6,591 stories from Stage and Cinema
DRAG YOURSELF DOWN TO PAGEANT Exiting Cygnet’s revival of Pageant, my writing pad, normally filled with pages of barely decipherable notes, had nothing upon it but the title. This …
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…
NO SECRET ANYMORE Boy, oh boy, oh boy, does Scott Dreier (the "Me" of Doris and Me) love Doris Day (the "Doris" of Doris and Me).  I mean, he loooooooooves her. The tag line of his sh…
THE GREAT CALL OF CHINA The very nature of adoption can leave a child"and the adult he or she becomes"filled with questions: Who were you, Mother? Â Why did you make this choice? Â Do yo…
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 …
FATHERS AND SONS The sensitive, expressive, and pensive son. The emotionally cool, impatient, and badgering father. Together, this family dynamic seen throughout history is so familiar that …
L.A.'S BIGGEST FAN It surprises me that Lady Windermere's Fan isn't produced as frequently as the ubiquitous The Importance of Being Earnest. Beginning Friday, Chalk Rep is remounting las…
A DROP-DEAD DELIGHT Delightful in an over-the-top yet grounded and sympathetic portrayal of Idris Seabright, a well-off spinster obsessed with memories of her long-gone Latin lover, Everett …
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…
MORE THAN ONCE Ironically, the real-life love affair celebrated on screen about collaborators Glen Hasard, an Irish composer, and Markéta Irglová, a Czech songwriter, fizzled after John …
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…
WE WILL SCHLOCK YOU A huge West End hit for twelve years (just closing last May), this awful compilation jukebox musical does for Queen what Mamma Mia! did for ABBA, Buddy for Buddy Holly an…
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…
HELLO, GORGEOUS Jonathan Tolin's keen and tremendously funny new show Buyer & Cellar, performed by Michael Urie, imagines what it would be like for Alex More, a young gay man struggling …
A BLOODY BUT WORTHWHILE MESS When Kenneth Clark asked of William Shakespeare, "who else has felt so strongly the absolute meaninglessness of life," he illustrated the point with this speech …
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 (…
I DREAM’D A DREAM TO-NIGHT The National Ballet of Canada (TNBC), which presented its thrilling rendition of Christopher Wheeldon's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland at the Dorothy Chand…
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 …
A HOT AUGUST CAST Having witnessed many Broadway hits at the beginning and end of their runs (and the touring companies they spawned), it is fair for me to say that the magic and crackling e…
DOOM DOOM DOOM In the Boom Boom Room is a David Rabe play that did not win a Tony in 1974. In it, Rabe demonstrates no particular affinity yet for female characters, of whom there are ma…
THEATER AS A TEMPLE The Flea Theater commissioned 48 different playwrights to contribute short dramatic pieces to this tremendous production, which basically recounts all the narratives in t…
RAISING THE CLOWN BAR Did the TV series It give you nightmares for decades? Does the art of John Wayne Gacy make you tremble? Does dear old Bozo make you break out in hives? If y…
STORMY ROMANCE It is sometimes the case that the plays that seem the simplest " three characters, a few dusty flats, a tiny, shoe-box set in a miniscule theater somewhere on the 12th floor o…
