6,591 stories from Stage and Cinema
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…
EVERYBODY LOVES SHE LOVES ME I'll be the first to admit that it may be impossible to create a bad production of the 1963 jewel-box musical She Loves Me. This perfect show, based on the 1937 …
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…
THIS WOODS DELIVERS THE GOODS Somewhere between "Once Upon a Time" and "Happily Ever After" there is a very adult world of tests, losses, disappointments, and grief. Despite this, we assert …
CROSS OVER INTO IMPRO'S TWILIGHT ZONE After last year's crop of run-of-the-mill Christmas plays, I swore off any theater that even alludes to the holidays. Now, I must eat my words. Opening …
A REALLY GOOD LIFETIME MOVIE ON STAGE Chicago Theater comes to L.A. lock, stock and barrel with the Goodman production of Rebecca Gilman's Luna Gale. Â A winning cast"led by the remarkable…
THE HYPOCRITES PLAYFULLY ROCK THIS BOAT A nautical joyride of musical mayhem, belly laughs, and unadulterated fun, this world premiere adaptation of H.M.S. Pinafore completes The Hypocrites'…
ARMACOST LIGHTS UP THE NULLITY OF SHINING CITY Hot on the heels of Steppenwolf's production of Conor McPherson's newest play The Night Alive comes Irish Theatre of Chicago's current producti…
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 …
HOLLYWOOD HORROR STORY Director Michael Driscoll brings B-movie exploitation antics to Strawdog's Hugen Hall stage in Darren Callahan's Desperate Dolls. This over-the-top, no-holds-barred do…
WHAT DIDN’T HE Joe Orton was a loudly subversive English playwright who, before his murder in 1967, helped rip out the loud, inefficient plumbing of kitchen sink social drama and repla…
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…
MARY, MARY, QUITE CONTRARY It begins with a woman taking a bath. The lighting is low and there are dozens of candles spread about the set. She slowly gets up and dries off, donning a linen s…
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 …
IT'S ONLY INVISIBLE IF YOU KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN The first time I heard Christopher Cerrone's opera Invisible Cities, based on Italo Calvino's 1972 fictional novel, was during The Industry's i…
LYRIC DOES THE BESS THAT IT CAN After two outings to Spain (Don Giovanni and Il Trovatore) and one to Paris (Capriccio), Lyric Opera is bringing audiences something homegrown, composed by an…
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…
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT Beginning November 26, 42nd Street Moon will revist one of its earliest hits, the mirthful 1943 farce Something for the Boys. This rarely performed boisterous mus…
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 …
PROMISING PROMISES, I PROMISE The premise of Promises, Promises is one you are probably familiar with even if you have never seen the 1968 musical, which opens in a splashy revival at San Fr…
KANDER & EBB'S DANCE MARATHON MUSICAL FINALLY ARRIVES IN LOS ANGELES I can understand why you hear about a "Staged Reading" and want to bolt in the opposite direction. Don't let that tit…
A HOLIDAY FOR HUMANITY Playwright Stephen Karam's Sons of the Prophet was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2012, and his Speech and Debate"with its with crackling humor and vivacity"has …
A TWIN/LOSE SITUATION Henry Krieger's succulent score and the co-leads' powerful, penetrating voices are among the few reasons to see Side Show, a dull bio-musical set in the first half of t…
