897 stories by "Lawrence Bommer"
WE SHALL DANCE! It's no puzzlement why this sumptuous reclamation of Broadway greatness, Marriott Theatre's The King and I, is such a grand night for singing, an enchanted evening, and, like…
PRIDE COMETH BEFORE AN ICEBERG Griffin Theatre Company's total triumph is a strange success. It's odd that a more intimate version of a musical called Titanic can so succeed. The cast is red…
FACELESS FOLLOWERS OF TWITTER AND MAO There's a fascinating paradigm shift in the middle of The Hundred Flowers Project, Christopher Chen's cautionary stage and video thriller. Whether you c…
LEAPING BIPEDS! There's one more chance"tonight"to see five intriguing dances on display at the Harris Theater, exciting work from the reliable 52-year-old Giordano Dance Chicago troupe. Kin…
IN SOME WAYS, THIS PARADE PASSED ITSELFÂ BY First performed in Chicago by Bailiwick Repertory, now dutifully revived by BoHo Theatre, the potentially pile-driving Parade by bookwriter Alfr…
LEAPS AND LAUGHS: A STRANGE AMALGAM It's a worthy experiment, even if the eclectic results seem maddeningly inconclusive. For three more performances, two very different Chicago arts troupes…
A DREAM WITHIN A DANCE Borrowed from the Pennsylvania Ballet, Joffrey Ballet's latest offering (running through Oct. 26 at the Auditorium Theatre) is not your usual Swan Lake. Not to be comp…
STEALING CREDIT WHERE IT'S DUE The Submission is a devious, double-edged title for Jeff Talbott's equally transgressive play. It refers both to the cold (as in out-of-nowhere) entry of a scr…
TWILIGHT IN TIVOLI Following their productions of Brecht's The Mother and Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, venturesome Oracle Theatre brings us another thespian rarity. This fall's find is Gore …
EARNING THEIR FUTURE At 25 years young, River North Dance Chicago is as old as its current dancers, most born when it began. They grew up to find the perfect home for their non-negotiable ta…
CAPITOL CRIMES "A plague on both your houses!" Without naming either political party, that's just what Maxwell Anderson wished over 80 years ago through his Pulitzer Prize-winning Both Your …
AN ALL YOU CAN ETTA BUFFET A Black Ensemble Theater hit in 2005, At Last: A Tribute to Etta James is back in (the pleasure of) business. It's also updated to reflect the last decade of "The …
WINNING SMALL Still potent after 42 years, Caryl Churchill's corrosive class comedy Owners pits two outlooks on life against each other. In one corner you have Churchill's now-patented "top …
RED, WHITE AND PAS DE BLEU Marking the 125th anniversary of Chicago's glorious and historic Auditorium Theatre, American Ballet Theatre, which used to come here every season, is all too brie…
SMOKEFALL GETS IN YOUR EYES It opened a year ago in Goodman's smaller Owen Theatre. Due to rave reviews and popular demand, it's now the fall opener in the larger Albert enclave. Clearly, No…
A WHISTLEBLOWER'S CONVENIENT SUICIDE Urgent, cinematic, and breathlessly intense in everything but its intermission, TimeLine Theatre Company's true-life exposé of a truth-teller and his ma…
LAUGHTER IS THE WORST MEDICINE Humor and hygiene play off each other in Sarah Ruhl's much-praised but not altogether satisfying 2004 romantic comedy. Now fitfully revived by the new Bluebird…
LOVE AS A MOVEABLE FEAST Conor McPherson's plays are so rooted in the characters that plot is really revelation. With unforced warmth, he captures loneliness in the act of self-effacement an…
A BEDTIME STORY FOR EVERY ADULT With a justifiably extended run, Route 66 Theatre Company's richly rewarding world premiere of Caitlin (A Twist of Water) Parrish's The Downpour is a story as…
OUT OF THE COUNTRY AND OUT OF LUCK Seldom has a title been more ironic: The World of Extreme Happiness, specifically the booming factory city of Shenzhen in urban China, is definitely extrem…
STAY FORÂ A WEILL An impeccable labor of love, Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre's heartfelt homage, A Kurt Weill Cabaret, pays unstinting tribute to a deft and dynamic composer. Kurt Weill's im…
AFTER THE FALL IS OVER A Midwest premiere by Northlight Theatre, Amanda Peet's topical domestic drama The Commons of Pensacola isn't exactly about Bernie Madoff's unimprisoned wife nor how h…
SUNSET ASSISTED DYING Samuel D. Hunter, Victory Gardens Theater ensemble playwright and recent recipient of a MacArthur "genius" award, specializes in tender tales of gutsy outsiders, spunky…
TALESPINNING AT ITS MOST LITERAL Running only through this weekend, Joffrey Ballet's captivating evening, Stories in Motion, delivers three richly imagined dance narratives, complete with st…
A FORCED FRENZY Some well-meant productions make you feel bad because you care so little. That's perilously close to what transpires in Chicago Shakespeare Theater's louder-than-life revival…
