Tim Martin and Mouzam Makkar in Rasaka Theatre’s “Gruesome Playground Injuries.” I remember in elementary school I, along with some daredevil girls, perfected the art of th…
Let’s cut to the chase: My sister ended her brave and brief 1.5 year battle with colon cancer last week. Her passing was shockingly sudden. I mean, we saw it coming, as she had stage I…
E. Faye Butler and the cast of Goodman Theatre’s “Crowns” “Does anyone still wear a hat?” bellows the embittered Joanne, as memorably originated by Elaine Strit…
Ravi Batista and Mick Weber in Soul Theatre’s “The Lover” Every relationship needs a little spice now and then, right? Well, in Harold Pinter’s 55-minute power play, …
Composer Adam Guettel certainly knows his way around a musical’s concluding song. In The Light in the Piazza, which is receiving an award-winning, sold-out production at Theo Ubique up…
Excuse me while I theatre-queen it out for a few moments. People often think that “star quality” is intangible. Oh, no. I’m here to tell you, it’s a very real, observ…
It’s a very rare thing when a beautiful, complex and emotionally stirring new musical comes along. Usually, such things hit one or two of the marks well. But with Eastland, which uses …
It’s another summer in Chicago, so that means a visit from the touring production of the hit head-banger musical Rock of Ages. This crowd-pleasing show, which is now a major motion pic…
The long-delayed reunion of any family can provide the basis for a three act play, particularly if there are more than a few skeletons in the closet. And in Paul Oakley Stovall’s rivet…
I’ve watched the Tony Awards, which celebrates the best of Broadway, religiously since 1995. Overall, this year’s production wasn’t as horrid as past years, but it was far …
Only in Chicago would a theater company actively seek out to produce a play that has more people onstage than in the audience. Yet that’s exactly the case in The Right Brain Project…
My dear friend, Herb (whom we lovingly rever to as “Opera Herb” because his mellifluous voice is something of a wonder), reports on the new, unique summer Chicago venue, The Rive…
We’ve made our predictions, and tonight I’ll be on hand with some other fellow bloggers and such to see who snags a Jeff. I’ll be twittering the highlights, so follow a…
Last week, Gerald and I completely disconnected from all things wireless and headed up to the land of giant, 3,000 year old trees at the Sequoia National Forest — a 4-hour drive north …
A bomb scientist, working for a deeply underground division of the US military, is struggling to put the pieces together from his fractured life. His latest experiment hasn’t gone exac…
Bang the Drum Slowly is one of those rare plays that will appeal to a wide range. (Ahem: pardon me while I make sweeping and offensive generalizations.) Men will appreciate the references to…
It’s been said that English plays are all about class, while American plays are about property. Well, that’s certainly the case in Patrick Marber’s 1995 play After Miss Jul…
There’s something magical happening up in Glencoe, Ill. It’s a sparkling new production of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s 1973 musical, A Little Night Music — a …
I took a day trip to Boston yesterday to catch the second preview of the new musical about Marilyn Monroe, Bombshell. Perhaps you’ve heard about it? It’s the much-anticipated bio…
America – that shining land of opportunity. I know I take my freedoms for granted. They’ve just always been there, and it’s hard to imagine life without them. However, in D…
Each day I get dozens of pitches and press releases in my inbox for upcoming productions, and most of them are professional and clear, but a good chunk of them are a bit of a mess. However, …
Hey, Chicago. Remember Jessie Mueller? Perhaps you saw her in Writers’ Theatre’s She Loves Me? Or as Adelaide in Guys and Dolls at Marriott? Or, if you were really lucky, her ste…
It’s a Jonathan Larson summer in Chicago. Currently, the genre-defining musical theatre composer is receiving productions of his two major shows by a trio of distinguished local theatr…
Chicago truly is an amazing theatre town — especially now, where we have two epic plays receiving landmark productions, and I’ve been lucky to see both of them. Following the sev…
I love cats. The animal and the show. Ok, maybe not the animal so much, but I love my cat, Alley. She’s, I guess, what you’d call a former Jellicle cat. She lived a rough life be…