Chicago Theater Works presents the interactive dinner experience WE GOTTA BINGO. Upon arrival, the atmosphere is festive. A band is playing polka-style music. The proprietor, clad in leder-hosen and an Alpine hat, beckons people to get their drink on. Beer posters and knick-knacks plaster the room. A throne is perched against the wall. We’ve entered the ...
The Fourth Walsh
Theatre with a side of life
Category The Fourth Walsh
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Review “Last Train to Nibroc” (Haven Theatre): Satisfyingly Engaging
Haven Theatre presents the Chicago premiere of LAST TRAIN TO NIBROC. This play reminded me of the movie “Before Sunrise”. Two people meet on a train. Their first encounter has the hesitation of strangers deciding to become familiar. The conversation is awkward and riddled with possibility. We are seeing the very beginning of a relationship. It’s ...
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“FEAST” (Albany Park Theatre Project): Gritty Reality Blended with Whimsy for a Palpable Pleaser
Albany Park Theatre Project (APTP), in partnership with Goodman Theatre, presents a revival of its 2010 hit play FEAST. The 25-member youth theatre ensemble works with a team of adult theatre artists for a bounty of imaginative storytelling. FEAST is devised from dozens of interviews of the local residents in Albany Park. The multi-cultural ensemble share ...
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Review “Loving Repeating” (Kokandy Productions): Meaningfully Sung but not Meaningful Songs
Kokandy Productions presents LOVING REPEATING. I have mixed feelings about this play like I have mixed feelings about Gertrude Stein. I respect Gertrude for her contribution to history. She had a strong and influential voice in an era when women didn’t. She was passionate about modern art and influenced the artists in creating the new genre. ...
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Review “Grand Concourse” (Steppenwolf Theatre): Witty Life Dissection
Steppenwolf Theatre presents the Chicago premiere of GRAND CONCOURSE. Upon arrival, Scenic Designer Joey Wade places us smack dab in the middle of a soup kitchen. His intricate set is impressive from the industrial sinks with working faucets to the Virgin Mary statue perched on the windowsill. And behind this realistic microcosm, Wade has formidable cathedral-styled ...
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Review “Kinky Boots” (Broadway in Chicago): Playful and Meaningful
Broadway in Chicago presents the Tony Award-winning musical KINKY BOOTS. Although this show has a bounty of sassy, bright-colored, long-zipping, pointy-toed, thigh-high, spiky-heeled boots, this play is really about two men searching for self-identity and reinvention. Harvey Fierstein polishes the quirky film by Geoff Deane and Tim Firth into a shiny musical. Fierstein keeps the boy-meets-drag-queen story ...
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Review “Moby Dick” (Lookingglass Theatre): A Bookish Progression
Lookingglass Theatre, in association with The Actors Gymnasium, presents MOBY DICK. I’ve had the privilege to see several unique and memorable “Moby Dick” productions in Chicago over the last few years. The now dark The Building Stage told the classic with an Ishmael chorus. The Chicago Mammals used an all-female cast to cleverly go after the ...