"The Antiquities" is a play of big ideas about the meaning of life. It reminds us that even if humans are just a blip on the universal timeline, we had some things worth remembering. Get it …
When audience members enter the Trap Door Theatre for Bertolt Brecht's "Galileo," they see a nearly naked man, sitting on a chair with his face to the wall. They learn that the man is the sc…
Any play that takes on Berlin during the Weimar Republic era must operate in "Cabaret'"s long shadow. "Berlin," now in its world premiere at the Court Theatre, tells stories from the same pe…
This isn't a feel-good or a perfect play, but it is a powerful one.
How did one group, formed by often-feuding brothers from working-class North London, have this much depth and scope? "Sunny Afternoon," a musical playing at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, trie…
Depending on your mood and disposition, the magical ending of this play might make you roll your eyes. But I always find it moving, and more so now in a time of so much anger and bitterness.
Here's some advice: Go see "Titus Andronicus" at Redtwist Theatre. It's a shocking, energetic and muscular version of Shakespeare's earliest tragedy, filled with gore, excellent stage violen…
The Oscar-winning actor stars in the marital drama opposite Ian Barford and Robert Sean Leonard at the Goodman Theatre.
Sadieh Rifai is a playwright to watch and this is a play worth seeing. A little trimming and shaping would make it better.
Elliot Esquivel plays Jeff, the graveyard-shift security officer at a drab New York apartment building. He's at the center of the action in this 2001 Kenneth Lonergan play about the difficul…
The reopening of Lookingglass this winter with "Circus Quixote" is a joyful event, and comes after a lot of soul-searching.
"Fat Ham," a modern reimagining of Shakespeare's "Hamlet," won the Pulitzer Prize in 2022 and got nominated for five Tony Awards. It's set at a Southern cookout. Juicy, a young queer Black m…
A new adaptation by Lauren Gunderson, premiering at Northlight Theatre, avoids the sentimental piety that mars some versions by using more language from Alcott's astonishing book.
"The Secret Garden" is healing: If you come into this show like Mary, cross and wounded, you may come out warm and blooming.
This is a moving and magical show, exploring the idea of human genius and transcendence.
This 2016 play by Rockford-born Nathan Alan Davis asks what justifies violence, a question that resonates with today's global struggles.
There is magic in the setting for Kokandy Productions' fine and intimate telling of Stephen Sondheim's 1986 musical "Into the Woods""a tale of wishes, spells and deadly danger.
The production has many appealing qualities, but the play doesn't quite satisfy. It needs more"more music, more convincing dialogue. I wanted the full pierogi plate, but left feeling a littl…
If you like Stephen King or psychological thrillers in general, don't miss this show. There's magic here.
It's a powerful and rare play that puts a spotlight on a regular working-class woman, bravely negotiating a difficult life.
"Henry V" is like one of those M.C. Escher prints where sometimes you see fish and sometimes ducks"it plays with your perception.
Yando, who played Scrooge in The Goodman Theatre's "The Christmas Carol" for sixteen years and is known for playing complicated, dark characters, will take on the prickly Severus Snape in th…
The performances are real, and the play doesn't feel like a gimmick but a true portrayal of how life works. It's like cubism in story form"the variations are altogether at once.
"The Virgin Queen Entertains Her Fool" is a bawdy, witty, fast-paced tragicomedy, brilliantly acted and expertly plotted.
There's no time wrong for "King Lear," and if you haven't seen a live performance, American Players Theatre's production is a great place to start.