897 stories by "Lawrence Bommer"
REALITY THEFT Twisting a devious course over a mere 80 minutes and across Lookingglass Theatre’s nearly barebones thrust stage, this puzzle play by Lucas Hnath (whose equally treachero…
VIDEO WILL OUT Shakespeare’s shortest tragedy becomes, appropriately, a 115-minute, one-act opera by Ernest Bloch, a dour offering first produced in 1910 at the Opera-Comique in Paris.…
GROUNDING GENIUS IN LIFE Lucas Hnath is a curious writer who likes to pit truth against fantasy to see which captures the most actuality. His Isaac’s Eye, now in an enthralling Midwest…
PRAY FOR MIRACLES The "fall" in the title doesn't mean the season. Miracles in the Fall refers to the expulsion from Paradise, the epic fall that supposedly created original sin. Pursuing th…
THE BACK STORY BEHIND MOBY DICK A thrilling feat that reclaims the past, The Whaleship Essex is sailor-playwright Joe Forbrich's detailed and driving reimagining of an 1820 tragedy that, 30 …
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, MY DEAR WATSON A cardinal rule gets broken here: You can be funny or you can be scary–but try to be both and you're neither. You'll be this show. Deft at farce in Le…
DUEL NATURE In Trevor, recently produced by A Red Orchid Theatre, playwright Nick Jones delivered a sardonic and heavy-handed attack on dangerous animals kept as domestic pets. He wastes no …
YOU CAN NEVER GO HOME"AGAIN Chaim Potok's 1972 novel My Name is Asher Lev is a coming-of-age story that pits one passion against another. It depicts the declaration of independence by a youn…
A POWERFUL PLAY EVEN WITH A PLOT AS POINTLESS AS ITS PEOPLE With Ecstasy, now being revived at A Red Orchid Theatre, a new Chicago theater succeeds at first: Cole Theatre Company establishes…
BREAKING BETTER He who laughs last laughs best"especially when you overcome an addiction to methamphetamine. So, after recovery, what do you do next? (And I don't mean Disneyland.) You turn …
THE SEAGULL AS AN ALBATROSS At over two hours, it's almost as long as its source. So it's a good thing that Stupid Fucking Bird is more than a parody or it would soon lose its welcome. Aaron…
THE GREAT GAY IMPROVISERS You could call it an action meditation on marriage. As if to sum up his own theatrical legacy, as well as 70 years of gay life and love, Terrence McNally's valedict…
A REVIVAL WHICH ISN’T FIDDLING AROUND "To Life" indeed. There's a ton of it, not to mention heartbreak and wisdom, in Rudy Hogenmiller's warmly wise revival, Light Opera Works' second …
GLOBE THEATRE EARNS ITS NAME This play really is the thing. Audaciously assuming that all's well that ends well, the Globe Theatre is celebrating both Shakespeare's 450th birthday and the 40…
THEÂ OTHERÂ DREAMGIRLS Black Ensemble Theater's latest summer-long tribute is to a girls group who never quite achieved escape velocity to lasting fame. Reginald Williams’ faithful…
SAMUEL BECKETT: MINIMALISM IN EXTREMIS Dark doings on a claustrophobic stage. These are the 80+ minutes at Mary-Arrchie Theatre's Angel Island. Six short but not sweet offerings by the late …
THE THREADS THAT BREAK There's no doubt why Lynn Nottage's drama won five national awards for best play, including the Drama Critics' Circle Award and American Theatre Critics Association's …
IT'S NOT JUST THE MEAT, IT'S THE MISERY The final searing image in Oracle Theatre's pile-driving retelling of Upton Sinclair's muckraking masterwork is a bold take on the Chicago flag: Now t…
ELEVATED EXPERIMENTS Now in its 14th season, New Dances 2014, Thodos Dance Chicago's weekend-long premiere at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts is a grueling, ambitious, and often successful…
T.M.I. AS DRAMA The Qualms (a cute title that sounds like both a setting and a condition) is basically an Internet forum made flesh, a "truth or dare" confessional in one act. Steppenwolf Th…
HORTON HATCHES A HIT "Oh! The Thinks You Can Think!" proclaims this joyous romp as it proves what it belts. One of those powerful pensées is: "A person's a person, no matter how small." …
HIDDEN IN THE MASTER'S SHADOW The sardonically named Twain's World (that hint of amateurism is to be heeded), this year's week-long LitFest from First Floor Theatre is devoted to the works (…
MUSICALS LIKE THIS OCCUR ONCE EVERY 100 YEARS What won't some do to flee the ravages and anguish of war? In 1947, when Brigadoon confirmed the mutual genius of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick …
WHILE GENERIC, A SINCERE SHIP HARDLY CAPSIZES The Last Ship, now in a shakedown cruise at Bank of America Theatre, joins a proud list of fervent tributes to blue-collar Brits. These salutes …
TILL DEATH DO US RECONCILE In little more than an hour Sharr White pulls off a (one) act of forgiveness, reuniting estranged partners in a foul trailer in Paonia, Colorado. The unpromising s…
