HIT AND MISS SEMI-HORROR Calling your 75-minute compilation Scary Stories 2015 puts the premium on terror, a concept or condition that's hard to compete with real life. In the thoughtfully p…
FALSTAFF LITE There's potent psychology operating inside Shakespeare's two-part Henry IV, the twin tales of a false father and a false son. The latter is Prince Hal, the fiery rebel whose…
IT DOESN’T GET ANY MERRIER THAN THIS This radiant revival is Light Opera Works' fourth coming of Franz Lehár's masterpiece from an earlier turn of the century. Rudy Hogenmiller's st…
YES, VIRGINIA, THERE IS A CHRISTMAS CIRCUS It's dazzle central and a welcome return to Chicago by the one-ring, 20-feat Cirque Dreams performers, but only through December 21. Their extravag…
A POOR MAN'S LANFORD WILSON Only in New Orleans could a dumpy parking lot flanking a decrepit motel on a highway leading only to the airport be transformed into a lagniappe-soaked, Mardi Gra…
HAWKING HAPPINESS Winner of two 2012 Tonys for best score and choreography, the rampaging romp called Newsies is a special delivery indeed. It comes from the Disney dreamers who fleshed out …
SUGAR PLUMS AND COALS"ALL IN A VERY STUFFED STOCKING Goodman Theatre just got schizoid. On one end of its block-long Dearborn Street lobby is the Albert Theatre, where the sacred cash cow A …
HUMOR CAN BE HOLY When, earlier this year, I saw Bluebird Arts' revival of Sarah Ruhl's magically realistic domestic drama, I couldn't grasp the buzz behind her successful whimsy. Yes, it ha…
HANDEL WITH CARE Talk about a 135-year labor of love! This all-volunteer choir"founded in 1872 after the Great Chicago Fire and performing at the opening of the Auditorium Theatre in 1899 an…
CHRISTMAS CHESTNUTS NEED A NUTCRACKER Even though the second half of this holiday favorite actually seems set in spring (with the "Waltz of the Flowers" as chief evidence), its warmth is nev…
NOT TOO FAST TO FEEL This latest revue from Chicago's comedy empire won't be confused with its 102 predecessors. The Second City's Panic on Cloud 9 isn't half as frenzied as the title implie…
IF THERE'S A BUDDY COP 3, THEN THERE IS NO GOD Strange doings happen for arbitrary reasons in the police station in Shandon, Indiana, the setting for an inconsequential one-act called Buddy …
EPIPHANY CENTRAL Winner of this year's ATCA Steinberg Award, Lauren M. Gunderson's I and You is even more a gift to actors than to audiences. Her taut, 85-minute, two-character drama offers …
SCROOGE GETS RAPPED These eighty glorious minutes of boom-box beats get into your blood and bones"and inevitably they reach the heart. Chicago Shakespeare Theater's latest "ad-rap-tation" fr…
CURSES! SAVED AGAIN! Thanksgiving hasn't happened but, yes, it's time for the 37th second coming of Goodman Theatre's beloved cash cow. A Christmas Carol remains their venerable, popular and…
CURIOUSER AND CURIOUSER MADE BETTERER AND BETTERER A signature work ripe for revival, the eponymous Lookingglass Alice is back for the holidays and New Year, brilliantly tricked-up with the …
PERFECT PLACEMENT AND PERPETUAL MOTION Making a too-brief, always welcome return to Chicago's gorgeous Auditorium Theatre (now celebrating its 125th anniversary), Dance Theatre of Harlem nev…
GRINCH AND BEAR IT As with Sweeney Todd, the Grinch is bent on revenge, though his motivation is much murkier. He's your typical green outsider, like Little Shop's plant Audrey II, the Frog …
JUST A CLOSER WALK WITH PATSY Patsy Cline, the once and future crossover country icon who made audiences "fall to pieces," couldn't be more fondly or accurately recalled. It happens weekly i…
ROASTING CHESTNUTS Nothing if not all-inviting, this modestly entitled holiday revue, It's A Wonderful Santaland Miracle, Nut Cracking Christmas Story…Jews Welcome! is Stage 773's second c…
A NOT QUITE FRACTURED FAIRY TALE A late bloomer, Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale belies its adage that "A sad tale's best for winter." This tragi-comedy has a spring to it as well, contrasti…
GETTING THERE IS HALF THE FUN One of Chicago's longest running, righteously rooted hits, Hellcab follows a strong and simple formula: Depict the encounters a Chicago cab driver experiences o…
THE SLEUTH, THE DIVA, AND THE NAPOLEON OF CRIME Over many seasons P.G. Wodehouse and Arthur Conan Doyle have been very good to City Lit, rightly since the theater fully returns the complimen…
GETTING ROOTS WRONG The Dark Continent just got a bit less light. Concluding their all-Lynn Nottage season (which featured Ruined and Intimate Apparel), Eclipse Theatre Company offers the sa…
SOME VERY MATERIAL MAKE-BELIEVE The self-described "greatest show on Earth" has now reached the greatest city on Lake Michigan. Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey's very literal Legends …