Chicago

THE  OTHER  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 chronicle of the rise and fall of the marvelous Marvelettes is a happy excuse to revisit a jukebox full of sassy songs, perfectly reinvented by director Rueben D. Echoles. It also…

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 Samuel Beckett create their own Hellish Half-Light. Audience members are scattered about the appropriately minimalist playground, a stark home for Jennifer Markowitz’ awesomely disciplined and…

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 the blue stripes flank not four stars but four bloody handprints. The vandalism happens just after the magnificent ten-member ensemble have erupted in a…

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 showcase for nine company members. Instead of marching to another’s rhythms, they’re here allowed to design their own dances. Maybe it’s because these performers are…

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 Theatre Company’s new 90-minute offering from Pulitzer/Tony-winning playwright Bruce Norris is one loud argument divided into eight characters. Four couples in what…

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.” That truth from Dr. Seuss sits well with the kids flocking to Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s Courtyard mainstage. Because Seussical is the kind…

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 (first act) and life (second) of America’s crown jester, Mark Twain. Seven ten-minute plays written by local writers and staged by Chicago directors testify…

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 Loewe, timing was everything: A second global conflict had just ended, leaving in its wake postwar angst and searing doubts that…

A MAIDENLY DEATH Victory Gardens Theater’s Death and the Maiden is one of the most highly anticipated Chicago productions this year: Ariel Dorfman’s well-known play (made famous by Roman Polanski’s film) is rarely done, and stars Sandra Oh, who recently left her recurring role in the primetime drama Grey’s Anatomy. Oh plays Paulina Salas, a…

WHILE GENERIC, A SINCERE SHIP HARDLY CAPSIZES The Last Ship, now in a shakedown cruise at Bank of America Theatre, joins a proud list of fervent tributes to blue-collar Brits. These salutes to stolid survival honor underdog heroes fighting hard times and mean bosses. Invariably, they take a dramatic stand, however doomed or demented’”Billy Elliott,…

COME ON AND SHOOT A PRESIDENT Assassins ushers together the horde of maniacs who have made attempts on the lives of US Presidents, seeking to examine their varying degrees of sanity, as well as their motivations. A sleazy proprietor entices each character to try their hand at shooting a president, presented as a carnival game,…

TILL DEATH DO US RECONCILE In little more than an hour Sharr White pulls off a (one) act of forgiveness, reuniting estranged partners in a foul trailer in Paonia, Colorado. The unpromising setting, delivered in detail by set designer Katie-Bell Springmann, is a sty surrounded by dog shit where anything good has to fight against…

A JUICY CLUSTER OF APES There are no simians in Apes of Wrath, Second City e.t.c.’s new revue at Pipers Alley’”but then, as always, the jokes are on us. The vague premise behind this trenchant, well-targeted sketch satire is that humans are specks in an uncaring universe–so it’s better to light your Chinese lanterns (as…

ORPHANS OF THE RICH No one captures the volatile complexity and fragile bravado of mixed-up young adults better than the angry young plays of the 20th century. In Look Back in Anger, Dealer’s Choice, Stupid Kids, and subUrbia  lost generations find dead-ends they either deserve or don’t. This Is Our Youth, Anna Shapiro’s pile-driving (and New…

EVOLUTION OF  REVOLUTION IN THIS JUST-SO STORY Trap Door’s Regarding the Just shakes the dust off of Camus’ 1949 play, Les Justes, about Russian socialists who assassinate a Grand Duke at the turn of the century. As their plan comes to fruition, each of the revolutionaries contemplates the nature and extent to which they are committed…

A FEMINIST FANTASY SOAKED IN WHIMSY In Lifeline Theatre’s semi-delightful 150-minute romp, the war between the sexes is replaced by a war against sexism. The latest adaptation from this literature-loving ensemble is Chris Hainsworth’s faithful adaptation of  Monstrous Regiment, the 31st novel  in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series.  This prolific author manages to meld sword-and-sorcery, 18th-century fantasy, and a…

A THREE-HOUR HOME RUN Clearly and cleanly, tried and true director/choreographer Kevin Bellie trusts the heart out of Adler and Ross’ 1952 Broadway classic. Damn Yankees, Light Opera Works’ summer treat at Northwestern University’s Cahn Auditorium, is glowing and glorious fun. Their faithful recreation gets richly rewarded by complete and accurate orchestrations, clever 50’s costumes,…

HEARKENING BACK TO HAPPY HARMONIES Too sweet to be termed a blast from the past, Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre’s latest reclamation brings back, with all their pep, pizzazz and patriotism, the greatest sister act of all time (Lennon who? Boswell what? McGuire huh?)’”Patty, Maxene and LaVerne Andrews. Under director/choreographer David Heiman’s loving recreation, conceived in…