Broadway in Chicago presents the Tony Award-winning musical PIPPIN for a limited two week engagement. This unconventional show looks like a circus, sounds like a musical and acts like burlesque. Among the lovely and peppy harmonies are feats of amazement and risqué flirtations. At the core, Pippin, a young prince (played by Sam Lips), is searching for ...
The Fourth Walsh
Theatre with a side of life
Category The Fourth Walsh
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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 ...
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Review “VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE” (Goodman Theatre): Chekhov a la mode
Goodman Theatre presents the Chicago premiere of VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE. It’s easy for me to see why this Tony Award-winning play was a Broadway smash hit. The story has high entertainment value for the target audience, the increasingly large pool of aging baby boomers. It is about three siblings grappling with growing ...
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Review “Soon I Will Be Invincible” (Lifeline Theatre): Is Invincible!
Lifeline Theatre presents the World Premiere Musical Adaptation, SOON I WILL BE INVINCIBLE. The phrase rolling through my head since seeing this show is ‘commercial appeal.’ I can easily see this innovative musical mounted on Broadway and becoming a family tourism destination. It has super heroes battling a super villain while struggling with their super identities. ...
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Review “Don’t Go Gentle” (Haven Theatre): Complicated and Simple
Haven Theatre presents DON’T GO GENTLE. “Charity begins at home” is a phrase Sister Gerald Francis pounded into her students’ heads. When I was a kid, I didn’t get it. It sounded fairly selfish for a nun’s mantra. How could I make a difference in the world at home? As I made my way out into ...
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Review “Stickfly” (Windy City Playhouse): Genuine Family Drama
Windy City Playhouse presents STICKFLY. As the insect enthusiast, Celeste M. Cooper (Taylor) explains that flies are glued to sticks so scientists can closely observe their winged struggles to get free. Well in this show, the audience is the scientists. The cast is the flies. Director Chuck Smith provides the stick. And Playwright Lydia R. Diamond ...