. When the sung-through rock opera debuted in the late ’70s, it broke many rules. A musical about a polarizing political icon f…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 08:45PMFriday, September 6, 2013
Alexander and Adrian Aguilar harmonize in Porchlight’s “Double Trouble” Donald and Gene. Bing and Danny. Adrian and Alexander. What do these three pairs have in common? Why…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 06:21PMWednesday, August 28, 2013
Perhaps you heard the cheers, sobs and stamping feet coming from Southport street? Well, that was the sound of the opening night audience at Mercury Theater’s The Color Purple, a seari…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 09:01PMMonday, August 26, 2013
Nora Dunn knows how to tell a story. Particularly when she’s telling it from the perspective of a character. From an old-school Hollywood agent to a precocious girl who attends a schoo…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 11:39AMSunday, August 11, 2013
I’ve recently started a new blog: Mental Cocktail. Where Chicago Theatre Addict will still be all about theatre, Mental Cocktail will be devoted to another big passion: writing. ItR…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 10:00PMThursday, August 8, 2013
Alex just wants to dance! When asked to describe how she feels about dance, she chooses one word: passionate. She “is the music.” She looks good in a skimpy two-piece dance suit …
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 01:50PMTuesday, July 30, 2013
Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a show that either resonates deeply, or you walk away slightly disoriented. For me, Hedwig is one of the best rock musicals written in the last 45 years, rank…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 01:49PMTuesday, July 16, 2013
Walt Disney’s “The Jungle Book” is one of those movies I’m sure I’ve seen, but I don’t recall much from it – aside from the jaunty tune “The B…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 07:58AMFriday, June 28, 2013
F Karmann Bajuyo, Kate Garassino and Kevin Matthew Reyes in Bailiwick Chicago Theater’s world premiere of production of “Mahal” “Mahal” is Tagalog for “love.&…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 09:16PMMonday, June 24, 2013
Vincent L. Lonergan and Don Bender in The Side Project’s “Lives of the Pigeons” Sometimes after seeing a show, I leave the theatre feeling more than a little disoriented. T…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 05:39PMFriday, June 21, 2013
My best friend is Catholic. I remember having a particularly pointed conversation with her asking if she believed I was going to hell because I was gay. While her response was “no,R…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 08:43AMThursday, June 20, 2013
Every year around this time I take my parents to The Second City. Dad loves the irreverent and topical comedy, but cringes when they break the fourth wall for a surprise audience interactio…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 04:38PMTuesday, June 11, 2013
The cast of Theo Ubique’s “Smokey Joe’s Cafe” As a powerhouse songwriting duo, Jerome “Jerry” Leiber and Mike Stoller cranked out some significant hits in…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 12:07PMSaturday, June 8, 2013
*Well, mostly since 1995, when I started watching the Tony Awards religiously. Every year. Without fail. In fact, the year I lived in Germany (2001, the season The Producers swept the award…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 11:30AMTuesday, June 4, 2013
Writer, director and performer Ben Rimalower knows a thing or two about high belting. No, he’s not a singer per say, but he does appreciate the finer belts in life — including th…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 08:42AMWednesday, May 15, 2013
Actor and playwright Sentell Harper feels trapped. As a gay black man, he’s disinterested in “throwing shade,” lip syncing for your life or being on the DL as a way to surv…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 10:30AMThursday, May 9, 2013
Have you ever been so enraged that you’ve almost lost it? I’m talking the kind of red-hot rage that creeps behind the eyes, makes you tense and sweaty, brings you right up to the boi…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 09:54PMWednesday, May 1, 2013
LinkedIn Dear Ella, The following email address you have with LinkedIn has bounced: [email protected] Please follow this link to verify your email address. © 2012, LinkedIn Corp…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 09:29PMSunday, April 28, 2013
Anything Goes is one of those shows that never takes itself too seriously. It isn’t afraid to get a little bawdy and bend the rules — but it always comes out on top, full of clas…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 09:53AMThursday, April 25, 2013
Susie McMonagle in Porchlight Music Theatre’s “Pal Joey” “They just don’t write ‘em like that anymore!” That classic turn of phrase kept running thr…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 12:50PMSaturday, April 20, 2013
Who doesn’t enjoy a good story? It’s why we love the theatre. Through words, music, dance and imagination, theatre helps shape a shared moment. It transports us to another place …
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 11:38AMWednesday, April 17, 2013
Brutal honesty. That’s playwright Samuel D. Hunter’s razor-sharp focus in his deeply significant play, The Whale. And through Charlie, a 600-pound gentle giant played by the supe…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 07:53PMMonday, April 8, 2013
Sometimes all you need is a star-making performance to make a show. The fresh-faced and ideally cast Stephen Anthony, who plays infamous con man Frank Abagnale Jr., offers such a performance…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 12:41PMSaturday, April 6, 2013
P.T. Barnum knew how to put on a show. With some manipulative marketing and a dash of spectacle, he could sell you a wooden nickel for a dollar. The 1980 musical Barnum, which features a jov…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 10:43PMFriday, April 5, 2013
I’ve never met Roger Ebert. However, I felt like I knew him. I’ve been reading his blog, his tweets and his reviews for many years. The man personified prolific. Robbed of his sp…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 01:23PMMonday, April 1, 2013
I’m all for firsts. And Artistic Home’s very solid production of Tennessee Williams’ The Night of the Iguana presented a whole world of them. It was my first time seeing an…
SOURCE: Chicago Theatre Addict at 03:05PM 
