704 stories by "Zach Freeman"
RECOMMENDED The publicity materials for "Lions in Illyria" boast that it is a "brand new comedy for the whole family," and Robert Kauzlaric's new adaptation of William Shakespeare's "Twelfth…
RECOMMENDED Aside from the constant presence of two very-well-made-up zombies (impressive work by costume and makeup designer Aly Renee Amidei) and an effectively creepy scene with on…
RECOMMENDED Steve J. Spencer's "Push Button Murder" starts out as a slice-of-life play, telling the tale of two bored drone pilots on a long shift doing surveillance around the world from th…
A new musical can often have some rough spots when it first sees the light of day. "Penny the F*ckable Dolphin: A Love Story" certainly has its share of them. This play by Kristina F…
RECOMMENDED "Sorry I'm dressed like an S&M nanny," Susan Messing announces in her smokily enticing voice as she takes the stage. She's introducing the weekly improv show in which she and…
RECOMMENDED Many Catholics could use a refresher course in good old Christian beliefs. And Lord knows some facets of religion can be so ridiculous that one has to laugh. For the last twenty-…
RECOMMENDED I'm not the first to say this, and I certainly won't be the last: Go to The Hypocrites' revival of their 2010 staging of "The Pirates of Penzance." Don't be put off by their unpr…
Oh, ho, ho. It appears that a holiday-season association is developing between Christmas, the time of wretched excess, and the comic operetta warhorse "The Merry Widow." I hope I'm wrong. I …
RECOMMENDED A frequently cited frustration for those of the Christian faith is the supposed secularization of one of their most sacred observances. As the holiday hustle and bustle is increa…
"Once upon a dream…" begins the brief narrative introduction for this trippy holiday dazzler, before launching into over two hours (including a twenty-minute intermission) of singing, stun…
RECOMMENDED Light as down, raucous as the title bird and quick as the famous Baker Street sleuth’s brain cells, Raven Theatre’s revival of its mystery-cum-musical-cum-sing-along …
This twenty-three-person, epic-scale panorama of New Orleans down-and-outers is echt Steppenwolf, overflowing with all that's best and worst about Chicago's signature theater company. Playwr…
RECOMMENDED I must confess that I came to this year's production of The Ruffians' "Burning Bluebeard" as an in-the-tank fan. Since seeing it last year, any conversation I have had concerning…
Opera impresarios must find themselves at a singular disadvantage in an era when audiences can drive to their local multiplex and watch opera singers up close, live and sweating, every uniqu…
RECOMMENDED The problem that any company encounters when producing “The Mikado” is"to put it bluntly"it’s kinda sorta maybe pretty undeniably racist. And as it is a …
RECOMMENDED It’s easy to go into “Newsies” at the Oriental Theatre with a cocked eyebrow and a cynical smirk. The show, like the nineties movie it’s adapted from, is …
RECOMMENDED It was the trio kazoo-version of "Carol of the Bells" that completely did me in. No one can make a pretty face with their lips wrapped around a kazoo. I couldn't even applaud, be…
It's not a bad script that renders "Twist Your Dickens, Or Scrooge You!" an unfunny, lackluster mess. It's a terrible script. Penned by Peter Gwinn and Bobby Mort (Emmy Award winners for the…
RECOMMENDED Whether you are of the camp that considers "Pericles" a Shakespearean romance or a "problem” play (or both), it is impossible to delve into this dynamic story without ackno…
RECOMMENDED Remy Bumppo's production of Sarah Ruhl's "The Clean House" is presented with a spotless understanding of the playwright's sense of a compositional freedom of space and interval t…
RECOMMENDED In a city like Chicago, it's hard to imagine not being able to get anything at practically any time. The internet and online sales make it even easier. Yet, back in the early twe…
RECOMMENDED There's an internal tension with the holiday season between what everyone is supposed to feel"joyous, thankful and free"and how everyone actually feels"miserable, stressed-out an…
RECOMMENDED If you haven't had the chance to see Commedia Beauregard's "A Klingon Christmas Carol," well now is the time. The current incarnation of the show, its fifth, will apparently be t…
RECOMMENDED As the title suggests, the writer/performers of this 103rd Second City Mainstage revue don't just throw bits together based on recent headlines, they very carefully string them t…
Things are not exactly going as planned for the matriarch in Sheila Callaghan's "Crumble (Lay Me Down, Justin Timberlake)." One year after being widowed by a freak Christmas Day accident, sh…
