Thursday, October 15, 2015

Preview: The Cronus Land/Khecari by Sharon Hoyer

RECOMMENDED The final installment of Khecari’s five-year performance cycle takes place this fall and brings us back to the five-by-eight-foot pit that was the set for last year’…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 10:12AM
Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Review: Unspeakable/Broadway In Chicago by Christopher Kidder-Mostrom

“Unspeakable” by James Murray Jackson, Jr. can be summed up in one word: inexplicable. Sure, the play is loosely based on the life story of Richard Pryor. Sure, Jackson’s portrayal of …

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 12:45PM

Preview: Vaudeville!/Kelly Anderson Dance Theatre by Sharon Hoyer

Newcomer Kelly Anderson follows up her Chicago dance theater debut “Message Me If…” with another evening-length show at Links Hall, this time inspired not by the trials and…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 10:03AM
Monday, October 12, 2015

Review: Good For Otto/The Gift Theatre by Christopher Kidder-Mostrom

Depression is a difficult thing to bring to the stage. Not only is it a topic that is wrapped in denial and stigma, it is also deeply internal, and therefore difficult to embody in an outwar…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 03:55PM

Review: The Seven-Per-Cent Solution/City Lit Theater by Zach Freeman

My favorite part of Sherlock Holmes’ stories is always when, after Holmes relays a long list of facts about an individual’s life, he breaks down how he gleaned each and every fact from t…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 12:35PM

Preview: Hubbard Street Dance/Harris Theater by Sharon Hoyer

RECOMMENDED Hubbard Street dedicates their entire fall program to the great William Forsythe, reviving “Quintett,” sinking their chops into all-male quartet “N.N.N.N.̶…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 10:15AM
Sunday, October 11, 2015

Review: The Magic Cabaret/The Greenhouse Theater Center by Zach Freeman

RECOMMENDED Among the many wonders presented by magicians David Parr and Joe Diamond, the most impressive trick the night I attended was pretty much filling up the house on Wednesday evening…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 09:40AM
Saturday, October 10, 2015

Review: No Beast So Fierce/Oracle Productions by Zach Freeman

The last time that actress Katherine Keberlein and director Max Truax collaborated together, the result was Oracle’s Jeff-Award winning production of Bertolt Brecht’s “The Mother,” w…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 08:00PM

Review: My Mañana Comes/Teatro Vista by Mary Kroeck

RECOMMENDED America is known as the Great Melting Pot. It’s a place where people come to have a better life, dream big dreams and do what they can to help them come true. However, it also …

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 03:52PM

Review: H.M.S Pinafore/The Savoyaires by Christopher Kidder-Mostrom

RECOMMENDED The Savoyaires celebrated their fiftieth anniversary last year. They’ve been doing Gilbert & Sullivan operettas for a long time, and that half century of practice has ensur…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 02:20PM

Review: Act Accordingly/Brand New Toys by Christopher Kidder-Mostrom

When I attend a sketch comedy show, I want to walk away having enjoyed myself. I also want to be able to tell people about the sketches that I just saw. You know, in that same sort of way th…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 12:11PM

Review: The Learned Ladies of Park Avenue/Dead Writers Theatre Collective by Aaron Hunt

RECOMMENDED The Dead Writers Theatre Collective focuses on presenting classic pieces in the style and ethos of the period in which they were first produced, and they do so with great verve a…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 10:45AM
Friday, October 9, 2015

Review: The Cheats/Steep Theatre Company by Kevin Greene

RECOMMENDED As far as voyeurism is concerned, theater tops film hands down. The former’s brutal pleasure lies in the squirm-inducing feeling that not only is what you’re witnessing inesc…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 04:00PM

Review: My Brilliant Divorce/Irish Theatre of Chicago by Zach Freeman

RECOMMENDED Loneliness, at its worst, clamps down, feeling like a black box from which there is no escape. The claustrophobia of loneliness can sometimes feel so inescapable that dying of it…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 02:30PM

Preview: Sylvia/Joffrey Ballet by Sharon Hoyer

RECOMMENDED John Neumeier’s reimagining of “Sylvia” blesses the stage with images not often seen in story ballet: those of powerful, independent women en pointe. According …

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 10:09AM

Review: Ride the Cyclone/Chicago Shakespeare Theater by Zach Freeman

RECOMMENDED To be a teenager is to be a creature of extremity. Not only your body but your emotions and ideas and opinions are expanding with the rush and fury of a newborn universe—your o…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 08:45AM
Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Review: Barefoot In The Park/Step Up Productions by Zach Freeman

“Well, it’s a relief to finally see something cheerful,” Gwen said, as they exited out to the street. “Yeah,” said Eleanor. “Though it ended weirdly with the traditional gender r…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 05:59PM

For the Child in the Adult and the Adult in the Child: At Sea with Mary Zimmerman and Lookingglass’ “Treasure Island” by Kevin Greene

By Kevin Greene Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel “Treasure Island” is so ubiquitous in the sphere of popular culture that it’s possible to feel as though you’ve read it without ever …

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 09:29AM
Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Review: Cinderella/Lyric Opera of Chicago by Zach Freeman

Last Sunday’s afternoon matinee of Gioachino Rossini’s “Cinderella” (“La Cenerentola”) at the Lyric Opera set me musing. Why would Lyric director Anthony Freud schedule a romanti…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 01:30PM

Review: Marvin’s Room/Shattered Globe Theatre by Zach Freeman

RECOMMENDED Twenty-five years after it first premiered at the Goodman, Scott McPherson’s “Marvin’s Room” is still relevant because people are still dying—slowly, painfully, draggin…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 10:32AM
Monday, October 5, 2015

Review: For Her as a Piano/Pegasus Theatre Chicago by Zach Freeman

RECOMMENDED The strings that tie mothers to daughters are knotted, twisted and forever looping. Severing those strings is an impossible feat, though many spend their lives trying. Untangling…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 05:00PM

Review: The Black White Love Play/Black Ensemble Theater by Christopher Kidder-Mostrom

With a title like “The Black White Love Play,” it’s not surprising that a song entitled “No Matter What Race” is featured, gets a reprise, and also gets sung during the bows. What …

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 03:30PM

Review: A Strange Disappearance of Bees/Forget Me Not Theatre Company by Christopher Kidder-Mostrom

Honeybees throughout the world are disappearing. Entire hives lose their populations almost instantly, and beekeepers’ careers, not to mention our food supply, are threatened. Seemingly, p…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 09:45AM
Sunday, October 4, 2015

Review: Goblin Market/Black Button Eyes Productions by Zach Freeman

Sensuous excess comes to life in Christina Rossetti’s 1862 poem “Goblin Market,” with proliferation of rhymes, synonyms, luscious lists of fruits and “figs to fill your mouth.” It�…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 08:15PM
Saturday, October 3, 2015

Review: A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder/Broadway in Chicago by Aaron Hunt

RECOMMENDED This little operetta dinghy overcame modest box office and, proving the critics right for once, sailed away with the 2014 Tony Award for Best Musical. No small feat in an era whe…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 09:30AM
Friday, October 2, 2015

Review: Delicious Night: Baudelaire in a Box, Episode 8/Theatre Oobleck by Christopher Kidder-Mostrom

RECOMMENDED Cantastoria is not a terribly familiar theatrical form, but it is a legitimate one, and one that is appropriately suited to bringing the poetry of Charles Baudelaire to those of …

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 02:35PM
Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Review: Blood Brothers/Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre by Aaron Hunt

RECOMMENDED Willy Russell, playwright of “Educating Rita” and “Shirley Valentine,” wrote the book, music and lyrics for the folk cantata “Blood Brothers,” which ran for twenty-fo…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 01:45PM

Review: Feathers and Teeth/Goodman Theatre by Zach Freeman

RECOMMENDED Horror is a mighty genre, stealing you away from the present like no other genre can, activating the primal instincts that follow fear and focusing your attentions like a laser o…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 11:15AM

Day Three: A Farewell Performance for River North Dance’s Frank Chaves by Sharon Hoyer

Frank Chaves, artistic director of River North Dance Chicago, steps down this December after twenty-three years leading the contemporary jazz company. In 2005 Chaves was diagnosed with syrin…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 10:00AM
Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Review: Love and Information/Remy Bumppo by Aaron Hunt

RECOMMENDED Remember banker’s boxes? Those white, cardboard, 10″H x 12″W x 15″D storage bins that arrived flattened, to be unfolded and refolded until they took a shape t…

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 05:00PM

Review: Scream, Queen, Scream!/Hell In A Handbag Productions by Christopher Kidder-Mostrom

RECOMMENDED When you review a show, you have to take into account what the producing company is shooting for. “Scream, Queen, Scream!” – three vignettes by playwright David Cerda, …

SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 03:30PM

All that Chat

2023-2024 BROADWAY SEASON
May 30, 2023: Grey House - Lyceum Theatre
Jun 26, 2023: Just For Us - Hudson Theatre
Jul 24, 2023: The Cottage - Hayes Theater
Nov 16, 2023: Spamalot - St. James Theatre
Dec 18, 2023: Appropriate - Hayes Theater
Mar 07, 2024: Doubt - Todd Haimes Theatre
Apr 14, 2024: Lempicka - Longacre Theatre
Apr 17, 2024: The Wiz - Marquis Theatre
Apr 18, 2024: Suffs - Music Box Theatre
Apr 25, 2024: Mother Play - Hayes Theater
Jun 10, 2024: The Drama Desk Awards