Wednesday, September 19, 2012
THE DANE’S THE THING The oft-produced Hamlet demands countless choices by a director and Michael Halberstam has met all the challenges; instead of overloading the evening with grandiose di…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 12:58PMFriday, September 14, 2012
ENTERTAINING, BUT WITHOUT THE COMIC SIZZLE In 2009, Xanadu opened in downtown Chicago that turned out to be one of the delights of the season. It was a silly musical, but hip, satirical, …
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 01:26PMThursday, September 13, 2012
YOU BETTER CATCH THIS BEFORE IT REALLY IS THE LAST SESSION Mike Nussbaum is probably weary of hearing himself called the Grand Old Man of Chicagoland Theater and a local treasure, like Wrigl…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 04:30AMIT’S ALL GREEK TO MEE Charles Mee’s plays are audacious, imaginative, weird, sometimes funny, and more often than not, powerful and thought provoking; they are not for all tastes, bu…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:58AMFriday, September 7, 2012
UNRESOLVED USE OF STORY James Still’s 80-minute play, Illegal Use of Hands, set in an old rural-American home, opens in the middle of a late-October night; an old man is reading in an armc…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 04:52PMSaturday, September 1, 2012
MORE THAN JUST VARIATIONS ON A THEME 33 Variations starts out with a character asking the question, “Why did the great German composer Ludwig van Beethoven write 33 variations on a trivial…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:58AMFriday, August 31, 2012
THE CAST IS GREAT, BUT THE BOOK AND THE STAGING ARE NOT SO DREAMY Dreamgirls is based on the rise of the Supremes, America’s premiere girl singing group of the 1960’s. The musical opened…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:58AMMonday, August 27, 2012
A DINNER IN REAL TIME Richard Nelson’s Sweet and Sad at the Profiles Main Stage has six characters gather around a dining table for 95 minutes of uninterrupted talk on a Sunday afternoon d…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:30AMThursday, August 23, 2012
A HEARTBREAKING, FUNNY, AND COMPASSIONATE TALE FROM A PLAYWRIGHT WHO IS SORELY MISSED The audience never sees Marvin, the title character in Marvin’s Room. He’s an old man ravaged by can…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 01:46PMMonday, August 13, 2012
IT’S A PLEASURE TO BE IN HARMS’ WAY It’s been quite a year for veteran Chicagoland actor James Harms; after receiving critical acclaim nationally for his performance in The Iceman Come…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 05:41PMTRASHY FUN Audience expectations need to be adjusted for a show like The Great American Trailer Park Musical. The title lets patrons know what they are in for: The topic will be trailer tras…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 04:57PMThursday, August 9, 2012
THE THEATER WAS HOME TO THE LUNTS, BUT THIS WAS THEIR HOME FROM THE THEATER From the 1920’s through the 1950’s, the husband and wife team of Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne were the First …
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 06:18PMTHE SKY PARTS FOR THE ROYALS There are few regional theater pleasures more delectable than attending the outdoor American Players Theatre on a balmy afternoon or evening. The theater, about …
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 05:16PMMonday, July 23, 2012
CAMPY BUT ARTISTIC Take a handful of world class circus acts, add a bit of cabaret and burlesque, and you have La Soiree, the entirely enjoyable show in town for two weeks at the Riverfront …
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 07:51PMThursday, July 19, 2012
REEFER MADNESS IS SUCH A HIGH THAT YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE STONED TO ENJOY IT In 1936, a church group sponsored a motion picture aimed at warning young people about the dangers of marijuana. …
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 04:20PMMonday, July 16, 2012
A SHOW WHICH PLANTS ITSELF IN YOUR MEMORY Back in 1985, Bill Pullinsi staged a satirical musical called Little Shop of Horrors at his Candlelight Dinner Playhouse in Summit that was one of t…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 06:24PMSunday, July 15, 2012
THE STEPS TO SUCCESS They say that timing is everything. Timing certainly is everything in The 39 Steps, the English spy spoof that occupies a delightful, often amazing, and even suspenseful…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:42PMSaturday, July 14, 2012
NOTHING BEASTLY ABOUT IT The Chicago Shakespeare Theater is presenting the best musical production of the summer, but audiences will have to see it in the daytime. The production is Disney�…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 05:54AMWednesday, July 11, 2012
OEDIPUS REX POTENTLY UPDATED TO THE BARRIO Oedipus El Rey is Luis Alfaro’s vision of Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex seen through the prism of modern Latino life, specifically gang culture as i…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 06:48PMTuesday, July 10, 2012
TRACY LETTS ADAPTS THREE SISTERS FOR STEPPENWOLF Tracy Letts calls his version of Anton Chekhov’s Three Sisters an adaptation, but other than some changes in language it’s still the grea…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:50AMMonday, July 9, 2012
MAGIC ALL AROUND Death and Harry Houdini was the House Theatre’s first production back in 2001 and it’s been something of a meal ticket for the company over the years. The production pla…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 08:39PMFriday, June 29, 2012
FRESH NEW REVUE AT SECOND CITY Four of the six performers in the new Second City e.t.c. revue We’re All in This Room Together never appeared on a Second City mainstage before. And this is …
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 03:14PMThursday, June 28, 2012
HERO NEEDS TO ZERO IN ON THE BOOK Hero, a brand new musical at the Marriott Theatre, has enough warmth and humor to provide a pleasant evening of light summer entertainment, but the work of …
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 04:53PMWednesday, June 27, 2012
YOU REALLY GOT A HOLD ON ME The baby boomers were out in force at the Oriental Theatre Tuesday night, reveling in a Beatles nostalgia fest called Rain: A Tribute to the Beatles. The show is …
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 04:54PMThursday, June 21, 2012
TO SEASONED VIEWERS, THE FACE OF CIRQUE DU SOLEIL COULD USE A LIFT The Cirque du Soleil production of Dralion should be the most fun for audiences unfamiliar with the Cirque’s unique blen…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 12:51PMFriday, June 15, 2012
LITTLE-KNOWN CHICAGO DISASTER BECOMES TOWERING MUSICAL Eastland: A New Musical is the Lookingglass Theatre’s stunning meditation on one of the most terrible disasters in Chicago history: O…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 07:16PMABBA-DABBA-DO Delivered by an exuberant and attractive cast of young singers and dancers, Dancing Queen is an all-singing-all-dancing, high-energy nostalgia show that tries to churn its audi…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:23PMWednesday, June 13, 2012
THESE MUPPETS ARE NOT FOR PUBLIC TELEVISION There is something disconcerting about watching an R-rated Muppets show. After all, for decades the Muppets television shows and movies have been …
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 09:18PMMonday, June 4, 2012
THE LIBRETTO NEVER REALLY WORKS, BUT THIS PRODUCTION SURE DOES Camelot is a good musical that should be better. After all, it was composed by the team of Lerner and Loewe, of My Fair Lady i…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 03:58PMSaturday, June 2, 2012
GO FOR THE PERFORMANCE, NOT THE SCRIPT Like most one-actor plays, the new show at the Writers’ Theatre is more satisfying as a performing showcase than as a drama. The play carries the tan…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:51AMFriday, June 1, 2012
BAD COP GOOD COP The cynical title My Kind of Town acknowledges the pop song that celebrates Chicago but also a likely culture of police brutality. This is the work of investigative journali…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 05:35PM 
