213 stories by "Dan Zeff"
A CRIMINAL SCRIPT OF AN EVIL STORY Lucy Prebble's play Enron tries to dramatize the Enron financial scandal, one which serves as a poster child for everything greedy and immoral and corrupt …
A TEPID DISCOURSE ON SEX AND RELIGION IN THE HEARTLAND Hesperia is the name of a small Midwestern town, home to a number of devout Christians. Young Claudia fled here from Los Angeles in spi…
FIRST FOLIO MOVES THEIR BLOOMIN' FARCE INTO HIGH GEAR Unnecessary Farce is that rarest of theatrical birds: a farce that is actually funny. Sure, it's silly to the max, but it makes the audi…
IDIOT IS AS IDIOT DOES Inspired by a 2004 rock album by the American punk rock band Green Day, American Idiot has received its share of positive reviews since its premiere in Berkeley, Calif…
IS THERE A RECONCILIATION IN SIGHT? Every dedicated theatergoer should attend both Race at the Goodman Theatre, and Disgraced " which just opened at the American Theater Company, even though…
WOMEN BEHAVING BADLY Attend the Profiles Theatre production of Leslye Headland's Bachelorette and meet Gena, Katie, and Regan " three foul-mouthed, pot smoking, cocaine sniffing, pill poppin…
PHOTO REALISM Time Stands Still has only four characters and a single set, but it covers an immense amount of dramatic ground, exploring personal matters of love and commitment while address…
THE SILLY BLONDE MUSICAL THAT ACTUALLY WORKS Local musical productions will have problems hiring skilled and energetic young performers for the next couple of months. The Chicagoland talent …
WHOSE ETHNIC HERITAGE IS IT, ANYWAY? Black Pearl Sings! is a two-hander that explores the odd couple relationship between a black woman in prison for murder and a white female academic in Te…
A FEAST FOR THE SENSES (LEAVE YOUR MIND BEHIND) Chicago's Redmoon Company is famous for its work in puppet theater. The Chicago Shakespeare Theater is the preeminent classical theater in the…
MAMET CONFRONTS RACISM David Mamet's Race looks at the racial situation in this country and sees an unbridgeable chasm between blacks and whites in our society. It's a bleak vision, fortunat…
INVISIBLE MAN IS DIFFICULT TO SEE Invisible Man is a complex, panoramic, symbolic novel that's an unlikely candidate for adaptation to the stage. It's a sprawling work crowded with character…
KLEA BLACKHURST IS QUEEN OF THIS GYPSY Gypsy is a musical theater biography of striptease performer Gypsy Rose Lee; but it's really about Gypsy's mother, Mama Rose, immortalized by Ethel Mer…
DECIDING THE FATE OF BLACK MEN IN BASEBALL In 1947, Jackie Robinson broke the color line in major league baseball, the first black man in modern baseball history to play in the majors. That'…
THIS SHOWGIRL NEVER AGES For the typical visitor, Don Arden's Jubilee! is what Las Vegas entertainment is all about " spectacle, elegance, and acres of nubile topless young ladies descending…
DRINK PLENTY OF ABSINTHE BEFORE YOU ATTEND THIS FRAT PARTY Absinthe " an uneasy cross between terrific variety acts and a stag party " takes place near the entrance to Caesars Palace Hotel, …
OH, WHAT FOOL THIS IMMORTAL BE After a short run in Las Vegas, Cirque du Soleil's Michael Jackson THE IMMORTAL World Tour begins its 48-city North American excursion that will last through A…
A VIRTUAL VOLCANO OF VISCERALLY VIVACIOUS VARIETY Not every rewarding entertainment experience in Las Vegas tries to blow audiences' minds with a massive cast, dazzling special effects, and …
MEET THE QUEEN Timothy Findley's Elizabeth Rex confines Queen Elizabeth I and William Shakespeare inside a royal barn one wintry night in February 1601. The placement of the two most lum…
IT'S A WONDERFUL PRODUCTION A stage adaptation of the movie classic It's a Wonderful Life premiered in Connecticut in 1997 and, before long, the adaptation became a staple of the regional th…
A CAROL FOR THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE The Goodman Theatre is the custodian of the most popular tradition in Chicagoland holiday entertainment, Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. The 201…
THE 1700s MEET THE 60s Back in the early 1700's, Pierre Marivaux was a major playwright in France, but his romantic comedies never made much of an impact on the American stage until the 1990…
MEMPHIS PROVIDES RHYTHM BUT ULTIMATELY GIVES YOU THE BLUES Kicking off its national tour, Memphis blew into Chicago trying to sell itself as a romping, stomping celebration of rhythm and blu…
THE JACKIE TAYLOR STORY TAKES PRECEDENCE OVER THE JACKIE WILSON STORY Jackie Taylor is a happy lady these days, and everyone with a fondness to Chicagoland theater should rejoice with her. T…
HO HO HUM Alan Ayckbourn's Season's Greetings is an anti-holiday-cheer comedy which should be appropriate for audiences ready for an excursion into the dark side of the Christmas season. The…
