Chicagotheaterbeat

LATEST ARTICLES ( 2140 )

• Review: Christina, The Girl King (Cor Theatre)

  

  Strong female lead counteracts weak choices Like Marie-Antoinette of France, Christina of Sweden began her rule as a teenager. Unlike Marie-Antoinette,... Read more

  Posted on 28 March 2016 CULTURE, THEATRE & OPERA

• Review: The Bachelors (Cole Theatre)

  

  Dark satire of modern misogyny Three men in their early 30s rent a squalid house next to several fraternities. Thus sets the stage for The Bachelors , a play... Read more

  Posted on 26 March 2016 CULTURE, THEATRE & OPERA

• Review: Where Did We Sit on the Bus? (Teatro Vista)

  

  Every so often a movie, a book, or a play like this one comes along and is so timely and focused on the world, and particularly the United States, that it... Read more

  Posted on 25 March 2016 CULTURE, THEATRE & OPERA

• Review: Recent Tragic Events (Interrobang Theatre Project)

  

  Recent Tragic Events has a good heart under it all. Unfortunately, in this case "all" can be defined as a series of increasingly ridiculous gimmicks that... Read more

  Posted on 24 March 2016 CULTURE, THEATRE & OPERA

• Review: Mai Dang Lao (Sideshow Theatre)

  

  Horrific and darkly funny The meaning of the title Mai Dang Lao isn't apparent in David Jacobi's play, or in the program notes of Sideshow Theatre Company's... Read more

  Posted on 24 March 2016 CULTURE, THEATRE & OPERA

• Review: Long Day’s Journey Into Night (Court Theatre)

  

  A definitive staging of an American masterpiece Betty Friedan's groundbreaking sociological page-turner "The Feminine Mystique" came out more than 20 years... Read more

  Posted on 23 March 2016 CULTURE, THEATRE & OPERA

• Review: Richard III (The Gift Theatre)

  

  "Plain and not honest is too harsh a style" Gift Theatre artistic director Michael Patrick Thornton, disabled by a stroke since 2003, portrays perhaps the mos... Read more

  Posted on 23 March 2016 CULTURE, THEATRE & OPERA

• Review: How to Explain the History of Communism to Mental Patients (Trap Door...

  

  How to Explain the History of Communism to Mental Patients Obscure work is less than the sum of its parts The so-called "crazies" taking over the... Read more

  Posted on 22 March 2016 CULTURE, THEATRE & OPERA

• Review: West Side Story (Paramount Theatre)

  

  A gritty and realistic take on a classic Though one of the best known and best loved musicals of the past half-century, West Side Story has taken its share o... Read more

  Posted on 21 March 2016 CULTURE, THEATRE & OPERA

• Review: Zoyka’s Apartment (Bluebird Arts)

  

  Doesn't translate or age well Upon leaving the Athenaeum Theatre after seeing Zoyka's Apartment , I had one word on my mind: why? Why, exactly, was this... Read more

  Posted on 21 March 2016 CULTURE, THEATRE & OPERA

• Review: Spring Series (Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, 2016)

  

  Delivering emotional punch to the gut, feast for the eyes Hubbard Street Dance Chicago never ceases to amaze me. Their repertoire is varied and stunning, thei... Read more

  Posted on 20 March 2016 CULTURE, THEATRE & OPERA

• Review: Rolling (Jackalope Theatre)

  

  A taut, powerful blend of tragedy and comedy In 2014, Rolling Stone published the explosive storyof a gang rape at a University of Virginia frat party. Sabrin... Read more

  Posted on 18 March 2016 CULTURE, THEATRE & OPERA

• Review: Rent (Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre)

  

  One for the record books We all claim to have outgrown Rent and the bohemian problems of its main characters. "Why can't they all just pay their rent?" we... Read more

  Posted on 18 March 2016 CULTURE, THEATRE & OPERA

• Review: New Country (Fair Trade Productions)

  

  O brave new country that has such actors in it! In a Nashville hotel room, two managers of a world-famous country musician are harried by their client's... Read more

  Posted on 17 March 2016 CULTURE, THEATRE & OPERA

• Review: Interrogation (The Artistic Home)

  

  Gratuitous and disappointing America's fascinated by crime. Enabled by television series like "Making a Murderer" and podcasts such as "Serial," many of us... Read more

  Posted on 17 March 2016 CULTURE, THEATRE & OPERA

• Review: D.O.A. (Strawdog Theatre)

  

  Fans of film noir murder mysteries will love this play Fans of the film noir of the '40's and early '50's will love this play. It's filled with all the... Read more

  Posted on 16 March 2016 CULTURE, THEATRE & OPERA

• Review: In A Word (Strawdog Theatre)

  

  New work delves deep into troubling truths Not as reductive as its title would suggest, the National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere In a Word is... Read more

  Posted on 16 March 2016 CULTURE, THEATRE & OPERA

• Review: 42nd Street (Broadway in Chicago)

  

  A giddy celebration of song and dance The musical will never be known for subtle lyrics or complex characters. The unabashedly hokey tale of an Allentown... Read more

  Posted on 14 March 2016 CULTURE, THEATRE & OPERA

• Review: Fugitive Songs (BoHo Theatre)

  

  Short, sweet and well sung "Everybody's running from something" proclaim the press materials for Fugitive Songs . While the title connotes criminals on the... Read more

  Posted on 13 March 2016 CULTURE, THEATRE & OPERA

• Review: Cocked (Victory Gardens Theater)

  

  Darkly funny, but opportunities missed Coincidentally, I saw on the same day that America mourned the death of novelist Harper Lee. In Lee's seminal "To Kill ... Read more

  Posted on 12 March 2016 CULTURE, THEATRE & OPERA