213 stories by "Dan Zeff"
A HOMER RUN One-actor shows are by their nature demanding, but Timothy Edward Kane's volcanic storytelling in An Iliad is a stunning marvel. This retelling of the famous epic The Iliad " att…
STILL WAITING TO SEE IF THIS DOUGH WILL EVER RISE The Baker's Wife never made it to Broadway. The musical folded in Washington. D.C. in 1976 before reaching New York City but has since gaine…
TAKING CARE TO CREATE EXCELLENT THEATER The plot of Harold Pinters' The Caretaker is uncomplicated on the surface and densely complex in its subtexts; it is a melding of realism and theatre-…
PROFILES OF A DREARY EXISTENCE The Profiles Theatre has carved out an essential niche for itself on the local Chicagoland theater scene with sexy, violent, and edgy modern dramas. Recently, …
BERNSTEIN IN SOME OF HIS GLORY Older spectators will remember Leonard Bernstein not just as a conductor, composer, and pianist, but as one of the most vivid personalities and astonishingly e…
A DREAMBOAT IN DREAMCOAT In just two productions, the Paramount Theatre has elevated itself to the top of the class in Chicagoland musical theater, in company with Drury Lane in Oakbrook Ter…
PROMISING PREMISE PRODUCES PREPOSTEROUS PRODUCT Katha and Ryu are a modern married couple fed up with their harried lives: Ryu hates his 60-hour workweeks as a doctor and Katha is discontent…
HAND OVER GIST Martin McDonagh, the English dramatist known for his quirky and violent plays set in rural Ireland, sets A Behanding in Spokane in the United States, but the setting hasn't in…
A RESONANT AND RESOUNDING SOUND OF MUSIC Although the Drury Lane Theatre extended the run of its revival of THE SOUND OF MUSIC even before the show opened, the laudable theater company might…
I'M DREAMING OF A WHITE CHRISTMAS THAT WORKS It is possible that Irving Berlin's White Christmas might succeed with audiences. Possible, that is, if they are willing to tolerate a lame, clic…
COUNTRY MUSIC PARODY BETTER THAN COUNTRY MUSIC ITSELF Country music can be whiney, right wing, corny, and macho. In the case of The Doyle and Debbie Show, it is also hilarious. I am no lover…
CHARACTER PORTRAYALS BRING BUS STOP TO LIFE William Inge was a hot American playwright during the 1950's, but in the turbulent 1960's and beyond, his realistic studies of small town Midweste…
REVUE REVIEW Richard Maltby, Jr., and David Shire are not household names among the teams of composers who have contributed to the American musical stage. Although their collaboration goes b…
