Sunday, February 10, 2019
Evil Dead the Musical is spooky silliness at its finest, a must-see for those who like singing, dancing and plenty of stabbing. Highly Recommended! (review by Lauren Emily Whalen)
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 06:18PMWednesday, January 2, 2019
Isaac Gomez’s full-length play La Ruta has its stunning world premiere at Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Directed by ensemble member Sandra Marquez and featuring a powerhouse female ensemble…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 06:32PMWednesday, December 26, 2018
Otherworld Theatre is a relatively new Chicago company, focusing on science fiction and fantasy-focused storytelling. The Winter Wolf is their holiday world premiere, an intimate female-driv…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 04:04PMFriday, December 21, 2018
What began as a simple Roald Dahl book is now, in the hands of adaptor David Wood and director Jacqueline Stone, a 75-minute, two-act Fantastic Mr. Fox that’s too bright, too screechy and …
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 09:24PMWednesday, December 19, 2018
With the annual holiday ritual of this Die Hard musical parody, writing team Michael Shepherd Joran, Alex Garday and Stephanie McCullough make the show a grab bag of 80’s references, some …
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 08:54PMSaturday, December 15, 2018
This Nutcracker, now in its third year with Joffrey Ballet, remains the same in terms of dreamy scenery, candy-colored costumes, Tchaikovsky’s iconic score and the warm glow of love. Two y…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 06:54PMFriday, November 30, 2018
Danai Gurira's Familiar is all about ritual: the Zimbabwean pre-marriage exchange between the groom and the bride’s family, the TV football game that leaves them cheering, the traditional …
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 03:24PMTuesday, November 27, 2018
Very few children’s shows are truly enjoyable for everyone, but Bros do Prose’s 2-person Peter Pan is a notable exception. This sunny, warm-hearted adaptation is proof that when it comes…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 07:54PMSunday, November 25, 2018
The world premiere HeLa intertwines Henrietta Lacks’ story with that of a young black girl who loves science and a lonely black woman stranded among the stars. Playwright J. Nicole Brooks�…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 08:32PMHenrik Ibsen’s Ghosts has been controversial from day one. The play was first staged in Chicago in 1882, thanks to a Danish company on tour, and drew criticism and shock for many decades a…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 01:54PMFriday, November 23, 2018
Everything in The Steadfast Tin Soldier is memorable, thanks to director/creator Mary Zimmerman’s collaborative but uncompromising vision. As the lights came up, more than a few sniffles e…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 11:12PMThis gothic ghost story in which a young lawyer dodges and confronts the eerie resident of a dilapidated coastal mansion, was adapted into a 2012 film starring Daniel Radcliffe. Stephen Mall…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 07:54PMThursday, November 22, 2018
Rightlynd is part of Ike Holter’s Chicago cycle, the story of a newly-minted alderman who’s in over her head from day one. The story is predictable but solid, the characters compelling, …
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 10:04PMThursday, November 15, 2018
Beautifully written, acted and directed, Plainclothes is unmissable, especially in light of Broken Nose Theatre’s pay-what-you-can tickets. The production tells a story of guerilla employe…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 08:12PMMonday, November 12, 2018
As a play, Love’s Labour’s Lost is simply delightful. In many ways it’s a classic romantic comedy: boys swear off girls, the girls show up anyway, wacky misunderstandings ensue. Their …
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 07:36PMFriday, November 9, 2018
The Chicago premiere of Harrison David Rivers’ two-hander, equal parts searing and touching, gut-wrenching and romantic. Director Mikael Burke and Rivers are a dream team of truth: this st…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 06:54PMSunday, November 4, 2018
Simply put, Scientific Method is the best embodiment of workplace sexism I’ve ever seen onstage. In just 90 short but powerful minutes, playwright Jenny Connell Davis and director Devon de…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 04:33PMSaturday, November 3, 2018
The Lonesome West is an earlier work from playwright Martin McDonagh, who’s since made a name for himself in both theater and film, penning last year’s Oscar winner Three Billboards Outs…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 11:54AMMonday, October 29, 2018
Mikael Burke’s direction of Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm' play is flawless from beginning to end - from the close quarters of the jail cell (and live security cam footage thanks to Sid Branc…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 05:32PMSaturday, October 27, 2018
Above all, WaistWatchers The Musical feels incredibly, sadly dated. Yes, women are still part of a patriarchy that values youth and beauty over everything else. Yes, dieting is still a multi…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 02:06PMThursday, October 25, 2018
With Edge of Life, playwright Joel Z. Cornfield penned a hospital dramedy in tribute to two family members who succumbed to death in different ways. But rather than a tribute to the dying, …
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 04:04PMThursday, October 11, 2018
Right now, we could all use some big witch energy. Fortunately, there’s no better place to find it than Writers Theatre’s terrific production of Witch. Just in time for Halloween, playw…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 05:24PMWednesday, October 10, 2018
Zürich’s five vignettes are all set in hotel rooms on the fortieth floor. In one room, a man sings with his penis out. In another, two children left alone make a horrifying discovery in t…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 07:18PMMonday, October 8, 2018
Celebrated campmaster Charles Ludlam’s final play, The Artificial Jungle, is chock full of brutality – death by piranha, daily rat deliveries, hair that is almost offensively big – and…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 07:06PMFriday, October 5, 2018
Hope - Playwright Paula Vogel’s genius is contained in her ability to bring it to every story. The characters in Indecent persist, making the ultimate sacrifices to experience the tiny mom…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 06:36PMWednesday, October 3, 2018
Director Dado is known throughout the city for her unconventional style. She’s a perfect fit for Jen Silverman’s postwar fable, where childhood impulses insert themselves into very adult…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 05:12PMMonday, October 1, 2018
This is one world-premiere that satisfyingly defies the odds. The powers that be behind this pre-Broadway tryout made a wise move in hiring bookwriter Robert Horn to adapt the hit Dustin Hof…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 06:48PMSunday, September 23, 2018
Lifeline Theatre’s Frankenstein, a world premiere adapted by Robert Kauzlaric and directed by Paul S. Holmquist, boils down the war of human versus monster in a way that’s deceptively si…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 07:18PMSaturday, September 22, 2018
Audiences may very well love Crime and Punishment. Shattered Globe’s production of Chris Hannan’s new adaptation boasts impeccable production values and fascinating movement design. Howe…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 07:12PMTuesday, September 18, 2018
With better direction and an improved script, Melanie Marnich's These Shining Lives could have been snappier and punchier in the beginning, slowly growing sadder and more poignant as injurie…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 08:54PMSaturday, September 15, 2018
Bennett Fisher’s new play Borealis has the type of premise – sci-fi adventure that’s also a takedown of corporate culture – that will be either an epic success or an epic failure. Th…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 06:32PM 
