"The Lord of the Rings" musical, now playing at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, is a disappointing muddle. Despite some lovely music and amazing puppetry, it doesn't satisfy.
If you haven't seen this show before"this is the production to experience it. And if you've seen it a dozen times, come to Aurora and see it again.
"Midnight" is a sparkling, engaging night at the theater, and will make you want to book a weekend in Savannah. It's worth seeing, especially for Ghee.
The new play by Nambi E. Kelley is currently running at Chicago's Court Theatre.
It felt like the end of an after-school special"we all learned something tonight. I'm glad this show is bringing young people into the theaters. And I hope they come back to see something be…
"A Little Night Music" celebrates mature love"the kind that happens after you've been around for a while; less fireworks, more bemusement.
Lifeline Theatre's new production of "Native Son" is brutal, powerful and relentless. Like a big, stiff drink, it hits you right in the gut, and you leave the theater reeling.
With the abundantly talented Tiffany Topol as Carole King, backed by a great cast, the new production of "Beautiful" at Aurora's Paramount Theatre is irresistible.
In Judgement Day at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Alexander plays a corrupt lawyer who may be looking for forgiveness.
This show is alive. For the two hours spent in the tiny Bucktown theater, you can imagine you have stepped into a Toulouse-Lautrec painting"drinking absinthe and watching the can-can.
Lennix, known for his work on television's "The Blacklist" and "Dollhouse" and movies like "The Five Heartbeats" and "Ray," is a busy man around Chicago these days. He's going back on stage …
Too much of Tom Stoppard's absurdist, existential tragicomedy about two minor Shakespearean characters has been trimmed from this production, which is too bad, because the play is brilliant …
This is a moving, beautifully written and honest play that discusses generational conflict"between old ideas of "purpose" and spirituality and new ones, between the need for truth and the ne…
This play sees the contradictions at the heart of this country"the tragic infrastructure under its noble façade. Monticello won't look the same when you think of all the people who were m…
You don't come to "Richard III" for history"you come for spectacle and gore, and Chicago Shakespeare delivers.
In presenting the words of real people talking about America's troubled education and criminal justice system in her 2015 play "Notes from the Field," writer and actress Anna Deavere Smith f…
The social media world is a "cool" place (in Marshall McLuhan's term)"you have to fill in the details. The story might work better in a cooler medium, like television.
In its Chicago premiere, "Champion" has strong vocal performances, exuberant dancing and a creative, multi-level set by Allen Moyer, which uses projected images of real newspaper headlines a…
The actors are telling a story that never finds its way, and leaves too many unanswered questions.
It's January in Chicago, and we must somehow survive it. You could go to Miami, but not everyone has the time. So here's a closer source of heat"a dynamite production of "Anything Goes" at P…
Both the poetry and the genre-defying nature of "Illinoise" made it a favorite of Tony Award-winning choreographer Justin Peck. Peck worked with longtime friend and collaborator Stevens to c…
It's a sweet story, beautifully performed, about a friendship between two teenage girls. One of them is a mermaid or selkie who takes care of whales.
This story has remained popular for 180 years because Scrooge is all of us, hurt by the world, trying hard to be tougher than we really are. Sometimes, we need to lower our defenses and reme…
The moment Rebecca Spence steps on the Court Theatre stage as Eleanor of Aquitaine, the atmosphere changes. Here's something special.
This new production of "Twelfth Night," directed by first-generation Jamaican American director Tyrone Phillips with a mostly Black cast and reggae music, captures the spirit, the language, …