Chicago Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations Page 17

BWW Review: THE DOPPELGÄNGER (AN INTERNATIONAL FARCE) at Steppenwolf Theatre
by Emily McClanathan - April 20, 2018

In Steppenwolf Theatre's world premiere of THE DOPPELGÄNGER (AN INTERNATIONAL FARCE), playwright Matthew-Lee Erlbach employs all the tricks of the genre - crashing furniture, ridiculous situations and rapid-fire wordplay - to shine a light on political corruption and socio-economic injustice....

BWW Review: THE CAKE at Rivendell Theatre Ensemble
by Patrick Rybarczyk - April 23, 2018

The best desserts are made with delicious layers that include some surprising flavors. They make you want another piece and to know how they were made. That's how it is with Bekah Brunstetter's THE CAKE now running at Rivendell Theatre. Each scene of this wonderful work is filled with bites that are...

BWW Review: SOUTH PACIFIC at Drury Lane Theatre
by Emily McClanathan - April 17, 2018

Boasting an all-star cast, beautiful design, and a beloved score, Drury Lane Theatre's SOUTH PACIFIC provides a truly enchanting evening of theatre - both entertaining and thought-provoking as it addresses sobering themes such as racism and bigotry....

BWW Review: LETTIE at Victory Gardens Theater
by Rachel Weinberg - April 14, 2018

Boo 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 su...

BWW Review: THE SOUND OF MUSIC at Cadillac Palace Theatre
by Emily McClanathan - April 14, 2018

From the opening strains of the nuns' harmonies in Nonnberg Abbey, the national touring production of THE SOUND OF MUSIC delivers the beloved story of family, romance, and courage with a charming style all its own....

Review: 9 TO 5 THE MUSICAL at Firebrand Theatre
by Rachel Weinberg - April 13, 2018

Firebrand 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 agai...

BWW Review: MARY'S WEDDING at First Folio Theatre
by Emily McClanathan - April 09, 2018

MARY'S WEDDING is not a typical war play. In this two-hander love story set during the First World War, the action is framed as a recurring dream and offers all the possibilities of a dream world: non-linear timelines, sudden shifts in setting, and the opportunity for characters to relive events not...

BWW Review: SMART PEOPLE at Writers Theatre
by Emily McClanathan - March 30, 2018

Delivering a triple threat of relevant writing, thoughtful direction, and a strong ensemble cast, SMART PEOPLE is well worth a trip to Writers Theatre's stylish new facility on Chicago's North Shore....

BWW Review: AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE at Goodman Theatre
by Emily McClanathan - March 21, 2018

With his use of phrases such as 'fake facts' and 'drain the swamp', Goodman Theatre Artistic Director Robert Falls overtly speaks to the current political climate in his new adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE. The audience's audible reactions to particularly searing lines prove that...

BWW Review: PLANTATION! at Lookingglass Theatre Company
by Rachel Weinberg - March 06, 2018

Under 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 ...

BWW Review: SIX CORNERS at American Blues Theater
by Patrick Rybarczyk - February 25, 2018

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BWW Review: THE WOLVES at Goodman Theatre Scores Big
by Rachel Weinberg - February 22, 2018

With 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 ...

BWW Review: YOU GOT OLDER at Steppenwolf Theatre Company
by Patrick Rybarczyk - February 10, 2018

When it rains it pours! This saying applies to our lives when things are either going for or against us. For Mae, the central character in Clare Barron's YOU GOT OLDER now in its Chicago premiere at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, life changes have poured on her. And these changes are certainly not for...

BWW Review: MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG at Porchlight Music Theatre
by Rachel Weinberg - February 05, 2018

While MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG is quite a dark show, it's undeniably one of my favorite Sondheim musicals-and Porchlight's production does well to demonstrate why this is the case....

BWW Review: THE HUMANS at Cadillac Palace Theatre
by Patrick Rybarczyk - February 05, 2018

As I left the theatre on opening night of Stephen Karem's Tony Award-winning play, THE HUMANS, I heard a patron say, 'Wow, that reminded me of my own family holidays.'...

BWW Review: ALL MY SONS at Court Theatre
by Rachel Weinberg - January 23, 2018

Court 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 Wit
by Rachel Weinberg - January 21, 2018

Eric 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...

BWW Review: BLKS at Steppenwolf Theatre Company
by Rachel Weinberg - December 22, 2017

Aziza 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 al...

BWW Review: WICKED at Oriental Theatre
by Patrick Rybarczyk - December 11, 2017

It doesn't matter how many times you watch Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, fly to rafters at the end of Defying Gravity. You still get the chills during this classic moment in the musical, WICKED. It strikes a chord with you and has you cheering for 'the green girl.' You know, the villain fro...

BWW Review: BEAUTIFUL THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL is Some Kind of Wonderful
by Rachel Weinberg - December 09, 2017

BEAUTIFUL 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 ...

BWW Review: A CHRISTMAS CAROL at The Goodman Theatre
by Patrick Rybarczyk - November 30, 2017

With its mixture of darkness and light, Charles Dickens' A CHRISTMAS CAROL is a long-standing holiday tradition that takes audiences on a journey of misery, revelation, and redemption. Now in its 40th year on stage at The Goodman Theatre, this tale stands the test of time, with some fresh updates th...

BWW Review: IRVING BERLIN'S WHITE CHRISTMAS - THE MUSICAL at The Cadillac Palace Theatre
by Patrick Rybarczyk - November 24, 2017

Every year, a group of my friends and I go to The Music Box Theatre here in Chicago for our annual viewing of White Christmas. It's a perfect way to ring in the holidays with a mix of sentimentality and tradition....

BWW Review: THE MINUTES at Steppenwolf Theatre Company
by Rachel Weinberg - November 22, 2017

Tracy 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...

BWW Review: About Face Theatre and Theater Wit's Chicago Premiere of SIGNIFICANT OTHER
by Rachel Weinberg - November 13, 2017

On 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 outstandin...

BWW Review: BILLY ELLIOT THE MUSICAL at Porchlight Music Theatre
by Rachel Weinberg - November 01, 2017

Under 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 ball...