Chicago

REEFER MADNESS IS SUCH A HIGH THAT YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE STONED TO ENJOY IT In 1936, a church group sponsored a motion picture aimed at warning young people about the dangers of marijuana. The film, called Reefer Madness, was a cheesy combination of over the top acting by Hollywood bit players and laughable…

THE STEPS TO SUCCESS They say that timing is everything. Timing certainly is everything in The 39 Steps, the English spy spoof that occupies a delightful, often amazing, and even suspenseful two hours at the Drury Lane Theatre. The antecedents of The 39 Steps go back almost 100 years to John Buchan’s 1915 thriller novel…

IF YOU LET IT, FERVENCY AND JOY COMPENSATE FOR TROUBLING SCRIPT A joyful noise is rising out of the Goodman Theatre this summer. With hearty vibrato and a religious fervor rivaled only by televangelists, writer/director Regina Taylor’s revamped hit Crowns is shaking the rafters, and will have you nodding and tapping and humming for the…

NOTHING BEASTLY ABOUT IT The Chicago Shakespeare Theater is presenting the best musical production of the summer, but audiences will have to see it in the daytime. The production is Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, and while it’s billed as a family musical (a code phrase for children’s show), this show distributes its pleasures equally…

OEDIPUS  REX POTENTLY UPDATED  TO THE BARRIO Oedipus El Rey is Luis Alfaro’s vision of Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex seen through the prism of modern Latino life, specifically gang culture as it melds with the traditions and values of the barrio in east Los Angeles. The drama at Victory Gardens is powerful and riveting, which proves that a…

WATKINS HAS US IN THE PALM OF HIS HANDS I had one reservation headed into The House Theatre of Chicago’s The Magic Parlour: almost every magic show I had ever been to has been obnoxiously showy, laughably cheap, or both. I grew up seeing magicians at birthday parties, went to magic shops and learned card…

A LUKEWARM PRODUCTION OF A HOT SCRIPT This July, Pastime Theatre is ripping off their clothes and inviting audiences to join in on the fun. “Naked July: Art Stripped Down” is a theatre festival, part in celebration of the human body, part in celebration of the opening of Pastime’s new space – which, oddly enough,…

THE YODELING ROCKS, THE SHOW DOES NOT Before Adam Guettel was declared the next Sondheim by many for his beautiful, swelling Light in the Piazza score, he drew on the rich folk sounds of Kentucky for the tale of Floyd Collins. This lesser-known musical is the true-life story about a passionate Kentucky spelunker whose foot…

LET ME GO, LOVER I’ll be the first to admit as a twenty-something that  I don’t know what it’s like to feel like your sex life has passed you by – something I’m told that many couples experience in their later years. Harold Pinter’s one-act The Lover seeks to explore one middle-aged couple’s attempt to spice…

FRESH NEW REVUE AT SECOND CITY Four of the six performers in the new Second City e.t.c. revue We’re All in This Room Together never appeared on a Second City mainstage before. And this is only the second show for the other two players. But youth and inexperience were not a factor on the opening…

HERO NEEDS TO ZERO IN ON THE BOOK Hero, a brand new musical at the Marriott Theatre, has enough warmth and humor to provide a pleasant evening of light summer entertainment, but the work of composer/lyricist Michael Mahler outshines that of the problematic book by Aaron Thielen, so whether or not the show has the…

MR. SANDMAN, BRING ME A NIGHTMARE There is something passing strange at the Oracle Theatre, and you won’t want to miss it. In Oracle’s The Sandman, dreams are not to be trusted, illusion and reality are constantly confused, and childhood fairytales prove to be fatal. Bob Fisher’s stage adaptation of E.T.A Hoffman’s 1816 fantastical, somewhat…

SOUTH OF SETTLING PROVIDES AN INTIMATE LOOK AT FAMILY LIFE The best part of the Emmy-winning television series Friday Night Lights isn’t the football drama, but the amazing chemistry between the actors that play the power couple of Coach Eric and Tami Taylor as they navigate life in small town Texas. Set in neighboring Louisiana,…

SHANGHAIED It takes a rare courage to brave Chicago’s Navy Pier during the summer. A combination of lines and advertisements threaten to ensnare you and your wallet with just a simple misstep. And amongst all this, Chicagoans like myself will be confronted with the Kafka-esque fear of feeling like one of them’”by “them,” I of…