Tuesday, February 24, 2015
We savor our mysteries for that flashpoint moment when all the pieces of the puzzle interlock perfectly. Red herrings can show up to dinner, as long as they make sense in the final analysis.…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 11:25AMMonday, February 23, 2015
The adaption of a novel into a stage play is as delicate a proposition as the spinning of a spider’s web. Novels written in the first person may not be as dialogue-driven as those of Jane …
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 04:00PMSunday, February 22, 2015
RECOMMENDED In 2012 the Chicago Teacher’s Union went on strike for a slew of reasons, including objecting to teacher evaluations based on student performance, teacher and school staff layo…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 06:00PMRECOMMENDED Chicago Opera Theater’s “Thérèse Raquin” is the all-around finest production I have had the pleasure to enjoy in any 2014/2015 season, including those at The Met and Lyri…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 10:00AMThe four characters that make up the entire cast of Ryan Cunningham’s and Joshua Salzman’s “Next Thing You Know” are all coming to the end of their days as twenty-something New Yorke…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 08:00AMSaturday, February 21, 2015
RECOMMENDED It is hard to imagine a theatrical world devoid of Sondheim’s immense talent. Over the past fifty years he has earned eight Tony awards, in large part due to elevating the expe…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 05:30PMFriday, February 20, 2015
RECOMMENDED A family sitcom isn’t normally something one might consider eye-opening or horizon-expanding, yet Rasaka Theatre Company’s “A Nice Indian Boy” manages both. On the surfac…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 02:00PMThursday, February 19, 2015
If you’ve a hankering for the orgiastic feast of a sumptuously designed, dramatically staged, organically acted, and gloriously sung evening of Wagner to warm the frozen tundra of your…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 02:00PMRECOMMENDED Even under ideal circumstances, party planning acts as a pressure cooker for our neuroses and insecurities. We’ll never measure up to our passive-aggressive and maddeningly suc…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 08:00AMWednesday, February 18, 2015
When worrywart mother Alex (Katherine Keberlein) first hears the term “gender variant play” for her son Jake’s predilection for playing princess make-believe, she hears it as child p…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 08:00AMTuesday, February 17, 2015
Gorilla Tango Burlesque has made a name for itself in recent years performing nerd-themed burlesque shows. After parodying “Star Trek,” “Indiana Jones” and other properties, a “Gam…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 08:00AMMonday, February 16, 2015
RECOMMENDED Underneath its bass-dropping, high-fashion-flouting, sick-opening-credits-having exterior, David Adjimi’s “Marie Antoinette” is actually pretty old-fashioned. It might as w…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 04:00PMJenny Yee’s “Samsara” is sort of like an inverse of history; it begins as farce and ends as tragedy. However Victory Gardens’ world premiere production seems to forget that the trage…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 02:00PMRECOMMENDED The tardigrade is a microscopic life form that generally lives under water, but which can also survive the vacuum of space. In its newest circus show, the Actors Gymnasium looks …
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 12:00PMBased on an Icelandic children’s book by Andri Snær Magnason, “Blue Planet” revolves around a planet entirely populated by kids who enjoy the simple beauty of life and live forever in…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 10:00AMRECOMMENDED Staged beautifully in the comfy confines of the Indian Boundary Park field house, Christopher Durang’s absurd comedy “Baby with the Bathwater” offers a sometimes nightmaris…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 08:00AMFriday, February 13, 2015
At first blush, the new musical “First Date,” now showing at the Royal George Theatre, presents the guise of a solid contemporary musical. But once the first impressions wear off, you’…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 02:30PMTuesday, February 10, 2015
At the beginning of “DRINK! The Sketch Comedy Drinking Game—Chicago Edition,” the performers set a couple of stringent ground rules: you must drink, no puking (complete with directiona…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 09:00AMMonday, February 9, 2015
RECOMMENDED When a play bombs on Broadway after beginning its life in Chicago, one might not expect a terribly triumphant return to the Windy City for that show. However, the version of “T…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 04:00PMSunday, February 8, 2015
RECOMMENDED Just a forewarning: if you are looking for the Chicago featured on marketing postcards and glossy travel guides, you will not find it at Chicago Slam Works’ “Redlined.” The…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 08:00AMSaturday, February 7, 2015
The show’s setup is simple: the Card Czar (director Angie McMahon, also acting as emcee) reads a Cards Against Humanity prompt and if an audience member—all given three response cards up…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 02:00PMFriday, February 6, 2015
RECOMMENDED From my experience, burlesque shows tend to be under-rehearsed and badly scripted variety shows that can be fun, but seldom rise to the level of theater. With their current produ…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 04:00PMOn February 3, Chicago Dramatists announced that long-time Artistic Director Russ Tutterow was stepping down. Tutterow has held the role for thirty years and helped shepherd hundreds of new …
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 10:33AMThursday, February 5, 2015
RECOMMENDED The hymn “Rock of Ages” echoes through the first half of Horton Foote’s domestic tragicomedy, but more apt theme music would be “Money (That’s What I Want).” T…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 07:30PMTuesday, February 3, 2015
RECOMMENDED The angst of family life is well documented: The rough and tumble bemoaning of love from fathers to sons, and mothers to daughters. There is an element of need. There is also the…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 08:00AMSunday, February 1, 2015
RECOMMENDED Neil Simon has written six plays since he penned “Laughter on the 23rd Floor,” but this work almost feels like the final piece of the scribe’s life work. It is an homage to…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 06:00PMAbout midway through act one of Bruce Graham’s “White Guy on the Bus” (now receiving its world premiere at Northlight Theatre) veteran inner-city teacher Roz (Mary Beth Fisher) states …
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 08:30AMSaturday, January 31, 2015
RECOMMENDED There are a number of well-recognized long-form improvisation structures. A good number of those were developed here in Chicago. When a theater company claims to have created a n…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 07:30PMFriday, January 30, 2015
RECOMMENDED Tristan Bruns can tap dance like nobody’s business, which I imagine is why he founded Tapman Productions, LLC. It is also clearly why he is the star of “The Adventures of Tap…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 05:00PMBy Aaron Hunt The Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire is kicking off its fortieth anniversary season and I had the chance to speak with executive producer Terry James. “I came here as an acto…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 10:07AMWednesday, January 28, 2015
RECOMMENDED Samuel Beckett’s “Godot,” as presented by the Court Theatre’s resident artist Ron OJ Parson, has all of the existential tremble without the hard edges of complete despair…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 12:30PM 
