Who’d have thought a Cuban-born playwright could endear an auditorium of liberals to Ronald Reagan. Rogelio Martinez’s new play ‘Blind Date’ is a fictionalized account of the very real first meeting between Soviet general secretary Mikhail Gorbachev (William Dick) and President Ronald Reagan (James D. Farruggio). Robert Falls returns to…
Published in
Theatre in Review
Wednesday, 31 January 2018 17:14
Make Musicals Great Again! We the People: The Anti-Trump Musical
Written by Anne Rakowiecki
Unlike the preamble to the constitution, you – the people – won't find any established justice or domestic tranquility in Trump's America. Enter the Anti-Trump Musical. Last Saturday, Flying Elephant Productions premiered We the People, a new musical featuring a cast of six singing original songs with music and lyrics by Leo Schwartz…
Published in
Theatre in Review
Tuesday, 30 January 2018 06:18
First Folio's "Women in Jeopardy" a delightfully rich comedy
Written by Ken Payne
Simply said, First Folio’s latest production hits on all cylinders. Women in Jeopardy, currently performed at Mayslake Peabody Estate in Oakbrook, is a sharp comedy that successfully lands a very high percentage of its humor with the audience thanks in part to its funny script with plenty of the credit…
Published in
Theatre in Review
Monday, 29 January 2018 01:25
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat Undergoes a Spectacular Transformation
Written by Kimberly Katz
Having seen the Donny Osmond and even the Patrick Cassidy productions of Andrew Lloyd Webber's colorful telling of the Joseph story years ago, I remember really enjoying them in a children's theater sort of way. The characters are colorful, the story has a good lesson and the songs catchy. Upon…
Published in
Theatre in Review
Thursday, 18 January 2018 08:53
"The Good Fight" - Perfectly Timed Theater about WSPU's "The Bodyguard" for All Those Still Fighting for Human Rights
Written by Kimberly Katz
The parallels between "The Good Fight's” retelling of the British Suffrage Movement - and the Women's March going on in all countries around the globe now are truly uncanny and a little bit frightening. The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU).British women's suffrage movement coined the powerful phrase “Deeds, not…
Published in
Theatre in Review
Monday, 22 January 2018 02:04
A Birthday Bash with a Timely – and Timeless – Message
Written by CJ Burroughs
Having spent a good majority of my adult life producing books and media for children, I like to think I’m a good judge of content directed at the young of year, as well as the young at heart. I’m also quite an exacting critic when it comes to such content,…
Published in
Theatre in Review
Whenever things get hot in America, Arthur Miller comes back in vogue. It's hard to fathom what he would think of today's world though. Court Theatre features Miller's first hit play 'All My Sons' . Directed by Charles Newell, this provocative new production is vibrant and exceedingly well acted. 'All…
Published in
Theatre in Review
Long before Jeffrey Eugenide’s novel 2003 ‘Middlesex’ brought intersexuality to the mainstream lexicon, there was David Reimer. ‘BOY’ by Anna Zeigler is a new play inspired by the real life story of a boy raised as a girl after a botched circumcision. Reimer was known only as the “John/Joan” case…
Published in
Theatre in Review
Monday, 22 January 2018 10:36
Witness the Passion and Lamentations of Rose Kennedy in Stunning One-woman Show
Written by Bill Esler
Rose, the one-woman show featuring the matriarch of the Kennedy family, has returned to the Greenhouse Theater Center. In an extraordinary performance by Linda Reiter, Rose provides a back-story on the family dynamics at play among the Kennedy’s - a window into the powerful maternal force that delivered so many…
Published in
Theatre in Review
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With six women onstage pulling no punches and taking no shit – like The Vagina Monologues, if it were freaking hilarious – She the People is the show we need right now. Written, designed, and performed by the women of The Second City, these funny and talented actresses use their wits…
Published in
Theatre in Review
With the homecoming and family-visit season safely in the rear-view, Shattered Globe presents a new play by Rachel Bonds about the places we come from. “Five Mile Lake” is directed by Cody Estle, his first production with the company. Bonds writes about a feeling that many city transplants can relate…
Published in
Theatre in Review
Tuesday, 16 January 2018 11:02
Traitor Mixes Hilarious Send-up With Biting Commentary on Our Times
Written by Bill Esler
The mayor of small-town East Lake, Illinois is facing a crisis: lead contamination was just discovered under a thriving magnet school, one that has become a sparkplug over the past few years for a dramatic influx of new residents, real estate development and a thriving local economy. Complicating matters for…
Published in
Theatre in Review
Friday, 12 January 2018 23:22
Once More for Nevermore!: Edge Theater’s newest play worth seeing again
Written by Kendall Royzen
Once upon a winter’s glow, I did venture to see a show, A show so dark and oddly brooding, filled with misery and woe. A new musical did appear, At the Edge Theater it did premiere, Nevermore: The imaginary life and death of Edgar Allen Poe. Upon the stage…
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