A bomb scientist, working for a deeply underground division of the US military, is struggling to put the pieces together from his fractured life. His latest experiment hasn’t gone exactly to plan, and the collateral damage is more than he can reconcile. His wife and daughter have gone missing … or have they abandoned him? [...]
Raven Theatre’s ‘Bang the Drum Slowly’
Bang the Drum Slowly is one of those rare plays that will appeal to a wide range. (Ahem: pardon me while I make sweeping and offensive generalizations.) Men will appreciate the references to baseball, teamwork and perseverance while women (and gays) will respond to the themes of friendship, loyalty and men in towels. It also [...]
When class lines collide: Focal Point’s potent ‘After Miss Julie’ packs a punch
It’s been said that English plays are all about class, while American plays are about property. Well, that’s certainly the case in Patrick Marber’s 1995 play After Miss Julie, which takes August Strindberg’s late 19th century play, Miss Julie, and pulls into 1945 England — specifically the evening when the British Labour Party defeated the [...]
Writers’ Theatre’s ‘A Little Night Music’ Captivates
There’s something magical happening up in Glencoe, Ill. It’s a sparkling new production of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s 1973 musical, A Little Night Music — a sophisticated, romantic comedy set in 20th century Sweden about mismatched pairs who, through a mix of fate peppered with manipulation, waltz into the arms of their ideal lovers. [...]
‘Jamaica, Farewell’ takes us on a path to freedom, whatever the cost
America – that shining land of opportunity. I know I take my freedoms for granted. They’ve just always been there, and it’s hard to imagine life without them. However, in Debra Ehrhardt’s semi-autobiographical one woman play, Jamaica, Farewell, she reminds us that we have it pretty damn good. And for a young girl growing up [...]
So long, Chicago! Jessie Mueller is a Broadway STAR
Hey, Chicago. Remember Jessie Mueller? Perhaps you saw her in Writers’ Theatre’s She Loves Me? Or as Adelaide in Guys and Dolls at Marriott? Or, if you were really lucky, her steller work as Mary Flynn in Merrily We Roll Along at The Music Theatre Company? (My friend Jamie and I argued if we saw [...]
HuffPo review: ‘Rent’ and ‘Tick, Tick… Boom’ Rock Out Chicago (Well, Almost…)
It’s a Jonathan Larson summer in Chicago. Currently, the genre-defining musical theatre composer is receiving productions of his two major shows by a trio of distinguished local theatre companies. Tick, Tick… Boom!, which is essentially the precursor to Rent, is a largely autobiographical musical about the late composer’s artistic struggles as he begins to ease [...]
HuffPo Review: Goodman’s ‘Iceman Cometh,’ Starring Nathan Lane, Chills to the Core
Chicago truly is an amazing theatre town — especially now, where we have two epic plays receiving landmark productions, and I’ve been lucky to see both of them. Following the seven hour Angels in America at Court Theatre this weekend, I took in Goodman Theatre’s highly anticipated The Iceman Cometh, which clocks in at just [...]
HuffPo review: Court’s ‘Angels in America’ Soars Despite Clipped Wings
The cliffhanger that concludes the first half of Tony Kushner’s epic Angels in America is designed to stun. It’s the moment when the angel — an earth-shattering vision or a violent fever dream, or both — crashes through Prior Walter’s bedroom ceiling to deliver a prophetic message. However, in Court Theatre’s glorious yet frustratingly uneven [...]
HuffPo review: Get Your Repressed Rage on With ‘Rise of the Numberless’
There’s a rock revolution going on, and should you choose to attend, you’ve automatically become an unwitting member of The Numberless. Who are The Numberless, you ask? Why, they’re the forgotten children who’ve been living underground out of sight from the government for the past five decades, and now they’re gearing up to tell their [...]
Huffington Post: ‘Being Shakespeare’ at Broadway Playhouse
Simon Callow’s one-man show, Being Shakespeare, took the U.K. by storm and is now making a short stop at Chicago’s Broadway Playhouse, courtesy of Chicago Shakespeare Theatre’s World’s Stage Series. The multi-talented Callow is a deeply compelling performer, who clearly revels in the Bard of Avon’s prose and poems. At various points Callow, who’s 62, [...]
A bold, genre-bending ‘Re-Spiced: A Silk Road Cabaret’
Re-Spiced: A Silk Road Cabaret isn’t your mother’s cabaret. It’s bold, colorful, eclectic, relevant and shockingly subversive. I’ve seen a lot of cabaret in my time, but nothing quite like the experience I had last night. The brilliance in Re-Spiced, which is devised by Jamil Khoury, directed by Steve Scott and produced by Silk Road [...]
Steppenwolf’s ‘March’ fumbles and falls out of line
Shannon Matesky and Harry Groener in Steppenwolf’s “The March“ When adapting a 400 page epic novel for the stage, you usually have about three options: 1) Make the play 6 hours long to cover all the ground in the source material; 2) Try to dutifully cram everything into a 2-3 hour long play; 3) Use [...]
HuffPost Review: ‘Hit the Wall’ Throws Emotional Punches as It Breaks Down Barriers for Gay Rights
Hit the Wall, a powerful new play about the Stonewall Uprising produced by the relatively newbie theater company The Inconvenience, is one of those shows everyone in Chicago is talking about. Written by Inconvenience company member Ike Holter and directed by Eric Hoff, the play premiered at Steppenwolf Theatre’s Garage Rep Series in February and [...]
Street Tempo’s ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ is filled with killer surprises
Erin Creighton and John Sessler in Street Tempo Theatre’s “Little Shop of Horrors.” Photo credit: Linda Gartz You think you’ve seen Little Shop, right? You’ve probably even been involved in a production or two at some point. I know I have — I was the left arm of the giant plant puppet in Alpena High [...]
Welcome to [CTA]
- Hi. My name's Bob Bullen and I'm a Chicago Theatre Addict [CTA]. Learn more here. Please leave comments — I'd love to hear what you think, and promise to do my best to reply.
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