Saturday, August 3, 2013
Playwright Scott Oken mashes together a "Platoon" meets "Jurassic Park" parody. His dialogue is riddled with legendary movie quotes. His plot is twisted with slow-mode flashbacks and harmo…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 07:31PM[SHARE]Friday, August 2, 2013
Overall, this clean-cut execution of possibly the most famous love story in the world wins because it gives you the play as is. Even if you are only just beginning to dip into the Bard's wor…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 10:54PM[SHARE]Playwright Erik Gernand and director Josh Altman have created a believable family to illustrate this gut-wrenching, gripping drama. In the intimate space and environmental staging at Redtwis…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 09:03PM[SHARE]Adapted from the play C-R-E-P-U-S-C-L-E, Rachel Sheinkin's book and William Finn's music and lyrics are catchy but not cloying, clever but not overly self-referential or indulgent. Highly Re…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 02:35PM[SHARE]Thursday, August 1, 2013
There's no question but that Slowgirl is exceedingly well acted, with Rae Gray and William Petersen ably digging deep into Greg Pierce's story of two people running from, and ultimately faci…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 06:08PM[SHARE]Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Coupled with a wryly acidic look at the differences between the generations and the sexes, Eclipse has brought us a finely balanced work of commentary and comedy. Recommended. (read more...)
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 09:24PM[SHARE]While it has the potential to be a more interesting character study, especially if it involved more of Joseph Cornell's family, by trying to squeeze in too many details about Cornell's life …
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 01:55PM[SHARE]Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Though faithful in some details, Mojada seems like a telenovella that departs from the concentrated crisis of 5th century Athens' drama by failing to show how dependent Jason is on Medea or …
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 07:55PM[SHARE]Monday, July 22, 2013
The Ghost Men execute a solid concept quite well. Ghost Dad is a fun and unique take on Shakespeare's Hamlet that is well worth the minimal time investment. (read more...)
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 09:48PM[SHARE]This play has an inherently captivating premise, but the motives underlying the characters' actions need to be explored and espoused in more detail. An edit to the script, with an aim to tig…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 08:34PM[SHARE]Federico Garcia Lorca is a perfect choice for Pursuit's brand of eclectic mingling, with his freewheeling mixture of prose and poetry, naturalism and symbolism that harken back to Greek trag…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 06:59PM[SHARE]Sunday, July 21, 2013
Shrek the Musical is this year's summer show for young audiences, but to view this as a scaled-down version for kids would be a mistake. It's a full-blown, gorgeously designed production tha…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 09:43PM[SHARE]*ROOMS: a rock romance* is a fun-loving, flirtatious frolic. It's the perfect way to jam out while falling in love. (read more...)
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 07:30PM[SHARE]New Dances 2013 contains several standout pieces. "It Rains There in the Reverence" is a showcase of strong balances, exquisite extensions and lovely developpés. The dance that follows, "Re…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 05:35PM[SHARE]Friday, July 19, 2013
It's been called the "country's best Renaissance Faire" and that's definitely true. This very game festival aims to catch and cover medieval times as the renaissance town of Bristol is colo…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 08:07PM[SHARE]Thursday, July 18, 2013
Mock those tight trousers and carefully manscaped plumage all you want - the music that comes out of the Australian Bee Gees is fantastic, and a worthy tribute to the real Bee Gees. (read mo…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 05:46PM[SHARE]Wednesday, July 17, 2013
A thoroughly enjoyable show, Arc Theatre's Twelfth Night is a production I highly recommend going to see. This show gives you the chance (for free!) to see wonderful performances, a deft exe…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 09:07PM[SHARE]Monday, July 15, 2013
Dreams differed and dissipated into disillusion take center stage in Second City e.t.c.'s latest revue, a hit-and-miss production that is pocked with some outrageously funny scenes but on ba…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 07:35PM[SHARE]Sunday, July 14, 2013
Friday, July 12, 2013
Spirited but inevitably unfocused, Jonathan Berry's staging of this world premiere cryptic drama talks much about secrets, but they are barely divulged. And, as nothing is fully resolved in…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 09:28PM[SHARE]So many details take up too much time in the 2 hour play that the mind is left reeling. The show collapses under the burden of superfuous material 90 minutes in and limps for another 30. If…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 08:12PM[SHARE]Scott Woldman's narrative isn't without a few gaping plot holes, but his dialogue contains passages that will remain lodged in your brain long after the final blackout. Moreover, in director…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 06:38PM[SHARE]Thursday, July 11, 2013
This is a wonderfully energetic, uplifting, adrenaline rush that everybody can enjoy. The showmanship of these performers is impressive. Physical feats aside, they engage the audience with t…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 09:36PM[SHARE]Successful magic is both art and science, and in terms of both, Dennis Watkins, as Harry Houdini, should win the Nobel Prize. The House Theatre is one of Chicago's most groundbreaking compan…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 07:30PM[SHARE]Pierre Corneille's The Liar is a delightfully frivolous bauble of a play, as witty as it is silly. Writers' Theatre's staging of this arguably unnecessary farce is absolutely worth seeing. T…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 01:15PM[SHARE]Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Artistic enough for adults and comprehensible and entertaining enough for kids, Jungle Book is a lovely piece and a solid retelling of the Kipling stories. Mary Zimmerman's adaptation is eas…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 08:05PM[SHARE]Hilarious and heartfelt, Hedwig is an indelible character, and Ryan Lanning is a marvel to watch and hear. Not only will this music stick with you days after the performance, but so too will…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 12:45PM[SHARE]Monday, July 8, 2013
This is a solid, hour-long charmer, deftly and imaginatively retold to delight even the surliest toddler: Emerald City Theatre's Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat celebrates the title character'…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 10:02PM[SHARE]Though there's no doubting for a stage minute the sincerity of everything on this busy stage, you're still left with a well-worn formula of foreign-family-moves-to-America culture shock. Th…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 07:49PM[SHARE]This choreo-poem/collage/performance art piece arranged and choreographed by Derek Van Barham (for the Naked July Festival) designates most of the dancing for James Nedrud and Erik Strebig, …
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 06:15PM[SHARE]Above all, Belleville is a meditation on the nature of trust, and how terrifying it is to lose that trust in a person to whom you entrusted everything. It's an entertaining and thought-provo…
SOURCE: Chicago Theater Beat at 01:33PM[SHARE] 
