Rachel Weinberg - Page 6

Directed by Helen Young, TimeLine Theatre Company’s Chicago premiere of Lloyd Suh’s THE CHINESE LADY is a poignant and well-crafted play centered on Afong Moy, who was supposedly the first Chinese woman to come to America. Although historical record does not have much definitive information about Afong Moy (we even know that was not her real name), Suh uses the play’s well-structured 90 minutes to imagine what she might have said to audiences had she been given the chance. For at least 15 years from 1834 to 1850, Afong Moy was treated like an exhibit in a museum; Nathaniel and Francis Carnes brought her to the United States to showcase her in front of American audiences. Thus, Afong Moy was taken away from her family and stripped of agency. While Suh’s script cleverly allows Afong Moy to take back some of that agency, the play also demonstrates that in reality this young woman didn’t have much of a voice or control over her situation at all.

It's not an overstatement to say that Jacqueline Williams is a staple of the Chicago theater community. She returns to her hometown in the role of Calpurnia in the current national tour of Aaron Sorkin's TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, coming to Broadway In Chicago from May 17,209, 2022. Williams reflected on her return to live theater, what makes this stage adaptation so impactful and timely, and some of her favorite Chicago theater memories.

Yasen Peyankov’s adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s SEAGULL proves a wry vehicle to showcase the talents of many of his fellow Steppenwolf ensemble members who haven’t graced the stage since before the COVID-19 pandemic. Peyankov’s adaptation is direct, self-aware, and rife with dry (extremely dry) humor. The ennui that pierces SEAGULL is deeply and obviously felt throughout this adaptation of the text. References to Chekhov’s native Russia abound in Peyankov’s script, but the language feels modern and direct.

In the Shakespearean canon, ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL defies categorization; it doesn’t neatly fit alongside Shakespeare’s comedies, tragedies, or history plays. Read our critic's review!

Porchlight’s SPRING AWAKENING brings out moments of the raw emotion and many of the angsty vibes in the musical with Hlava’s Wendla and Kelch’s Mortiz as powerful anchors in this ensemble of angsty teens (though, aside from Hlava, all the actors are past their teen days). While the production doesn’t solve the musical’s challenges of underbaked characters and heavy-handedness when it comes to the issues presented, Didier’s direction and choreography bring us some nice tableaus, along with Justin Akira Kono’s music direction that highlights the ensemble in key vocal moments.

Read our critic's review.THE PROM delivers heartfelt musical theater comedy for musical theater lovers. With plenty of theater in-jokes, hijinks, big ensemble dance numbers, and a mix of funny and saccharine, writers Matthew Sklar, Chad Beguelin, and Bob Martin understand the formula for an entertaining modern musical. While THE PROM hard-core wears its heart on its sleeve, it’s also so fun.

All hail! The pop queens of SIX are back in Chicago for an epic royal homecoming in their national tour debut. Read our critic's review.

Although the play takes place in 1919, Tyla Abercrumbie’s RELENTLESS probes prescient themes of family secrets, inherited trauma, and the enduring legacy of racism for two affluent Black sisters living in the northern part of the United States. Director Ron OJ Parson remounts TimeLine Theatre Company’s production at the Goodman’s Owen Theatre after a sold-out initial run.

IN EVERY GENERATION explores the duality of the cyclical nature of humanity - specifically, in this play, the Jewish experience. As playwright Ali Viterbi's text reveals, sometimes cycles can be sources of comfort and tradition - as is the case with the Levi-Katz's family annual Passover Seder and many other Jewish holidays. In this case, the cycle of ritual is a powerful moment of family gathering and remembrance. But in other ways, the cycles that humans perpetuate can be damaging - for grandparents Paola and Davide, the trauma from their experiences as Holocaust survivors lives on many years later as the family gathers for Passover 2019 in the play's first scene. The play asks if not just the Jewish people, but American society on the whole will uphold the phrase 'Never Again' - are we now truly moving towards a world in which hatred - and specifically anti-Semitism - might someday be eliminated? Or are we doomed to repeat this cycle of trauma and xenophobia because human memory is simultaneously long and short?

Libby Lloyd takes on the role of Nini, one of the principal club dancers, in the MOULIN ROUGE! THE MUSICAL national tour. The Tony Award winning musical is currently making its tour premiere here in Chicago. Lloyd reflected on bringing the iconic Baz Luhrmann jukebox movie musical to life for touring audiences and the thrill of live musical theater.

Doug Wright’s GOOD NIGHT, OSCAR, now in its world premiere production at Goodman Theatre, is an engaging play that brings the story of one infamous night in the life of Oscar Levant to the stage. Read our critic's review.

WHITE is a sharp and genuinely funny critique of the modern art world, the subjectivity of contemporary art, and the question of who should be represented and who has access to the upper echelons of said art world.

KING JAMES is a platonic male love story — and Rajiv Joseph’s world premiere play at Steppenwolf is one slam dunk of a bromance.

HADESTOWN takes audiences on a wild and original ride into Hades's underworld. With music, lyrics, and book by Anaïs Mitchell, HADESTOWN combines the Greek myths of the ill-fated lovers Orpheus and Eurydice, along with that of Hades and Persephone, lord of the underworld and his beloved wife who spends half of each year on earth and half underground - thus causing the seasons. Mitchell's score and lyrics likewise draw on a variety of musical influences, incorporating New Orleans style jazz, folk, and pop Broadway sounds. The more jazz influenced numbers form the heart of HADESTOWN; they're the most distinctive, inventive, and lively.

Rarely do I see theater that feels truly unique, but Mary Zimmerman's THE NOTEBOOKS OF LEONARDO DA VINCI at Goodman Theater is indeed unlike any other piece of theater.

Porchlight Music Theatre has staged a number of similar revues over the years, and I look back on those most fondly for the tremendous talent they have showcased. That could not be more true of director Kenny Ingram's production of Sheldon Epps's BLUES IN THE NIGHT.

Victory Gardens Artistic Director Ken-Matt Martin ushers in a new age for the company with a play that trods familiar territory.

WOMEN OF SOUL delivers the kind of high-energy tribute that makes up the best kind of revue, and the songs are irresistible.

Local actor Kelly O'Sullivan brings her talents to the role of Sandra in the national tour of THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG, now in a sit-down Chicago run through early April.

BACHELOR: THE UNAUTHORIZED PARODY MUSICAL is exceedingly clever, legitimately funny, and far wittier than the ABC series itself. This show earns my rose.