PHILOSOPHY, FARCE, AND ART UNDER SIEGE Witkiewicz's dense, absurdist text sparks to life" until unnecessary asides break the spell Gus Thomas and Venice Averyheart Theatre does not get much …
FOLKLORE, GHOSTS, AND THE WEIGHT OF THE DEAD Matthew C. Yee's wildly ambitious world premiere dazzles, even as its larger shape remains elusive Death, and coming to terms with it, have been …
AIN'T NOTHING DROWSY ABOUT THIS CHAPERONE Theo Ubique's joyous revival of the Tony-winning musical turned this critic into a tap-dancing, high-kicking fool. Darian Goulding as Aldolpho In a …
NOT QUITE WONDROUS A Pulitzer winner takes a bumpy trip to the Goodman stage Fans of Junot DÃaz's Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao are in for a bit of a s…
A POST-PANDEMIC RECKONING WITH ISOLATION AND MENTAL HEALTH A moving character study elevated by a nuanced central performance The oddest thing about Kirsten Greenidge's Morning, Noon, and Ni…
SHAKESPEARE'S NAME, SOMEONE ELSE'S STORY A generic weepie that gloms onto the prestige of Shakespeare while offering nothing of substance in return Rory Alexander and Kemi-Bo Jacobs as Willi…
A SMART, PLAYFUL SPIN ON A FEMINIST CLASSIC Paul Michael Thomson's witty homage to Top Girls is dazzling"if occasionally too clever for comfort Myah Bridgewater and Laney Rodriguez A world p…
A CHORUS OF EXILE IN AN ARCHITECTURE OF ISOLATION Theatre Y's North American premiere immerses its audience in complicity and unease Makai Walker Before we get into the merits of Elfriede Je…
A LAKESIDE ESTATE OF ART, AMBITION, & UNREQUITED LOVE A richly acted, visually striking Seagull that finally delivers a fully realized Nina A gorgeous and enormous Arcadian painting of a…
STRINDBERG UNDER SIEGE A misfire in almost every way possible, this visually aggressive production overwhelms the play's naturalistic power. "Uh oh," was my first thought when the wall of li…
IBSEN'S ICONIC ANTIHEROINE STILL MAKES A MESS OF POLITE SOCIETY A sleek, sharply acted production driven by a magnetic central performance, even at a lightning pace Redtwist Theatre may have…
MISERY, MARRIAGE, AND A MIDWEST LIVING ROOM THAT CAN'T HOLD IT ALL A powerhouse pairing turns Inge's domestic ache into something bruising, intimate, and hard to shake It may be the season o…
TOLKIEN'S CLASSIC QUEST BECOMES INVENTIVE ENSEMBLE STORYTELLING A clever, resourceful adaptation that turns theatrical minimalism into maximum adventure. Taking you "There and Back Again" in…
It's the little ways you try together; cry together; lie together"that make perfect relationships     " Stephen Sondheim, Company Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, i…
This oral history of the Irish-American journey soars when it sings A history lesson masquerading as a jukebox musical, The Irish … and How They Got That Way is the creation of Pulitzer wi…
HISTORY IN DIALOGUE WITH ITSELF Dominique Morisseau's time-splitting drama refuses easy parallels On paper, Dominique Morisseau's Confederates might read as high concept: two Black women in …
RISING WATER CAN'T FIND ITS CURRENT A powerful premise sinks under miscasting and flat pacing John Biguenet's Rising Water, a Pulitzer-nominated drama set in the immediate aftermath of Hurri…
THEATER IN STEREOPHONIC A terrific docudrama about artistic temperament and the torment of creation David Adjmi's Stereophonic, now playing at the CIBC, is an unusual piece of theater. It's …
About midway through Martha Graham's powerful Chronicle, performed last Saturday at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago, I realized that the elevated platform at center stage was not just a pl…
A DELICATE CHAMBER PIECE THAT WILL BREAK YOUR HEART One of the advantages of a small performance space is that, in the right hands, one can set the mood even before the play has begun. In th…
A PRIVILEGED PTA CIRCUS, THEN A VAXNADO The funniest ten minutes onstage, ever, flanked by a modestly amusing satire. In Jonathan Spector's Eureka Day, five concerned parents gather around a…
FOUR UKRAINIAN REFUGEES NAVIGATE WAR'S AFTERSHOCKS IN A NIGHTMARE OF BUREAUCRACY Natalka Vorozhbyt's darkly funny, deeply bruising play finds Trap Door Theatre at its most urgent"and most hu…
A HOLIDAY MYSTERY WITH VICTORIAN MISCHIEF ON ITS MIND Chesterton by way of Conan Doyle, wrapped in Wodehouse-style tomfoolery Arthur Conan Doyle wrote only one Christmas-themed Sherlock Holm…
A THRILLER THAT OUTLASTS ITS TWIST Even when we know what's coming, the tension holds Let's talk about the cojones required to mount a production of Gaslight nowadays. Even if we assume " a …
A FAIRYTALE REBORN ON THE SOUTH SIDE Wheeldon's Chicago-set Nutcracker still casts a decade-long spell Ten years in, Pyotr Tchaikovsky and the World's Columbian Exposition are still a match …