Theater Review: THE BEATRIX POTTER HOLIDAY PARTY (Chicago Children’s Theatre)
NO GROWN-UPS ALLOWED " SORT OF CCT's Beatrix Potter party charms kids, critics, and everyone in between ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ "Channel your in…
NO GROWN-UPS ALLOWED " SORT OF CCT's Beatrix Potter party charms kids, critics, and everyone in between ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ "Channel your in…
HERBERT ROSS'S BOHÈME RETURNS Beauty polished, questions still lingering Puccini's tale may be endlessly familiar, yet the recent Los Angeles staging shows how even the most well-trodden …
THE LONGER CHRISTMAS DINNER In Wilder's meditation on time, the actors have to do the heavy lifting ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ "Only time, only the…
TOAD-ALLY DELIGHTFUL Ribbiting from start to finish, this Year goes by in a flash. ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ Arnold Lobel's Frog and Toad series h…
TRIED AND TRUE ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ Annie is an excellent choice for Boston University Wheelock Family Theatre's holiday offering this year. …
NOSTALGIA LOADED " AND EYE SAFETY ENSURED The 1983 film A Christmas Story may not have been universally crowned a "classic" when it premiered, its near-universal popularity and nostalgic loo…
A packed house quiets before the curtain rises. Players watch for cues, read micro expressions, and lean forward as stakes grow. The same attention pattern shows up when a match goes live on…
The arts are entering a new era"one where technology doesn't replace creativity but expands its reach. Whether in film, museums, music, or theater, artists are discovering tools that allow t…
BREAKING THE LIES THAT BIND Broadway's biggest feelings land in the desert ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ Dear Evan Hansen, the six-time Tony Award"win…
A COMIC REVIVAL OF FALSTAFFIAN PROPORTION ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ Chicago Opera Theater (COT) has given Antonio Salieri's unjustly neglected Fal…
AN EXCEPTIONAL ENSEMBLE IN A CROWDED PLAY Immigrant stories echo through a Queens basement " and across decades ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ Queens i…
THERE IS NO TAMING THIS PRICKLY AND INVIGORATING SHREW ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ I won't deny it: I squealed in excitement when I received the inv…
THE OTHER CHRISTMAS CAROL A clever, moving tale of a ghost searching for grace ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ Boy does it suck to be Jacob Marley. You …
WHEN SUPERPOWERS SING Broadway's new revival of Chess thrills more than it confounds ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ "Welcome to our Cold War Musical!" …
A BELOVED CLASSIC REBORN WITH BELL CHOIRS, SNOWFALL & HEART ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ Are you fond of bell choirs, Christmas carols, indoor sn…
GOTTA SEE THIS SHOW! ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ I've been a fan of American Dance Machine since I was a kid in the 1980s"a company devoted to resta…
THE PLAYWRIGHT WHO CHOSE RADIO OVER JAWS Steven Spielberg had asked Tom Stoppard to write the screenplay for Jaws, and Tom said he couldn't as he was writing a play for the BBC. Spielberg sa…
A WIG-PULLING, EYE-SCRATCHING BAUBLE OF HOLIDAY CHEER ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ When The Real Housewives of Orange County premiered on Bravo in 20…
MORE NAUGHTY THAN NICE, WITH PLENTY OF SPICE ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ As they have for the past thirty years, Ryan Landry's Gold Dust Orphans hon…
COARSE, HAIRY FUN ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ The Christmas pantomime, or "panto", as it is colloquially called, is a longstanding English holiday t…
A PLAY HELD TOGETHER BY BANDAGES: SCALPAL, PLEASE Colt Coeur's world premiere of The Surgeon and Her Daughters, written by Chris Gabo, is a play of ideas"debates volleyed across generations,…
SUNNY SIDE UP IN PALM SPRINGS A production that belts, dances, and tail-wags its way into the season ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ Palm Canyon Theatre…
MUCH ADO ABOUT ADO AND EVERY BIT WORTH THE FUSS ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ Chicago Shakespeare Theater's Much Ado About Nothing, directed by Selina…
HER MIND, OUR MEMORY Kenneth Lonergan's family fissures hit hard in Backyard Renaissance's intimate staging What an incredibly robust month November has been for smaller theaters in San Dieg…
A PRINCIPLED PRODUCTION Simon Stephens' deceptively simple romance finally reveals its cosmic heart in close quarters at Skylight Theatre Director Cameron Watson delivers a remarkably authen…