Chicago

FAMILY DYSFUNCTION, PAST AND FUTURE Philosopher George Santayana once famously wrote “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” This quote kept bouncing around my head while watching Victory Gardens Theater’s latest world premiere play, In Every Generation. The first show on the mainstage since the pandemic shutdown, this challenging Jewish family…

DISASTER LIVES UP TO ITS TITLE Its not everyday a well-known chef headlines a new play, so it was with great interest I attended the new immersive comedy,  A Recipe For Disaster!  This Windy City Playhouse production has taken over an entire floor of the recently reopened Petterino’s restaurant, dubbing the performance space “The Playhouse at Petterino’s”….

A ROYAL PRODUCTION There is something to be said for a classic musical lovingly restaged for a new generation of audiences. The Drury Lane Theatre should be very proud with their latest, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The King and I. There is enough here to satisfy any traditionalist and to charm even the sternest of curmudgeons….

WHILE NOT A DISASTER, SOME INGREDIENTS NEED FIXIN’ In 2012 and 2014 the famous Chicago chef Rick Bayless and the Lookingglass Theatre Company joined to present a food-and-show production called Cascabel, which combined music and circus acts with a full meal served to the audience in their seats. Now Bayless is working with the Windy…

DAWN BLESS A BLESSING IN SCALED-DOWN CHURCH After an almost two year pandemic break, the Black Ensemble Theater BET) is back in business and doing a necessary check in on everyone’s mental health. The first show in “The season of healing and joy” celebrates faith, joy, self-esteem and self-worth. It’s Just Like Coming to Church…

COMEDY SET TO A BEAT Tina Arfaee, Cat McDonnell, Uri, Teagan Earley, Breanna Ghostone, Preston Parker Often referred to as the crown jewel of sketch comedy,  The Second City  is unveiling its latest,  The Best Friggin’ Songs of The Second City: Sing Out!  on their UP Comedy Club stage. Over the last six decades, The Second City  has cultivated a…

WINNING ASSIST Back in business after a near two year hiatus, Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s winning new dramady, King James, is a must see for more than just rabid sports fans. Truth be told, I had many a friend snicker when I told them I was going to see a new sports themed play debuting in…

THE BEST OSCAR GOES TO SEAN HAYES From the late 1930s to the early 1950s, Oscar Levant was one of the most popular and versatile figures on the American entertainment scene. Levant was a pianist, composer, radio and television personality, motion picture actor, and raconteur known and enjoyed for his caustic wit. Levant also was…

PAYING ATTENTION TO THE WOMEN Eleanor Burgess’s new play Wife of a Salesman is a riff on Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. Burgess (The Niceties) has adapted the Miller original into an intimate revision, placing two women as adversaries in their competition for a man, Willy Loman, the central character of Miller’s 1949 play…

SERIOUS STOMPIN’ IN CHICAGO One of the many things I enjoy about Porchlight Music Theatre here in Chicago is no one dusts off a little-known musical for a revamping better than this talented team. Case in point, their latest restaging of the Tony-nominated musical revue, Blues in the Night. Set in a South Side Chicago…

A ROCKIN’ REVIVAL OF WEST SIDE STORY AT MARRIOTT Fans of musical theater in general and West Side Story in particular should thoroughly enjoy the Marriott Theatre revival. The production offers everything this demanding classic requires — intelligent directing, skilled high energy choreography, and a large talented cast, most of them triple threat singers, dancers,…

GROUNDHOG DAY DOES NOT BEAR REPEATING The Paramount Theatre has a well deserved reputation for presenting classy productions of musicals that approach Broadway caliber. That certainly can be said about the Paramount’s revival of Groundhog Day: The Musical. Unfortunately, a classy production is all the compliment that can be offered a tiresome show that runs…

NOT QUITE A ROYAL REIGN FOR QUEEN OF THE NIGHT After over 750 plus days dark, Victory Gardens Theater is mounting its first new production of their mainstage season and of the year.  Queen of the Night, written by travis tate, is a two-character play proving no one can get under your skin quite like family….

REDEMPTION ON REPEAT, BUT IT’S TOUGH TO GET THROUGH THIS SCORE ONCE When it comes to timing, the Paramount Theater has absolutely nailed the opening date of its latest large-scale musical. Groundhog Day: The Musical has officially opened the same week as the celebrated holiday. February 2 routinely marks Groundhog Day, a popular North American…

EVITA: SURPRISINGLY GOOD FOR YOU Evita at the Drury Lane Theatre is a prime example of a revival that preserves the virtues of the original musical while injecting enhancements that should refresh the viewing experience of even veteran fans of the show. This is the real life story of Eva Duarte as a teenager, who…

SISTERS DOING IT FOR THEMSELVES I cannot think of a better way to celebrate the beginning of Black History Month than with the musical musings and distinguished divas now honored at the Mercury Theater Chicago. Director Daryl D. Brooks has remounted his hit 2018 musical revue, Women of Soul, championing a half-century of the celebrated…