2,260 stories from Chicago Theater Beat
After almost 18 years on Broadway, Lion King at the Cadillac Palace Theatre is still in good shape and good hands. You will still get a thrill from the opening Circle of Life, as Director J…
Created by Michael Potsic and Allison Hendrix, A Kokandy Christmas is a winning mix of traditional Christmas carols, more contemporary hits, personal stories from performers and musicians an…
Exit may run a little long, but it grabs your attention from start to finish. This is an audacious and successful beginning for ICU Ensemble, and I look forward to watching them thrive in th…
Move over Polar Express, a soul train is barreling down the tracks for a funky holiday ride to hilarity. Returning to Shakespeare Theater after a smash debut in 2014, The Q Brothers and gang…
The physical humor of Remy Bumppo's Fallen Angels is extremely well-realized. Director Shannon Cochran's production rises to the occasion of helping us empathize with this timeless emotion b…
Think Norman Rockwell, minus the schmaltz, and you've got a sense of Northlight's You Can't Take it With You. If you're looking for a shot of holiday cheer minus the sugary sugarplums and re…
The House Theatre of Chicago's adaptation is a classic in its own right; a pitch-perfect blend of drama and whimsy. From script to design to performance, this Nutcracker is a vibrant holida…
With their adaptation of Robin Hodd and Maid Marian, Forks & Hope gracefully mingles tongue-in-cheek Monty Python-esque humor with heartfelt emotion in this world-premiere that will mak…
Don some *gay* apparel"or that ugly sweater"and skate on down to The Santaland Diaries. Michael Fain and company are just as essential as uncensored Christmas Vacation viewings for anyone su…
Barrel of Monkeys loves kids and isn't afraid to show it. The passionate ensemble of actor-educators go into underserved Chicago Public Schools, facilitate creative writing workshops and the…
One of the best spectacles on any holiday stage in Chicago, Burning Bluebeard is the kind of nervy production that represents what's best about Chicago theatre and its success is little shy …
With such a minimalist production, Director Ian Frank relies upon a celebrated playwright, incendiary subject, and extensive cast to carry the show. It isn't enough. Redtwist prides itself o…
Goodman Theatre's 2015 production of A Christmas Carol is its 38th, and this year's show is a gothic and glittering holiday treat: Henry Wishcamper's direction doesn't skimp on the scary or …
Set entirely in a doomed chain restaurant in the outskirts of Idaho, Griffin Theatre's Midwest premiere is brilliant from beginning to end, an ode to broken dreams and a personification of t…
With Marjorie Prime, Director Kimberly Senior helms a story that's accessible and compelling, even as the philosophical conundrums it poses become almost too weighty to wrap your mind around…
The Raid comes across as an uneven production overall, owing mostly to the lack of focus in the narrative structure. Nonetheless, the world premiere by Idris Goodwin contains some strong per…
At its heart, No More Sad Things is a beautiful play. Playwright Hansol Jung's rumination on connections lost and found is not only pretty to look at, but has significant substance. However,…
Picking a perfect cast as solo dynamos or a harmony-happy ensemble, director Brenda Didier delivers a hard-hoofing, high-strutting, big-belting two-act delight with Porchlight Theatre's Ain'…
While many modern audience members will still struggle to remain invested in such an exposition-heavy Greek tragedy, Court Theatre's inventive staging gives the action-craving theatre-goer a…
Chicago Sanitation from Funny Or Die I think the next series should be a series about a local theater company called "Chicago Drama"! Anyone have any other suggestions???
Lyric Opera's sumptuous production of The Merry Widow is a wondrous spectacle for the eyes as well as the ears, and a great holiday treat for Chicago. Highly Recommended! (read Jacob Davis' …
Alban Berg's opera Wozzeck seems to suggest that cruelty is a slope humanity is inclined to slide down even as our better natures try to prevail. It's an uncompromising and important artisti…
With Thomas Bradshaw as the prolific playwright provocateur of the last ten years, Fulfillment runs the gamut from the blatantly absurd to the mildly shocking. That it's frequently a little …
Do not hesitate to see Ibsen's Ghosts; with this being Marry-Archie Theatre's final season, memories of their trademark high-risk, high-reward storytelling will soon become ghosts themselves…
John Logan's gripping stage journalism concentrates on the sheer neediness that shackled the adoring and geeky Leopold to his smooth and sexually manipulative psychopath-lover Loeb. It's a t…
