Reporter's Notebook: PASS OVER Advance ScreeningApril 18, 2018PASS OVER was by far one of the best productions to grace a Chicago stage last season, and now anyone with an Amazon account will have the privilege to see this searing, timely, and extraordinarily necessary production come Friday. It is nothing short of remarkable that now so many will have access to this beautiful interpretation of Nwandu's play. This is compulsory viewing for all, and it is an incredible opportunity to see a filmed version of PASS OVER that truly represents the immediacy of live theater.
BWW Review: LETTIE at Victory Gardens TheaterApril 14, 2018Boo Killebrew's world premiere play LETTIE is profoundly heartbreaking and brilliantly conceived. Under the direction of Artistic Director Chay Yew, the production devastatingly unfolds the narrative of the titular working class ex-convict Lettie. Both Killebrew's masterful, raw writing and Yew's superlative ensemble-with Caroline Neff in the title role and doing some of the best work so far of her career-bring immense pathos and a swirl of shifting emotions upon the audience.
Review: 9 TO 5 THE MUSICAL at Firebrand TheatreApril 13, 2018Firebrand Theatre's production of 9 TO 5 THE MUSICAL makes a good deal of sense for the company to stage, especially as it's the first show directed by Artistic Director Harmony France. This outsized, comical musical focuses on three women navigating office politics in 1979 as they plot revenge against their company's sexist and outlandish CEO. With songs by Dolly Parton and a book by Patricia Resnick, 9 TO 5 is a fun romp of a musical with a bluegrass twinge and tons of laughs.
4 Favorite Productions from American Theater CompanyMarch 16, 2018Today American Theater Company announced that it was shutting its doors after 33 years. Under the direction of late Artistic Director PJ Paparelli, American Theater Company made its name as one of the most groundbreaking and well-regard storefront theaters in Chicago. Among other productions, ATC staged the world premieres of Ayad Akhtar's Pulitzer Prize winner Disgraced and Stephen Karam's The Humans. In ATC's most recent era, Artistic Director Will Davis staged innovative pieces with a clear and unique vision. I have many fond memories of seeing productions at ATC, and below are some of my favorites. Farewell, American Theater Company. Chicago will miss you dearly.
BWW Review: PLANTATION! at Lookingglass Theatre CompanyMarch 6, 2018Under the taut direction of David Schwimmer, Kevin Douglas's new comedy PLANTATION! succeeds in making audiences both laugh out loud and cringe. In PLANTATION!, Douglas explores one wealthy white woman's attempt to make reparations for the benefits her family reaped from slavery. Douglas does so by posing the question: Does making amends actually work? And for whom does making amends actually benefit? The twist in PLANTATION!, however, is that these serious questions are explored almost entirely through the lens of broad, dramatic, zinger-filled satire. The all-female cast succeeds in landing each and every joke in this production, which brings the broadly comic nature of Douglas's writing to the forefront.
BWW Review: THE WOLVES at Goodman Theatre Scores BigFebruary 22, 2018With her Pulitzer Prize finalist THE WOLVES, young playwright Sarah DeLappe has beautifully, movingly, and realistically captured the tenuousness that comes with being a teenage girl navigating the thorny terrain of high school. DeLappe has captured so precisely the agony and nuances of high school female friendship. In this 90-minute play about an indoor high school girls' soccer team, DeLappe presents the achingly real challenges of life as a teenage girl in suburban America. While the nine members of the eponymous Wolves are fierce soccer players on the field, these three-dimensional characters have much more to contend with once they step off.
BWW Review: ALL MY SONS at Court TheatreJanuary 23, 2018Court Theatre Artistic Director Charles Newell lends a deft hand to this stunning, newly searing production of Arthur Miller's ALL MY SONS. Though Miller's classic play takes place in 1946, the all-star ensemble makes the plight of the crumbling Keller family feel raw and altogether present.
BWW Review: THE ANTELOPE PARTY at Theater WitJanuary 21, 2018Eric John Meyer's world premiere play THE ANTELOPE PARTY opens on a meeting in an apartment setting notable for its vast and bright collection of MY LITTLE PONY memorabilia (kudos to set designer Joe Schermoly and properties designer Jesse Gaffney for this delightful visual). In this moment, we meet the members of the Rust Belt Brony Meet Up group. The bronies (sometimes referred to as Pegasisters when they're female-identifying) are adult fans of the children's show MY LITTLE PONY. The members of the Rust Belt group, in particular, identify with the show's messages of magic and friendship and find solace among their brony counterparts.
BWW Review: BLKS at Steppenwolf Theatre CompanyDecember 22, 2017Aziza Barnes's BLKS is often funny, often vulgar, and sometimes heartbreaking. Now in a world premiere staging at Steppenwolf, BLKS chronicles 24 hours in the lives of three young black women in their early 20s living in New York City. Barnes's playwriting is achingly real and naturalistic, while also showcasing the playwright's poetic chops. In Octavia (Nora Carroll), Imani (Celeste Cooper), and June (Leea Ayers), Barnes has given us three unique and beautifully written characters navigating a tumultuous moment in their young lives.
BWW Review: BEAUTIFUL THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL is Some Kind of WonderfulDecember 9, 2017BEAUTIFUL THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL, one of the most well-constructed and delightful jukebox musicals I've ever seen, has arrived back in Chicago just in time for the holiday season. This empowering musical about singer-songwriter Carole King has enough emotional impact to make your heart burst. This is my third time seeing BEAUTIFUL, and I remain struck by the emotional depth behind this show.
BWW Review: THE MINUTES at Steppenwolf Theatre CompanyNovember 22, 2017Tracy Letts's world premiere THE MINUTES, now making its debut at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, unfolds in an unsuspecting manner. Both because the play has a smart structure that shifts over the course of the 100-minute runtime and also because the content left me contemplative for days after seeing it. Here Letts uses the framework of a small town's council meeting as a microcosm of a larger discussion on the current political climate (though this play is not overtly about Trump's presidency) and the desire to cling to certain ideologies in the name of order and group preservation, though those long-held beliefs may not be true.
BWW Review: About Face Theatre and Theater Wit's Chicago Premiere of SIGNIFICANT OTHERNovember 13, 2017On the page, Harmon so beautifully expresses the nuances of shifting friendships and the fear of being left behind by those one holds dear, and he also nails so completely the complex neuroses that come with dating, loneliness, and being lost in one's own head. Director Keira Fromm and an outstanding local cast bring Harmon's expertly crafted words to life, finding both maximum amounts of humor and gut-wrenching emotion in the piece.
BWW Review: BILLY ELLIOT THE MUSICAL at Porchlight Music TheatreNovember 1, 2017Under the direction of frequent company collaborator Brenda Didier, BILLY ELLIOT THE MUSICAL electrifies the mainstage at the Ruth Page Performing Arts Center, Porchlight's new home. Based on the eponymous film about an adolescent boy from a working class British mining town who aspires to be a ballet dancer, this production finds the deep emotional core in its story about community and acceptance. With music by Elton John and book and lyrics by Lee Hall, this BILLY ELLIOT bursts with heart and passion.
Highlights from Broadway In Chicago's Annual Summer Concert at Millennium ParkAugust 15, 2017Broadway In Chicago's Summer Concert on Monday drew probably the largest crowd for the event I have seen in several years of attendance (and they were definitely a fired-up bunch). Musical theater fans across Chicago clamored to see Broadway In Chicago's showcase of ten upcoming touring shows (with a bonus appearance from HAMILTON's Chris De'Sean Lee, who co-hosted with usual emcee Janet Davies of ABC7). Here's my take on the highlights of the concert and which touring musicals should top your must-see list for the coming season.
BWW Review: HAIR at Mercury Theater ChicagoAugust 6, 2017Mercury Theater's revival of the iconic rock musical HAIR infuses some peace, love, and sunshine into this Chicago summer. While Gerome Ragni and James Rado's lyrics still resonant today, this production stays firmly rooted in the late 1960s. Brenda Didier's direction, Robert Kuhn's costumes, and Jeffrey D. Kmiec's set design all have a 'traditional' feel-at least traditional by the show's standards. Certainly HAIR's call for peace and embrace of the Tribe's diverse identities echo the present and remind us of the progress yet to be made, but this staging does not underscore that relevance based on production choices.
BWW Review: AN AMERICAN IN PARIS National Tour at the Oriental TheatreJuly 29, 2017Christopher Wheeldon's visually stunning production of AN AMERICAN IN PARIS has come dancing into Broadway In Chicago's Oriental Theatre. Wheeldon's complex and extensive choreography is the most striking and entertaining element of this new musical, based upon the classic Gene Kelly film and with a new book by Craig Lucas that weaves together George and Ira Gershwin's lush song catalog. AN AMERICAN IN PARIS enjoyed a successful Broadway run in 2015, and this touring company can certainly keep up with Wheeldon's moves as well as the original ensemble.
BWW Review: HOW TO BE A ROCK CRITIC Rocks SteppenwolfJuly 11, 2017"This music is magical. My writing is stilted." So proclaims Erik Jensen as famed rock critic Lester Bangs in HOW TO BE A ROCK CRITIC, now playing as part of Steppenwolf's Lookout Series. This thought has likely crossed the mind of all art critics out there (certainly it has crossed mine), and it embodies the spirit of this 80-minute solo play as it charts Bangs's career. Jensen and co-playwright Jessica Blank (the pair are also married) give us a portrait of Bangs-who died of a drug overdose at age 33-that demonstrates the passion, creativity, and self-destructive nature that defined him. This solo play provides an overview of Bangs's trajectory and allows audiences to learn about the rock music he loved, aided by David Robbins's sound design.