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Theater Review: THE GREAT GATSBY (National Tour)
GREAT LOOKS, LITTLE GATSBY Too loud, too repetitive, and nowhere near the Jazz Age The touring production of The Great Gatsby, now at the Citizens Opera House in Boston, gives us Linda Cho‘s Tony Award-winning costumes and great sets by Paul Tate dePoo III, but neither the book by Kait Kerrigan nor the score by…
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Off-Off-Broadway Review: WHAT A WORLD! WHAT A WORLD! (The Tank / New York City)
NOT WAITING FOR GODOT… WAITING FOR THE DINOSAUR This delightfully confounding absurdist comedy won’t convert skeptics, but devotees of the genre may find much to admire Halfway through What a World! What a World!, a pink dinosaur toy interrupts the action and powers onstage. The actors stop and stare. The toy stops and turns upstage…
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Off-Broadway Review: PORTRAITS OF GAYS IN DESPAIR (HB Playwrights Theatre)
SAD BOYS, WILD PLAYS Where Peter Thiel, Judy Garland, and anal warts somehow make perfect sense Theatrical experiences often move us with realism. Other times we end up with a musical number featuring an actor in drag portraying Judy Garland seeking treatment for anal warts. That’s the kind of outlandish novelty inside Portraits of Gays…
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Off-Broadway Review: GIULIA: THE POISON QUEEN OF PALERMO (PAC NYC)
A TOAST TO TOXIC JUSTICE A visually ravishing musical transforms vengeance into exhilarating theater Thanks to director Mary Zimmerman, scenic designer Daniel Ostling, and lighting designer T.J. Gerckens, there is remarkable artistry on display at PAC NYC, where the thrilling new musical Giulia: The Poison Queen of Palermo opened tonight. Topping off this impressive creative…
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Theater Review: CRAZY FOR YOU (Goodspeed Opera House / East Haddam, CT)
NOTHING CRAZY ABOUT LOVING THIS SHOW This joyful revival earns every smile I admit that I am crazy for Crazy For You, and this feel-good production is quite a delight in Connecticut at the Goodspeed Opera House (now celebrating its 150th anniversary). This merry 1992 musical is a solid, splashy audience-pleaser, stuffed with swell old…
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Movie Review: HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER’S STONE (Shared Reality at Cosm)
THE BEST MAGIC KNOWS WHEN TO STOP Restraint proves more magical than excess Early in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001), Vernon and Petunia Dursley barricade the house against the acceptance letters from Hogwarts. The letters come anyway, down the chimney, through the windows, a blizzard of paper that no locked door can hold….
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Theater Review: SUFFS (First National Tour)
VOTES FOR WOMEN… AND A VICTORY FOR MUSICAL THEATER History marches forward with intelligence, heart, and exhilarating conviction The national tour of Suffs, Shaina Taub‘s Tony Award-winning musical about the fight for women’s suffrage, arrives in Chicago with its urgency, humor, and emotional power fully intact. More than a history lesson, it presents the movement…
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Theater Review: ICEBOY! OR THE COMPLETELY UNTRUE STORY OF HOW EUGENE O’NEILL CAME TO WRITE “THE ICEMAN COMETH” (The Goodman Theatre / Chicago)
THE HAIRY APE COMETH This gleefully unhinged musical comedy is a strong play’s journey into wisecracks The Goodman closes out its centennial season in spectacular fashion with a big, brash new musical composed by Mark Hollmann (Urinetown), lyrics by Hollmann and Jay Reiss (Spelling Bee), and book by Reiss and Erin Quinn Purcell. Directed by…
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Theater Review: ANOTHER DISTRACTION FROM THE EPSTEIN FILES (Hollywood Fringe Festival)
THE POLITICS OF MARRIAGE Strong writing and performances outweigh a staging that plays it safe The worst that can be said of Ray Richmond‘s Another Distraction From the Epstein Files at Bad Ladder is that it’s not very “fringy.” Richmond’s smart two-hander is a homage to the works of Clifford Odets (1906–1963), a classic kitchen…
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Theater Review: ST. NICHOLAS (Black Button Eyes / City Lit / Chicago)
CRITIC’S BITE A gripping solo performance anchors this haunting tale I had not encountered arithmomania in any form of entertainment media in well over two decades. Now it’s popped up twice in a few weeks on two different Chicago stages: in Kevin Douglas’ hilarious Untitled Vampire Play at Lookingglass, and now in Black Button Eyes‘ sharp…
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Theater Review: NATIVE GARDENS (Theatre EVOLVE / The Den Theatre / Chicago)
BAD FENCES MAKE GOOD COMEDY Big laughs bloom from a tiny patch of disputed ground. In a tony suburb of Washington, D.C., a young upwardly mobile Hispanic couple move into their first house, a charming fixer-upper with a small backyard. Pablo Del Valle (Rio Soliz Ragazzone) is an attorney—the only one of color—in a prestigious…
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Theater Review: A PEOPLE (Arts Judaica & YI Love Jewish at Theater Wit / Chicago)
THE WEIGHT OF HERITAGE A thoughtful work that doesn’t always come together An unusual and ambitious production, L.M. Feldman’s A People is a sort of theatrical mosaic. Mounted by Arts Judaica and YI Love Jewish and currently playing at Theater Wit in Lakeview, the show attempts to condense five thousand years of Jewish culture and…
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Theater Review: MEN OF SOUL (Black Ensemble Theater / Chicago)
THE STUFF OF LEGENDS A musical revue that honors both talent and tenacity Nine days after the euphoric high of Juneteenth and the jubilant opening-day celebrations of the Obama Center, Black Ensemble Theater (BE) opened its revival of Men of Soul. Written and directed by Daryl D. Brooks, longtime BE stalwart and now the company’s…
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Opera Review: ADRIANA LECOUVREUR (Opera Festival of Chicago / North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie)
A VERISMO MIXED BAG Opera Festival of Chicago tackles a neglected verismo work with admirable ambition but uneven results Opera Festival of Chicago’s sixth season features the company’s characteristic blend of classic and lesser-known verismo operas. Francesco Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur, which falls into the latter category, hasn’t been performed in Chicago since Renata Tebaldi sang the…
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Title: Theater Review: MISTERMAN (Origin Theatre Company at Theater Row, New York)
THE SIN HUNTER An unsettling and darkly funny portrait of moral obsession Enda Walsh’s Misterman is probably theatre’s longest continuous nervous breakdown, and Origin Theatre Company‘s revival at Theater Row, presented as part of the 2026 Origin Irish Theatre Festival, is a fascinating production directed by Labhaoise Magee, starring Daniel Marconi as Thomas Magill. Walsh’s…
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Theater Review: JIMMY STEWART ON THE FRONT OF LIFE (Hollywood Fringe Festival / Los Angeles)
THE WAR THAT FOLLOWED HIM HOME Rather than celebrate a legend, Brian Rohan reveals the man still haunted by war At the outset of World War II, Jimmy Stewart (1908–1997) became the first major Hollywood star to enlist. A flying enthusiast from early on, Stewart was already a licensed pilot when he joined the Army…
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Theater Review: MY ONE WOMAN SHOW (THE SEARCH FOR A TRUTHFUL MOMENT) (Madnani Theatre / Hollywood Fringe Festival)
ONE MAN, MANY TRUTHS An extraordinary performer turns theatrical self-examination into something unexpectedly profound Stefan Marks is a spellbinding storyteller, and My One Woman Show (The Search for a Truthful Moment) at The Hollywood Fringe is far more than a clever send-up of the solo-performance genre. Beginning as a funny, self-aware examination of the agonies of…
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Theater Review: A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC (Marriott Theatre / Lincolnshire)
A SONDHEIM SUMMER NIGHT Marriott Theatre’s superb ensemble untangles Sondheim’s deliciously complicated comedy of manners There aren’t many shows that can convince large numbers of city dwellers to make the journey out to Lincolnshire, but for Stephen Sondheim, I think many will be willing to spend “A Weekend in the Country,” as the characters in…
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Theater Review: ARMY BRAT (Broadwater Second Stage / Hollywood Fringe Festival)
LIFE IN A BLENDER A chaotic solo show anchored by an engaging performer. Kelly Mullis‘s solo show Army Brat at the Broadwater Second Stage carries a very accurate subtitle: “The Fever Dream into the Life of a Military Kid.” As penned by the performer, the show is a splattering of her life, her father’s life,…
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Theater Review: THE AMERICAN FIVE (Berkshire Theatre Group / Unicorn Theatre / Stockbridge, MA)
THE DREAM TEAM A compelling new play reminds us that history is rarely made alone The American Five, by Chess Jakobs, offers a convincing and absorbing portrayal of Martin Luther King Jr.’s lesser-known inner circle in the months and hours leading up to the famed 1963 March on Washington and King’s iconic “I Have a…
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