Monday, March 18, 2013
The Q Brothers, born and bred in Chicago and now acclaimed worldwide, step up to the plate in this their third work, creating a masterful hip-hop homage to the classic Shakespeare tale. (re…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 09:44PM[SHARE]Sunday, March 17, 2013
Though fraught with winged beasties and magical powers, at its core this is an exuberant story about humans trying to forge connections with each other - here represented as unlikely heroes …
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 05:04PM[SHARE]Saturday, March 16, 2013
There are seeds of some interesting ideas here, including issues of class, race and police profiling, but Playwright Christina Anderson fails to explore any of this with any depth. (read mor…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 05:26PM[SHARE]In between audience catcalls, these scantily-clad dancing and fighting ladies look to be receiving as much pleasure as they are giving! (read more)
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 03:03PM[SHARE]Reviewed by Keith Glab: If there's a way to make Desdemona poignant enough to warrant bastardizing Shakepeare's Othello, this company did not find it. But they do land enough interesting mom…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 01:35AM[SHARE]Friday, March 15, 2013
Lauren Whalen reviews: Going above and beyond the challenges that would make a lesser company squirm, Hubbard Street's passion, coupled with King and Cerrudo's radiant choreography, results …
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 11:32PM[SHARE]This witty and pithy script explores the fragmented relationship between three men who have been friends for 15 years, and Parlor Room Players' production does justice to the clever script, …
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 04:03PM[SHARE]Thursday, March 14, 2013
Mekhaye, in Yiddish, means something that gives zest to life, a very great pleasure, and Paramount Theatre's production of Fiddler on the Roof qualifies on all counts.
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 05:33PM[SHARE]At many dance performances, the audience is restrained. Not so with Alvin Ailey: it's a party. Spectators hoot and holler, unable to contain their exuberance. They know they're in the same r…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 12:56AM[SHARE]Wednesday, March 13, 2013
With strong performances and an intricately detailed stage setting, it is easy to accept the rather fantastical world that the play inhabits, making it an entertaining show overall, albeit w…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 11:54PM[SHARE]Since it's troubled beginnings, *Aspects of Love* has suffered from melodramatic overkill. But as witnessed, if there's any theater that can make silk from a sow's ear, it's Theo Ubique Cab…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 12:40AM[SHARE]Tuesday, March 12, 2013
This is not a play about religious doctrine, but instead about the way our beliefs inform our behavior - and Quest has pulled out the puppetry stops to entertain and educate us through story…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 05:46PM[SHARE]Monday, March 11, 2013
Coriolanus is full-throttle, action-driven theatre. It's like the video game "Call of Duty" but written by Shakespeare. (read more...)
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 10:55PM[SHARE]Don't stay at home, wallowing in the past. Take a cue from the play's theme and venture out to Jefferson Park for this wonderful theatrical experience. (read more...)
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 08:12PM[SHARE]Overall, though, Analog is a breathtakingly unusual, wonderfully and cleverly written, solidly entertaining piece that will get in your head and stay there. (read more...)
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 12:46AM[SHARE]Sunday, March 10, 2013
If The Bear Suit of Happiness shed a few furry layers, it would definitely bear more happiness. (read more...)
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 09:01PM[SHARE]When they're not screaming, the cast of nine women and one guy tear into this tissue of fiction as if it really matters. It doesn't. By the end, Matryoshka is an exercise in futility as much…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 01:13AM[SHARE]Friday, March 8, 2013
See What I Wanna See " a brilliantly colloquial title for this sharp thinking person's musical " is as smart and entertaining as it is artistic and serious. (read more...)
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 06:01PM[SHARE]Patricia Finn-Morris is simply marvelous in the title role of Steel Beam Theatre's newest production. The 2008 comedy by Steven Dietz follows the inner yearnings of middle-aged Becky that, a…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 03:18PM[SHARE]Gjenganger deserves praise for the ambitiousness of its undertaking, particularly for a relatively young theatre company. It delves into an array of human conditions in an honest, thought-pr…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 12:44AM[SHARE]Thursday, March 7, 2013
This is more of a songfest, and the songs, by acclaimed songwriter Carole King, with lyrics by children's author Maurice Sendak, are fabulous, as well as loads of fun. (read more...)
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 09:07PM[SHARE]Director Kris Kontour gets the pacing right in the fun French farce. Judging from the success of their first professional endeavor, Leftend Productions is a welcome addition to Chicago's the…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 05:30PM[SHARE]If you need a clear storyline that provides answers, this may not be for you. But if you enjoy the intellectual tease of a conundrum, that tantalizing itch of uncertainty, you may enjoy it c…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 03:25PM[SHARE]Tango serves as a window through which we can peer into the world where the limits of theatrical form and devices can be melded together to create something entirely new " a completely uniqu…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 03:13PM[SHARE]Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Kill Shakespeare is an innovative collusion of Com Con meets the Stratford Festival. This show Shakes it up, indeed! (read more...)
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 09:39PM[SHARE]Tuesday, March 5, 2013
The Next Theatre cast and crew have done an excellent job of presenting the play. The acting is exceptional. The play itself, however, is too flawed to be satisfying. (read more...)
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 08:45PM[SHARE]Friday, March 1, 2013
Perhaps Bill Jepsen's next play will be better than Never the Bridesmaid, a sorry sophomore showing. Please, Mr. Jepsen, for the sake of all women, do not attempt romantic comedy. Ever again…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 06:16PM[SHARE]Jim Lynch's play makes its world premiere complete with a solid storyline, characters, and dialogue that ring true. Less intuitively, Lynch's script also offers a balanced portrayal of the p…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 04:17PM[SHARE]Thursday, February 28, 2013
Familiar and fun - despite the (at times) clumsy and stiff by-play - this therapeutic show deserves the benefit of your doubts. If there's such a thing as geezer glory, it's eager to please …
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 08:56PM[SHARE]This adaptation might be a good first draft - as it is, the first half is entertaining enough that you won't want to leave at intermission, but the second act is so laborious you'll soon eno…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 06:58PM[SHARE]Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Lifeline's adaptation of China Mieville's masterful science fiction novel has grand hopes but is undone by a need for a much more explicit staging and tone. (read more...)
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 09:46PM[SHARE] 
