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Chicago
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Theater Review: THE BOOK OF GRACE (Steppenwolf Theatre)
JUDGING THE BOOK OF GRACE BY ITS (VERY IMPRESSIVE) COVER The Chicago Premiere of The Book of Grace at Steppenwolf Theatre is an expertly executed production of an underwhelming family drama. I’m a long-time fan of Steppenwolf, and every aspect of this production demonstrated the artistic excellence that I’ve come to expect, but the play…
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Theater Review: HENRY JOHNSON (David Mamet Midwest Premiere at Victory Gardens)
MAMET’S HENRY JOHNSON PROVES A DIFFICULT PROTAGONIST Along with blazingly rapid dialog, there’s something aggressively determined about David Mamet plays—like Glengarry Glen Ross now being revived on Broadway—and his latest Henry Johnson is no exception. Written in 2023 where it premiered at the Electric Lodge in Venice, California, Mamet’s stage effort is now enjoying its…
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Opera Review: THE LISTENERS (Lyric Opera of Chicago)
LISTEN TO THE LISTENERS. DO YOU HEAR THE HUM? Perhaps the most contemporary opera ever to grace the Lyric stage, Missy Mazzoli’s The Listeners borrows heavily from reality television, social media, conspiracy theories and science fiction. Liberally sprinkled with f-bombs, Royce Vavrek’s edgy libretto is based on an original story by Jordan Tannahill (b. 1988)….
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Opera Review: LA BOHÈME (Lyric Opera of Chicago)
BACALING’S BOHÈME CAPTURED MY HEART The operas of Giacomo Puccini are ever-present on the Lyric Opera stage. Only a month ago, Sondra Radvanovsky sang a whole program of Puccini arias, including one from La Bohème, Now audiences have the opportunity to hear the entire opera in all its beloved glory. If Lyric’s last production of…
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Theater Review: GUYS AND DOLLS (Music Theater Works)
JOYOUSLY, GUYS & DOLLS HAS IT ALL Still touted as one of the greatest Broadway musicals of all time, Guys and Dolls turns 75 in November. You’d never know it based on Music Theater Works feisty little production of this all-American classic playing now in Skokie’s North Shore Center. Frisky as a rambunctious puppy, this…
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Concert Review: LEONIDAS KAVAKOS AND DANIIL TRIFONOV (CSO at Symphony Center)
KAVAKOS AND TRIFONOV USHER IN SPRING FOR INTIMATE CHAMBER PROGRAM On an unseasonably warm late spring afternoon, Symphony Center buzzed with anticipation as the crowd waited for Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov and Greek violinist Leonidas Kavakos to begin their scheduled performance. The two men, dressed all in black, unceremoniously walked onstage and began playing Beethoven’s…
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Dance Review: GOLDEN HOUR (Joffrey Ballet Mixed Rep)
JOFFREY ADDS SURPRISE TO A PROGRAM ALREADY BRIMMING WITH EXCELLENT DANCE Joffrey Ballet certainly must be conscious of its earth shifting habits. More likely, its propensity for greatly broadening ballet’s possibilities has been welded into the dance company’s DNA. Joffrey’s four-piece winter program Golden Hour showcases adventurously inventive choreography and splendid dance converge to prove borders and limits…
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Dance Review: ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATER (The Auditorium Theatre in Chicago)
THE PERPETUATION OF LEGACY Once a year we’re reminded of the unique space Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT) occupies in the global dance sphere. And every year we’re also reminded how the venerable dance company remains as relentlessly intent on stretching its horizons as it is in honoring and maintaining the legacy of its…
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Highly Recommended Dance: 15th ANNUAL WINNING WORKS CHOREOGRAPHIC COMPETITION (The Grainger Academy of The Joffrey Ballet)
The Grainger Academy of The Joffrey Ballet’s 15th annual Winning Works Choreographic Competition is set to showcase five world premieres that are guaranteed to stir things up. This annual event, which highlights ALAANA (African, Latinx, Asian, Arab, and Native American) choreographers, gives a fresh platform to voices that are shaping the future of ballet. With…
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Dance Review: GOLDEN HOUR (Joffrey Ballet Mixed Rep)
JOFFREY ADDS SURPRISE TO A PROGRAM ALREADY BRIMMING WITH EXCELLENT DANCE Joffrey Ballet certainly must be conscious of its earth shifting habits. More likely, its propensity for greatly broadening ballet’s possibilities has been welded into the dance company’s DNA. Joffrey’s four-piece winter program Golden Hour showcases adventurously inventive choreography and splendid dance converge to prove…
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Recommended Theater: TITUS ANDRONICUS (Redtwist Theatre)
Titus Andronicus brings prejudice and the politics of revenge to the forefront in Shakespeare’s bloodiest script. Foreign wars have left the country divided, an impulsive leader stokes resentment, and now the country teeters on the brink of civil war over petty grievances and personal vendettas. Can Rome’s leaders save the empire from itself? It’s literally…
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Theater Review: CIRCUS QUIXOTE (Lookingglass Theatre)
KNIGHTS AND ACROBATS AN ODD PAIR AT LOOKINGGLASS Circus Quixote—Lookingglass Theatre’s fun spectacle best suited for a family crowd—is an ambitious attempt to merge Miguel de Cervantes’ timeless tale, Don Quijote of La Mancha, with impressive circus artistry. While the production offers tantalizing talents, it ultimately feels like an unfinished work. Michel Rodríguez Cintra The…
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Theater Review: FRIDA … A SELF PORTRAIT (Writers Theatre in Glencoe)
Frida … A Self Portrait Enlightens and Beguiles with Impressive Force You’d have to go a long way to find someone with as potent a life force as Frida Kahlo’s. She left this branch of existence just over 70 years ago, in 1954, and still, there’s something about her spirit that continues to enthrall the…
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Theater Review: FOOL FOR LOVE (Steppenwolf Theatre)
A BRILLIANTLY BRACING LOOK AT LOVE’S OTHER SIDE Romantic love is rarely easy. Even when a relationship progresses from first attraction to full commitment to picture-perfect nuptials, there are no guarantees. Since its 1983 debut in San Francisco, Sam Shepard’s hour-long one-act Fool for Love, written after a difficult divorce, has become a template for…
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Theater Review: DEBATE: BALDWIN VS. BUCKLEY (TimeLine Theatre at Cortelyou Commons at DePaul University)
NOW VS. THEN A historic confrontation between James Baldwin, the leading literary voice of the civil rights movement, and William F. Buckley Jr., America’s most influential conservative intellectual, took place on February 18, 1965 in a packed Cambridge Union in England. Broadcast live on the BBC and later re-broadcast across America, the question up for…
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Highly Recommended Dance: WINTER SERIES 2025 (Hubbard Street Dance Chicago at the Harris)
HUBBARD STREET’S WINTER SERIES PRIMED TO UNLEASH DANCE FIRE “It’s not magic, but it should seem like it is.” That advice came from a veteran jazz musician in the 1930s as he counseled a young aspiring player. In many ways, that nugget of truth applies to the world as dance as well. Closing in on…
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Off-Broadway and International Tour Review: DEAD AS A DODO (Wakka Wakka)
THE BONES OF GREAT THEATER Continuing its international tour, Wakka Wakka, the Drama Desk and Obie Award-winning theater company, returns to NYC with Dead as a Dodo, a surreal and darkly humorous production at the Baruch Performing Arts Center as part of Under the Radar. Their Norwegian-American penchant for irony—and their surreal imagination—are at the…
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Theater Review: A SLOW AIR (Steep Theatre Company)
Steep Theatre Company’s A Slow Air: An Astonishing Journey Into Forbidden Territory “Estrangement” is an unfriendly word that carries with it all kinds of negative connotations–hostility, alienation, distrust, anger and, somewhat paradoxically, very often confusion. It’s also a word that many people are ashamed of or are uncomfortable talking about; especially when it’s a part…
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Theater Review: FUN HOME (Porchlight Music Theatre at Ruth Page Center for the Arts)
THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE FUN HOME One of the first penetrating statements Alanna Chavez makes very early as Alison Bechdel in Porchlight’s Fun Home, now playing at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts, is that she “doesn’t trust memory”. To compensate, her character discovers cartooning as the most suitable vehicle for chronicling her journey…
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Theater Review: JAJA’S AFRICAN HAIR BRAIDING (Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s The Yard)
AN UNFORGETTABLE LAUGHTER-ETCHED LESSON ON LIFE BY WALKING IN SOMEONE ELSE’S SHOES There are two things to know about Jocelyn Bioh, playwright of Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, the theatrical sensation that’s currently delighting audiences in Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s The Yard and had Broadway in such a tizzy 15 months ago. She starts with character and,…
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