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Rachel Weinberg

Rachel Weinberg

Chicago native Rachel Weinberg has been one of the most frequent contributing editors and critics for BroadwayWorld Chicago since joining the team in 2014. She is a marketing professional specialized in content strategy, writing, and editing. Rachel graduated with her Master’s degree in Integrated Marketing Communications from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. She earned her undergraduate degree in Communication and Hispanic Studies from the University of Pennsylvania. Rachel has worked previously in digital marketing for Goodman Theatre and as a marketing apprentice for Roundabout Theatre Company in New York City. When she’s not at the theater, you can catch her riding up a storm on her Peloton bike, getting lost in a good novel, or sampling desserts at bakeries across the city. You can find her online at RachelWeinbergReviews.com and follow her on Twitter @RachelRWeinberg.






MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

Review: FOOL FOR LOVE at Steppenwolf Theatre Company
Review: FOOL FOR LOVE at Steppenwolf Theatre Company
February 12, 2025

FOOL FOR LOVE has peak Steppenwolf energy. I’ve long associated Steppenwolf Theatre Company with gritty, messy, feral family and relationship dramas — Sam Shepard’s one-act fits the bill. It’s also only 65 minutes — that run-time is short, but it’s a logical choice in the TikTok era when attention spans are, too. An hour is still plenty of time for genius Steppenwolf ensemble member Caroline Neff to go toe-to-toe with Nick Gehlfuss (who audiences might recognize from CHICAGO MED) as toxic couple May and Eddie.

Review: FUN HOME at Porchlight Music Theatre
Review: FUN HOME at Porchlight Music Theatre
January 31, 2025

Jeanine Tesori and Lisa Kron’s FUN HOME is a musical journey in sketches through the memories of Alison Bechdel. Based on the graphic memoir of the same name — and so called because the Bechdel family business was a funeral home — Porchlight director Stephen Schellhardt’s production brings each scene sharply to life. 

Review: JAJA’S AFRICAN HAIR BRAIDING at Chicago Shakespeare Theater
Review: JAJA’S AFRICAN HAIR BRAIDING at Chicago Shakespeare Theater
January 21, 2025

With JAJA’S AFRICAN HAIR BRAIDING, Jocelyn Bioh pulls off a challenging theatrical feat: She makes a slice-of-life play consistently engaging and entertaining. Set in Harlem at a hair salon of the same name, JAJA’S AFRICAN HAIR BRAIDING follows a group of West African immigrant women working there — along with some of their customers. Bioh has populated her play with a cast of big personalities and peppers in just enough of the stylists’ backstories to allow us to learn more about them.

Review: SHUCKED National Tour Presented by Broadway In Chicago
Review: SHUCKED National Tour Presented by Broadway In Chicago
January 9, 2025

SHUCKED is a corny musical...in the best way possible. Book writer Robert Horn and composer team Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally’s lyrics are chock-full (or should I say husk-full?) of puns, double entendres, and cringey punchlines. I was grinning ear-to-ear (of corn). SHUCKED is joyful, creative, and fun. 

Review: TEATRO ZINZANNI at Cambria Hotel
Review: TEATRO ZINZANNI at Cambria Hotel
December 12, 2024

TEATRO ZINZANNI is still kicking it in the indoor Spiegeltent Zazou nestled on the fourteenth floor of the Cambria Hotel in the Loop. It’s still a reliably entertaining variety show, and this particular edition includes many returning performers.

& JULIET National Tour Presented by Broadway In Chicago
& JULIET National Tour Presented by Broadway In Chicago
December 5, 2024

& JULIET is an unserious jukebox musical that’s deeply serious about its commitment to fun.

Review: FALSETTOS presented by Court Theatre and TimeLine Theatre Company
Review: FALSETTOS presented by Court Theatre and TimeLine Theatre Company
November 25, 2024

FALSETTOS, originally written as two-one act musicals set in 1979 and 1981, respectively, feels simultaneously dated and prescient. In this co-production from Court Theatre and TimeLine Theatre Company, director Nick Bowling leads a first-rate ensemble that preserves the musical as a period piece but also makes it feel utterly alive. Lauren Nichols’s set design evokes a 1970s retro roller rink and Theresa Ham’s costume designs also use extremely ‘70s colors (and each character wears a signature color). But many of the show’s central themes hit now as ahead of their time and eerily relevant. In particular, the musical’s reverence for Jewish culture and tradition and its unabashed embrace of queer love are especially moving at a time when anti-Semitism and homophobia seem tragically on the rise in America.

Review: LEROY AND LUCY at Steppenwolf Theatre Company
Review: LEROY AND LUCY at Steppenwolf Theatre Company
November 4, 2024

In Ngozi Anyanwu’s LEROY AND LUCY, two strangers meet at a crossroads in Mississippi...and not much happens. Based upon the myth of Robert Johnson, who supposedly sold his soul to the devil to make it as a blues musician, the play finds Leroy (Jon Michael Hill) and Lucy (Brittany Bradford) in a liminal space. And that’s precisely the challenge of this play: Anyanwu’s characters don’t know each other and literally exist on Andrew Boyce’s empty (but pretty) set. It’s a tall order to create high stakes when characters are unknown to each other, and unfortunately, Anyanwu’s play isn’t dynamic enough to sustain its 90-minute run time.

Review: BEST KEPT SECRET: TELL EVERYONE at The Second City E.t.c.
Review: BEST KEPT SECRET: TELL EVERYONE at The Second City E.t.c.
October 31, 2024

The Second City’s latest e.t.c. revue BEST KEPT SECRET: TELL EVERYONE wants to remind audiences that life is a cabaret, old chum. While some Second City revue themes hang together better than others, BEST KEPT SECRET slyly pays homage to the classic Kander and Ebb musical CABARET and the general idea of cabaret shows.

Review: SOME LIKE IT HOT National Tour Present by Broadway In Chicago
Review: SOME LIKE IT HOT National Tour Present by Broadway In Chicago
October 24, 2024

SOME LIKE IT HOT brings old-fashioned musical comedy, hijinks, and a ton of superbly executed tap dancing to the stage. 

Review: PRIMARY TRUST at Goodman Theatre
Review: PRIMARY TRUST at Goodman Theatre
October 15, 2024

Namir Smallwood’s performance as Kenneth is a real testament to his superb abilities as a performer and the intimacy of PRIMARY TRUST becomes more profoundly emotional thanks to him.

Review: Siegfried Tieber at THE MAGIC PARLOUR
Review: Siegfried Tieber at THE MAGIC PARLOUR
October 14, 2024

Magician Siegfried Tieber’s sparkling, genuine charm is every bit as magical as his tricks in his special engagement at THE MAGIC PARLOUR.

Interview: HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD National Tour's Emmet Smith
Interview: HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD National Tour's Emmet Smith
October 3, 2024

Emmet Smith stars as Albus Potter, Harry Potter’s middle son and the play’s protagonist, in the national tour of HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD. Read BroadayWorld's interview with the actor!

Review: HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD National Tour Premiere
Review: HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD National Tour Premiere
September 27, 2024

HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD is three hours of nostalgia-fueled, utterly captivating theater...with heaps of stage magic. The Chicago engagement marks the national tour debut of the eighth installment in J.K. Rowling’s HARRY POTTER series.

Review: INHERIT THE WIND at Goodman Theatre
Review: INHERIT THE WIND at Goodman Theatre
September 24, 2024

Goodman Theatre’s season-opening production of INHERIT THE WIND centers on a fictionalized version of the 1925 “Scopes Monkey” trial — at its heart, a debate on creationism vs. evolutionism. Though playwrights Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee make it clear they’re on the side of evolution, it’s still a treat to watch this production’s Matthew Harrison Brady (Alexander Gemignani) and Henry Drummond (Harry Lennix) go head-to-head in a verbal spar.

Review: NOISES OFF at Steppenwolf Theatre Company
Review: NOISES OFF at Steppenwolf Theatre Company
September 23, 2024

NOISES OFF is lengthy and occasionally redundant because the show literally runs through Act One three times from different perspectives. But it’s also legitimately funny — which is rare and welcome for a Steppenwolf show.

Review: NATASHA, PIERRE AND THE GREAT COMET OF 1812 at Writers Theatre
Review: NATASHA, PIERRE AND THE GREAT COMET OF 1812 at Writers Theatre
September 20, 2024

It’s a joy to experience GREAT COMET end-to-end, and for musical theater lovers that want to hear a complicated score flawlessly performed, this is the ticket. This GREAT COMET soars.

Review: BACK TO THE FUTURE: THE MUSICAL National Tour
Review: BACK TO THE FUTURE: THE MUSICAL National Tour
August 15, 2024

= BACK TO THE FUTURE: THE MUSICAL is a fun and faithful adaptation of the 1985 film — but it’s overly long and generically scored. With music and lyrics by Alan Silvestri and Glen Ballard (Silvestri composed the film’s original score) and book by Bob Gale, the musical has a typical pop Broadway score — with some 1950s flare when protagonist Marty McFly travels back in time to 1955.

Review: ALICE BY HEART at Kokandy Productions
Review: ALICE BY HEART at Kokandy Productions
August 4, 2024

While Kokandy Productions’ ALICE BY HEART has some lovely performances, the musical itself is far less imaginative than its ALICE IN WONDERLAND-inspired title suggests. 

Review: THE LORD OF THE RINGS at Chicago Shakespeare Theater
Review: THE LORD OF THE RINGS at Chicago Shakespeare Theater
July 29, 2024

I think LOTR die-hards will appreciate the world-building and the visual spectacle of this production, but the material needs editing and more focus and refinement on key moments and characters.



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