2,260 stories from Chicago Theater Beat
Rock critic Lester Bangs didn't live long " he died at 33 after overdosing on cough syrup " but his short career chronicling the gods of rock and roll had lasting impact. In the one-man show…
Now in its sixth season of presenting free Shakespeare in Chicago parks, Midsommer Flight both keeps Hamlet simple and dives into the complexities of mental illness, violence and the consequ…
Douglas Carter Beane's The Nance, a play exploring the gay-stereotypes used in 1930's New York vaudeville, premiered on Broadway in 2013 starring Nathan Lane " an actor who himself has playe…
Ragtime comprises an era, a jumble of hopes and dreams, energetic music, disasters, collisions , and a story of love, hope and tragedy. Its host, Griffin Theatre, is an ensemble of talented …
The plot of D. L. Coburn's 100-minute, two-person drama sounds so simple you wonder how it could possibly be a compelling drama: Two people play half a dozen hands of gin. Yet within this sm…
Chicago Tap Theatre first staged Changes, its sci-fi tap tribute to David Bowie, 11 years ago in the company's infancy, and re-staged it 5 years later. Despite *Changes* being their most req…
Enter the world of most Eugene O'Neill plays and you'll find yourself in a world of hurt. The exception that proves the rule is Ah, Wilderness!, O'Neill's sole romantic comedy. Set on the 4t…
Visually sumptuous and sonically gorgeous, Broadway in Chicago's opulent national tour of The King and I is a throwback to the golden era of Rodgers and Hammerstein. Highly Recommended! (rea…
Holy Virginia Creeper On a Stick. Not since before the November election have I laughed as long, hard and cathartically as I did at Karen Zacarias' Native Gardens. But what starts as a comed…
Akvavit Theatre's Hitler on the Roof creates a stunning mural of physical theater where the action is darkly beautiful and the stage picture constantly changing. Taking place in a basement p…
Great gifts can come in small packages. Likewise, great plays can come in small theaters. UrbanTheater Company's Water & Power is one of those great gifts. A tale of two brothers, non-i…
Steppenwolf's world premiere Pass Over is the rare drama that will keep you utterly rapt from start to finish, while also spinning an unforgettable commentary on the problems that plague 21s…
Beautifully adapted by Jeff Award-winner Robert Kauzlaric, Her Majesty's Will, based on the novel by David Blixt, imagines Shakespeare's early years as a swashbuckling adventure full of intr…
With Strawdog Theatre's The Night Season, playwright and screenwriter Rebecca Lenkiewicz's creates a fable of a dysfunctional Irish family and the English actor who finds himself smack in th…
Playwright Mark St. Germain's intriguing Relativity, directed by BJ Jones, goes far deeper than the famously tousled shock of white hair that Einstein will forever be associated with. As Ein…
Under Gary Griffin's direction, the musical Parade is an exquisitely rendered ensemble piece defined by richly nuanced performances and sonic majesty. Anchored by Patrick Andrews as Leo Fran…
Johnny 10 Beers' Daughter, brought to us by Something Marvelous, profiles individuals in war zones " in this case a father and daughter " but instead of intelligent and unpredictable, this s…
With the funny, perceptive T., playwright Dan Aibel's shows that an infamous sports attack didn't happen in a vacuum. Figure skating (and society's) rigid rules about how women should behave…
There's a fascinating, important story in Detroit's Black Bottom community, both in its thriving heyday and in the institutionalized racism that erased it. Playwright Dominique Morisseau sta…
Thoughtfully penned, directed and acted, AstonRep Theatre's Time Stands Still features a complex female lead, whose actions affect those around her in realistic and surprising ways. Highly R…
Theresa Rebeck's Seminar feels like a wannabe literary adaptation of "The Paper Chase." Instead of the law students, however, Seminar protaganists are wannabe novelists, living in New York w…
After over a decade of pursuing the elusive rights to the show, Drury Lane finally got the green light to put their stamp on John Kander's and Fred Ebb's classic musical. Director William Os…
Based on real events, Not About Nightingales is Tennessee Williams' gut-wrenching account of events at a Philadelphia prison in 1937 when prisoners mounted a hunger strike in hopes of bringi…
Sparkling wit, a feel-good romance and a sexy, sassy, intelligent heroine - with those elements firmly in place, Chicago Shakespeare's Shakespeare in Love is just the thing to usher in the s…
As romances go, She Loves Me, by Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock, is as pretty as a glossy-page perfume insert. In the Marriott Lincolnshire production, It is also just about as deep. Slightl…
