6,591 stories from Stage and Cinema
HARRIED HAPPENINGS AT NAVY PIER A rarely produced dark comedy from the annals of William Shakespeare's folio is ushering in springtime at Navy Pier. All's Well That Ends Well might not ha…
CLASSICAL BLACK MUSIC MATTERS One of the really fantastic aspects of being a critic is discovering "new to me" talent. Being in the Chicago Arts scenes, it is next to impossible to see every…
WHO'S AFRAID OF A MODERN BEOWULF? When Covid hit, I curled up one night, script in hand, poring over Edward Albee's 60-year-old play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Perhaps the daily deat…
FINALLY IN THE LOOP A Strange Loop, the new Broadway musical that currently towers above the rest, is a Brilliant show. With book, music and lyrics by Michael R. Jackson, this Brilliant show…
WALTZING AROUND AUNT SUSAN Aunt Susan & Her Tennessee Waltz by Toby Armour is one play in two acts that feels more like two, one-act plays on the same bill. The acts have little in commo…
YOU THINK YOUR DAUGHTER WAS A HANDFUL? Joan of Arc is remembered as a hero and a martyr for her active role in France's defense from British invasion in the 15th century. How much the averag…
PRAISE THE GODS! As soon as the plunger-muted trombone began to wail, and ache, and wail again; as trickled sweat watered ivories being tickled on an upright piano; as the hmmm's of the chor…
FUNNY, HOW IT KINDA WORKS On the Internet exists a theater-centered, YouTube channel called "Staged Right". And there's an episode on Staged Right called Fanny & Barbra and the Legacy of…
SINS I FELL FOR YOU Mae West, the sage and sybarite from Brooklyn, used to say, "Let joy be unrefined," a point of view that also suits Austin McCormick, artistic director and choreographer …
WHERE THE RHYTHM SWOOPS AND SWIRLS, THIS IS THE JAZZ CORNER OF THE WORLD It amazes me how many of my NY friends haven't been to Birdland Jazz Club on 44th near Times Square (I'm an L.A. boy …
UNDERSTATED PATHOS As timely now as it was when the original play was written over 150 years ago, Spring Awakening is now rocking the stage at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts. This edgy…
WILL WE COME THROUGH THIS TOGETHER? Dave Malloy, the genius (and I don't use that word loosely) who wrote the music, lyrics, book and vocal arrangements for his chamber musical Octet, which …
SURRENDER (TO) DOROTHY Forty years ago, Dustin Hoffman lit up the silver screen as struggling actor Michael Dorsey in the gender-swapping, smash-hit comedy, Tootsie. Really, who can forget t…
YOUR HEART WILL BE BLESSED Maria, an Austrian novice nun in the late 1930s, has difficulty in dealing with the rigid lifestyle of her monastery in Salzburg. Her loving Mother Abbess sends he…
FAIR FIDELIO Fidelio is the sole opera written by Ludwig Van Beethoven. Inspired by an apocryphal story from the French revolution, it concerns Leonore, whose husband Florestan has been secr…
HIGH FLYING ADORED Equal parts sassy and sexy, the latest version of the Teatro ZinZanni, aptly titled Wishes & Dreams, is bringing much needed fun back downtown to The Loop. Se…
NOTHING'S FORBIDDEN IN FORBIDDEN BROADWAY Musicals are dazzling, vibrant, larger than life…and accordingly, simply ripe for parody. Creator Gerard Alessandrini saw that opportunity in 1982…
DON'T DOUBT IT; THIS SHOW'S ON FIRE Third time's a charm. After a few preview performances, this $17 million musical, adapted from the hit film of the same name, shut down with all of Broadw…
FAMILY FUN WITH A LATIN FLAIR Just in time for spring, the Chicago Children's Theatre is back in bloom. Returning to live, in-person productions, Carmela Full of Wishes is a charming t…
SPECTACULAR! SPECTACULAR! If a high-kicking, visually spellbinding, toe-tapping night out is what you love in entertainment, have I got just the show for you. Even though the original openin…
NOT ENOUGH LAYERS IN THIS BIRTHDAY CAKE In playwright Noah Haidle's new play Birthday Candles, currently running at the American Airlines Theatre, television star Debra Messing ages before o…
THE MINUTES WILL LEAVE YOU SLACK-JAWED AND SPEECHLESS Superbly civic, the vast council chamber created by set designer David Zinn reeks of rectitude. Filling the stage at Studio 54 is a coff…
NOT SO LITTLE ANYMORE Once upon a time there was an aviator. One day, the aviator's plane crash landed in the Sahara Desert. The aviator survived but his plane was damaged. After landing, th…
GLORIOUS LANGUAGE AND A KISS TO REMEMBER Cyrano de Bergerac may be the most romantic, tragic love story to withstand the test of time. (Romeo & Juliet drops in comparison.) Written in 18…
TOE-TAPPING TUNES MAKE THE SHOW Dust off the Mylar balloons and wrist corsages Chicago, you only have one week to attend The Prom as part of its national tour. No smelly gymnasium o…
