THE LONG MARCH E. L. Doctorow's The March was a fine Civil War novel and likely would make an excellent motion picture, but as a play it has problems. The ambitious adaptation at the Steppen…
A PRODUCTION THAT IS THE VERY MODEL The comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan can be an acquired taste for modern audiences. The plots are inane and the satire, so cutting in Victorian days, …
A PERFECTLY COIFFED HAIRSPRAY A successful revival of Hairspray demands pinpoint casting in two roles. Tracy Turnblad, the show's central character must be short, exceedingly stocky, look li…
SECOND CITY KNOWS EXACTLY WHO THEY ARE Second City calls its 100th mainstage revue Who Do We Think We Are? The question is rhetorical. For more than half a century, Second City has been the …
A LITTLE OUTDATED, ANGELS IS STILL MANNA FROM HEAVEN In 1994, Tony Kushner's two-part Angels in America plays " Millennium Approaches and Perestroika " opened locally at the Royal George The…
I SAY YOU WANT THIS REVOLUTION After the Revolution is a chewy new play about family dynamics and the difficulty of making moral judgments, especially after the fact. For audiences thirsting…
THE IDEA WORKS BETTER THAN THE ACTUAL PRESENTATION Jackie Sibblies Drury's new play could have the longest title in the history of the theater: We Are Proud to Present a Presentation About t…
MUSICAL STRIKES A UMBILICAL CHORD Motherhood the Musical doesn't break any new ground in taking on the joys and tribulations of motherhood, nor does the 100-minute revue deliver any surprise…
THE BOYS ARE BACK, AND BETTER THAN EVER Maybe it's the law of averages. Put enough jukebox musicals on the American stage and one of them is bound to come up a classic. That may explain the …
IT'S NOT SAFE TO GO BACK IN THE KITCHEN Along with cutting meat for a living, Valerie, the butcher in Marisa Wegrzyn's impressive The Butcher of Baraboo, is a middle-aged woman who is the ce…
THE PLAY’S ACTING’S THE THING Plenty of negatives can be directed toward Lee Blessing's Chesapeake, which suffers from personality disorder: Is it a satire? A comedy? A fantasy? …
HAUNTINGLY IMTIMATE Ghost stories are difficult to bring off on stage. The physical reality of flesh and blood actors works against the sense of the supernatural and the suspense and horror …
IF FOOD BE THE MUSIC OF LOVE, EAT ON The Lookingglass production of Cascabel is the toughest ticket in Chicago this side of The Book of Mormon. The hook of the show is the menu prepared by c…
ONE EXCLAMATION POINT IN THE TITLE IS NOT ENOUGH Audience enjoyment of Fela! at the Oriental Theatre will be in direct proportion to the viewer's capacity to absorb more than two hours of no…
A FREUDIAN TRIP Freud's Last Session at the Mercury Theater is a "what if" play. What if the Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud and the English professor and author C. S. Lewis met in Freu…
FOR BETTER OR WORSE, IT'S A TELLTALE TITLE Suzan-Lori Parks claimed that her play Fucking A, now playing at the Urban Theater Company, was inspired by Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet…
ALL ABOUT ALFRED AND LYNN Ten Chimneys is the name of the estate near Madison, Wisconsin, where the famous American husband-and-wife acting team of Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne retreated an…
REAL GENIUS OR REAL CLUNKER? Tennessee Williams wrote at least 10 plays that are more accessible and commercially viable than his Camino Real (pronounced CA-mino Reel). Even the most zealous…
RIVER OF DREAMS All good things must come to an end, they say, so it was inevitable that Riverdance would finally end its run, at least in the United States. But will it ever be missed! Play…
THE BOOK ISN'T READY, BUT BRING IT ON ANYWAY Bring It On at the Cadillac Palace Theatre is cut from the Legally Blonde cloth of contemporary musical theater: they are both inspired by motion…
A REVIVAL THAT'S WORTH THE PRICE The Price (1968), in a solid revival at the Raven Theatre, demonstrates Arthur Miller at the top of his game " writing intense, eloquent, densely textured dr…
A STRANGE MIXTURE OF BELLY-LAUGH FARCE AND POLITICAL INTRIGUE The North Plan at Theater Wit is either a farce with dark political conspiracy overtones or a political conspiracy drama played …
SECOND CITY GROWS UP Second City is expanding its cabaret empire in a new Chicago venue currently housing five shows. The operation carries the umbrella title of the UP Comedy Club, located …
THE ACTING FILLS YOU UP BUT THE ADAPTATION LEAVES YOU HUNGRY FOR LESS Elise Blackwell's slender 2003 novel Hunger tells the harrowing story of a group of Russian scientists trying to survive…
A DRESS THAT'S ALREADY OUT OF STYLE The two-character romantic play typically follows a set pattern. A man and a woman have just met. They are very different in lifestyles and initially they…