2,260 stories from Chicago Theater Beat
With Gift Theatre's world premiere of Melissa Ross' *A Life Less Extraordinary* we get an amazingly strong director in John Gawlik and his mighty seven-person cast that cohesively elevate th…
The New Colony's world-premiere *Merge* makes a promising first impression as the audience is immediately transported into a 1970's arcade game, complete with neon tones, lights and the tell…
Windy City Playhouse's "Apartment 3A" by Jeff Daniels, directed by Ron OJ Parsons is an off-kilter romantic comedy with a touch of the surreal. Recommended! (read Duane Barnes' entire review…
Written and directed by female powerhouses Caitlin Parrish and Erica Weiss respectively, The Burials updates Sophocles' Antigone with strong grace and an even stronger anti-gun credo. Smart,…
With Playwright David Rabe's poetic world-premiere, Steppenwolf Theatre and director Anna D. Shapiro have created a thoughtful world-premiere with a stellar cast that explores end-of-life is…
Court Theatre's Man in the Ring, by Michael Cristofer, dances and spars at the intersection of violence and love, two things that are inextricably twined in Emile Griffith's world. It's a wo…
Lifeline Theatre's world-premiere Miss Holmes, by Christopher M. Walsh, is a refreshing female-driven portrayal of the classic detective. Katie McLean Hainsworth and Mandy Walsh are wily, ma…
Sideshow Theatre's *The Happiest Place on Earth*, written and performed by Philip Dawkins for Greenhouse Theater's Solo Celebration! series, is an essential theatrical experience, a twisted …
I Do Today is a loving and lighthearted collaboration of playwright Sarah Myers, director Jacob Harvey and solo actor (and Other Theatre Company artistic director) Carin Silkaitis, who is ut…
Victory Garden Theater's Hand to God, though gloriously gruesome and wildly over the top, is at its heart a probing study on how one deals with grief, faith, temptation and the daily struggl…
Mary Zimmerman deftly directs a lavish revival of Leonard Bernstein's classic musical, featuring a company of more than 40 actors and musicians. If you're looking for larger-than-life stagin…
Adapted from the Frebcg short story Le Passe-Muraille by Marcel Ayme, this Tony Award-nominated musical is a Chicago premiere. And with Amour, Black Button Eyes Productions and Director Ed …
Though incredibly talented, not even this mighty ensemble can fully compensate for Playwright Aaron Posner's lengthy exploration of the facts that life isn't fair and unrequited love hurts. …
The most memorable elements of Writers Theatre's *Julius Caesar* are its cinematic video designs and impressively versatile set. The people who propel the tragedy, however, are all too often…
With Lin-Manuel Miranda's groundbreaking *In the Heights*, Porchlight Music Theatre's staging wears its dramatic heart on its sleeve, bursting with percussive flair and exuberant sensuality.…
Per Catey Sullivan: By the time the powerhouse *Smokey Joe* ensemble goes into the reprise that (almost) closes the show, you'll feel like these people are your old friends. And when the *St…
Reviewer Catey Sullivan: Paramount Theatre's Mamma Mia!, directed by Jim Corti, is the most delightfully over-the-top musicals you're apt to see this season. But unapologetically kitschy is…
Marriott Theatre's *How to Succeed in Business* looks great. But scratch the surface of strong performances and slick production values, and there's nothing resembling the human condition " …
With Boho Theatre's stellar *Next to Normal*, there's no compromising of musicianship, with the stellar vocals of all six in the cast under the musical direction of Ellen K. Morris. Despite …
Broadway in Chicago's Kinky Boots, by Cyndi Lauper and Harvey Fierstein, is back for its 2nd national tour (after first having its Broadway-bound world premiere here in 2012), and it's bigge…
The Sound Chicago's world premiere of *For Annie*, by Beth Hyland, is a haunting cry for help and a meditation on the intricacies of grief. This cry and meditation just happens to involve gl…
Greenhouse Theater's "Rose", part of their summer-long Solo Celebration! festival, speeds by as the audience is kept entranced by the inner workings of matriarch Rose Kennedy, a woman we thi…
TimeLine Theatre's *Bakersfield Mist* is equal parts comedic and heartbreaking, acknowledging absurdity and cliché without ever descending into either. Thanks to playwright Stephen Sachs an…
Light Opera Works' glitzy production of *Mame* looks great. And musically *Mame*, with its 32-member cast and 26-member full orchestra, sounds great. The score " arguably Jerry Herman's most…
Cor Theatre's The Good Person of Szechwan, Tony Kushner's adaptation/translation of the Bertolt Brecht classic parable, shows us the difficulty of being good in a world filled with people wh…
