Chicago Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations Page 8

Review: ARSENIC AND OLD LACE at Court Theatre
by Rachel Weinberg - September 11, 2022

What did our critic think of ARSENIC AND OLD LACE at Court Theatre? Joseph Kesselring's 1941 play ARSENIC AND OLD LACE combines farce, explicitly dark comedy, and a little murder. Director Ron OJ Parson's decision to envision the central Brewster family as a wealthy Black American family gives the p...

Review: DREAMGIRLS at Paramount Theatre
by Tina St. Angelo Wetzel - September 11, 2022

What did our critic think of DREAMGIRLS at Paramount Theatre Aurora IL?...

Review: MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS at Drury Lane Theatre
by Tina St. Angelo Wetzel - September 10, 2022

What did our critic think of MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS at Drury Lane Theatre Oakbrook Terrace IL?...

Review: THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA at Nederlander Theatre
by Misha Davenport - August 08, 2022

What did our critic think of THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA at Nederlander Theatre? Haute mess. Fashion weak. Prêt-à-poor taste. I could go on with the fashion puns all day, but suffice to say THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA, the new musical which opened Sunday in not quite ready for the runway in its current state....

REVIEW: A Magical PRISCILLA QUEEN OF THE DESERT at Mercury Theater Chicago
by Misha Davenport - July 29, 2022

What did our critic think of REVIEW: MERCURY'S MAGICAL PRISCILLA QUEEN OF THE DESERT at Mercury Theater Chicago?...

Review: GET OUT ALIVE at Haven Chicago
by Rachel Weinberg - July 14, 2022

What did our critic think of GET OUT ALIVE at Haven Chicago? Lynette is not afraid to share the vivid, traumatic details of her life with the audience, including her suicide attempt. While I don’t usually provide content warnings for any theater, the way Lynette recounts some of her past experiences...

Review: IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE at Chicago Shakespeare Theater
by Rachel Weinberg - July 05, 2022

What did our critic think of IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE at Chicago Shakespeare Theater? Kellen Blair and Joe Kinosian’s IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE is campy musical theater fun that pays homage to the 1953 “B-movie” from which it’s adapted. In the vein of musicals like LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, Blair and ...

Review: WHERE WE BELONG at Goodman Theatre
by Rachel Weinberg - June 28, 2022

What did our critic think of WHERE WE BELONG at Goodman Theatre? Madeline Sayet proves herself to be a powerful and magnetic storyteller in her one-woman play WHERE WE BELONG. Sayet has structured her text so the story becomes more personal and poetic as it progresses, and under the direction of Mei...

Review: CHOIR BOY at Steppenwolf Theatre Company
by Rachel Weinberg - June 27, 2022

What did our critic think?With direction by Kent Gash, Steppenwolf’s staging of CHOIR BOY hits all the right notes. Steppenwolf ensemble member Tarell Alvin McCraney’s play is is a heartwrenching and tuneful story about Pharus— a young gay Black man who relishes nothing more than his role as the cho...

Review: LIFE AFTER at Goodman Theatre
by Rachel Weinberg - June 23, 2022

Britta Johnson's LIFE AFTER is a deeply moving and creative new musical that beautifully probes the complexities of grief and the accompanying anxiety and unanswered questions it brings in its wake. See what our critic had to say. ...

Review: CRUEL INTENTIONS: THE '90S MUSICAL at Kokandy Productions
by Rachel Weinberg - June 20, 2022

What did our critic think? Kokandy Productions' staging of CRUEL INTENTIONS: THE '90S MUSICAL is a fun romp filled with '90s nostalgia and some banging vocals from director Adrian Abel Azevedo's ensemble....

Review: STEEL MAGNOLIAS at Drury Lane Theatre Oakbrook Terrace, IL
by Tina St. Angelo Wetzel - June 20, 2022

What did our critic think of STEEL MAGNOLIAS at Drury Lane Theatre Oakbrook Terrace, IL? Walking into Drury Lane Theatre in Oakbrook Terrace, the set jumps out immediately. There is no curtain. I had to walk up to the lip of the stage to look at it. Angela Weber Miller's design is perfection. A can ...

Review: cullud wattah at Victory Gardens Theater
by Rachel Weinberg - June 19, 2022

In cullud wattah, Erika Dickerson-Despenza compellingly weaves the personal and political. The play is ultimately a narrative of resilience as the women in the play struggle with environmental racism and to econcile with the tension between their desire for justice (especially in ainee’s case) and t...

BWW Review: SKATES: A NEW MUSICAL at The Studebaker Theater
by Rachel Weinberg - June 06, 2022

American Idol alumni and real-life married couple Diana DeGarmo and Ace Young take the stage in SKATES: A New Musical. While Christine Rea and Rick Briskin’s musical bills itself on the whole as an exercise in nostalgia, the most nostalgic part of SKATES for me was seeing DeGarmo and Young perform; ...

BWW Review: LOOKINGGLASS ALICE at Lookingglass Theatre Company
by Rachel Weinberg - May 31, 2022

Lookingglass Theatre Company’s signature LOOKINGGLASS ALICE has returned to Water Tower Water Works—and it’s just as whimsical and delightful as I remember it when I first saw the production back in high school. Director David Catlin’s charming and inventive adaptation combines storytelling elements...

BWW Review: THE CHINESE LADY at TimeLine Theatre Company
by Rachel Weinberg - May 14, 2022

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 Af...

BWW Review: SEAGULL at Steppenwolf Theatre Company
by Rachel Weinberg - May 09, 2022

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...

BWW Review: ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL at Chicago Shakespeare Theater
by Rachel Weinberg - May 01, 2022

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!...

BWW Review: ROCK OF AGES at Paramount Theatre
by Tina St. Angelo Wetzel - May 01, 2022

How to rescue a bar in 1987? Read our critic's review of the production. ...

BWW Review: SPRING AWAKENING at Porchlight Music Theatre
by Rachel Weinberg - April 29, 2022

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’...

BWW Review: National Tour Of MOULIN ROUGE! THE MUSICAL at Nederlander Theatre
by Misha Davenport - April 22, 2022

A grand, glitter and confetti-filled spectacle, the Tony Award-winning musical Moulin Rouge! The Musical officially opened the national tour at the Nederlander Theatre in Chicago on April 21 and those who attended may still be giggling from excitement while picking confetti out of their hair....

BWW Review: THE SOUND OF MUSIC at Marriott Theatre, Lincolnshire IL
by Tina St. Angelo Wetzel - April 22, 2022

The moment you walk into the theatre and see the 'mountains' surrounding the back walls you know exactly where you are and that you need to be here. Read our critic's review of the 2022 production. ...

BWW Review: THE PROM National Tour Presented by Broadway In Chicago
by Rachel Weinberg - April 20, 2022

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 entertai...

BWW Review: SIX National Tour Presented By Broadway In Chicago
by Rachel Weinberg - April 13, 2022

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. ...

BWW Review: Timeline Theatre Company's RELENTLESS at Goodman Theatre
by Rachel Weinberg - April 12, 2022

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 Compan...