THE HOUSE ALWAYS WINS Kenny Leon finds new layers in Suzan-Lori Parks’s riveting battle between two brothers trapped by history, rivalry, and the roles they perform Topdog/Underdog by Suza…
KOKANDY UNLEASHES ITS HYDE A problematic musical gets a thrilling jolt of theatrical electricity from Kokandy’s powerhouse performers and audacious design Kokandy Productions’ remount of…
COME FROM AWAY GETS CLOSER AT MARRIOTT Marriott’s intimate in-the-round staging brings the audience directly into Gander’s remarkable story Twenty-five years ago on September 11, 38 comm…
VOTES FOR WOMEN… AND A VICTORY FOR MUSICAL THEATER History marches forward with intelligence, heart, and exhilarating conviction The national tour of Suffs, Shaina Taub‘s Tony Award-winn…
A SONDHEIM SUMMER NIGHT Marriott Theatre’s superb ensemble untangles Sondheim’s deliciously complicated comedy of manners There aren’t many shows that can convince large numbers of cit…
STEP RIGHT UP A criminally underrated musical proves there’s more under the big top than spectacle Water for Elephants, based on the novel by Sara Gruen, premiered on Broadway in March 202…
FROM PAGE TO PAS DE DEUX Possokhov’s adaptation captures Pushkin’s aching tale of missed chances and irreversible choices Alexander Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin is so deeply embedded in Rus…
A THEATRICAL EXPERIENCE FOR THE SCIENCE-MINDED Theater of the Mind created by David Byrne and Mala Gaonkar and directed by Andrew Scoville is an interactive neuroscience experiment tied toge…
WHEN SHAKESPEARE NEEDS A LITTLE HELP Physical comedy drives the laughs"sometimes to excess"in Phillip Breen's energetic production The Merry Wives of Windsor is not one of Shakespeare's most…
MUCH ADO ABOUT ADO AND EVERY BIT WORTH THE FUSS ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ Chicago Shakespeare Theater's Much Ado About Nothing, directed by Selina…
Steppenwolf's in-the-round production of Amadeus, directed by Robert Falls, takes a sparse approach to design, perhaps by necessity, or perhaps to highlight the juxtaposition between the cou…
Chicago Shakespeare Theater's North American premiere of Paranormal Activity is guaranteed to deliver the horror movie-style scares you're looking for this Halloween season, but if you're lo…
STUNNING AND UNSETTLING, MR. WOLF IS AT THE DOOR Steppenwolf Theatre's Chicago premiere of Mr. Wolf is a searing examination of parental sacrifice, loss, and the elusive nature of home. Unde…
A CLAUSTROPHOBIC MISERY AT CITADEL Citadel Theatre's production of Misery by William Goldman, based on the novel by Stephen King, is a respectable staging that scratches the itch for a…
AN EXTREMELY FEMINIST PLAY. OR IS IT? Never meet a man, they say. What happens if we have to work with one? Artemis Books & The Well-Meaning Man poses the complex question of how, if at …
CHICAGO-BORN AND HEAVEN-SENT, THIS IS NOT A REVIVAL. IT'S A RECKONING. Angels in America is one of the greatest plays in the American theatre canon. Period. Tony Kushner created a two-part e…
A MUSICAL COMEDY TO REMIND YOU WHY YOU FELL IN LOVE WITH THE ARTFORM IN THE FIRST PLACE "In 1982 a man called Larry put himself in a lawn chair, got some 42 balloons, and went to sixteen tho…
DIAL M FOR MURDEROUS LAUGHTER Chicago is the city of improv, but excellent improv can still be hard to come by. Yet the magnificent company Hitch*Cocktails always delivers, and they do it wh…
JUDGING THE BOOK OF GRACE BY ITS (VERY IMPRESSIVE) COVER The Chicago Premiere of The Book of Grace at Steppenwolf Theatre is an expertly executed production of an underwhelming family drama.…
KNIGHTS AND ACROBATS AN ODD PAIR AT LOOKINGGLASS Circus Quixote"Lookingglass Theatre's fun spectacle best suited for a family crowd"is an ambitious attempt to merge Miguel de Cervantes' time…
NOW VS. THEN A historic confrontation between James Baldwin, the leading literary voice of the civil rights movement, and William F. Buckley Jr., America's most influential conservative inte…
A HEARTWARMING ADAPTATION The world premiere of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women adapted by Lauren Gunderson as a co-commission from Northlight Theatre, City Theatre, People's Light, a…
AN INCREDIBLE SCORE; A FINE PRODUCTION; A FUNNY AND POIGNANT FRACTURED FAMILY PORTRAIT; WHY, THEN, DOES THIS REVIVAL NOT EMOTIONALLY RESONATE? Court Theatre and Timeline Theatre's joint prod…
THE REAL TRAGEDY WOULD BE MISSING THE TRAGEDY OF HAMLET Legendary director Robert Lepage and dancer/choreographer Guillaume Côté reunite to re-imagine theatre's most timeless, persistent…
INTO THE WOODS ACCOMPANIED BY TWO PIANOS? IN A STOREFRONT THEATRE? IT'S A DREAM COME TRUE Kokandy's production of Into the Woods directed by Derek Van Barham with music direction by Nick Sul…