Trap Door Theatre presents the World Premiere of COOKIE PLAY. Stepping into Trap Door is to fall down the rabbit hole. This time, Set Designer Mike Mroch has created a domestic feel. Mroch has a blue backdrop with cut-out clouds suspended from strings. A sloping picket fence lines a row of hedges. The contrived look ...
The Fourth Walsh
Theatre with a side of life
Category The Fourth Walsh
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Puzzling it together
I like a good puzzle. Recently during some rainy days in Myrtle Beach, we pulled out the put-it-together entertainment. So, I shifted out of vacation mode and into Walsh drive. Many of our kin have an obsessive-compulsive need to complete the task. We go go go. Until, it’s done done done. During my stint, I helped ...
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Review “The Humans” (American Theatre Company): Disconcertingly and Hysterically Authentic!
American Theater Company presents the World Premiere of THE HUMANS. Welcome to the Blakes for Thanksgiving! Dad is exhausted. Mom is intoxicated. Sis is brokenhearted. Momo is demented. Brigid and her new boyfriend are hosting the family gathering in her new, unfurnished apartment. This family is tight. They know each other’s past mistakes and current inadequacies. And ...
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Review “Cinderella” (Broadway in Chicago): A Fairytale for the Ages
Broadway in Chicago presents Rodgers and Hammerstein’s CINDERELLA. The 2013 Tony Award-winning production of “Cinderella” is touring the country. And the beloved fairytale has gotten a contemporary makeover. The vital story elements are still present. Glass slipper, check! Pumpkin carriage, check! Kingdom corruption, ch--- wait! What? Under the new book by Douglas Carter Beane, Cinderella is ...
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EXTENDED “Airline Highway” (Steppenwolf Theatre): Road to Human Discovery
Steppenwolf Theater presents the World Premiere and Broadway-bound AIRLINE HIGHWAY. Everyone has a story. And Playwright Lisa D’Amour has a multitude. In her tightly-packed, ensemble-driven jambalaya, D’Amour tells tales of regret. From the moment we arrive at The Hummingbird Motel, we are intrigued by these colorful misfits that are oddly detached but also together. This motel-made ...
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Review “Burning Bluebeard” (The Ruffians): A Perfect Tragedy
The Ruffians present BURNING BLUEBEARD. December 30th will mark the 111th anniversary of the Iroquois Theatre fire. On that tragic day during the 3pm matinee, a fire killed 600 people. If that doesn’t sound like the premise to a hit holiday show, you’ve never experienced The Ruffians before. This was my second time reliving their historical ...
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Review “Newsies” (Broadway in Chicago): Billy Elliot on Steroids Times 12!
Broadway in Chicago presents Disney’s NEWSIES. This Tony Award-winning musical features butch ballet. Choreographer Christopher Gattelli has these rag muffin guys regularly in the air. Instead of walking across the stage, they often flip...sideways, backwards, over another guy. Their athletic feats are marveling. And even when they do a graceful pirouette, it still looks every bit ...
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Review “Twist Your Dickens” (Goodman Theatre, The Second City): F#cking Funny!
Goodman Theater, in conjunction with The Second City, presents TWIST YOUR DICKENS, OR SCROOGE YOU! This was my third installment of The Second City’s local collaborative spectacles. Previously, The Second City had partnered with Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Hubbard Street Dance Company. “The Second City Guide to the Opera” and “The Art of Falling” cleverly infused very ...
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Review “Pericles” (Chicago Shakes): Muddled!
Chicago Shakespeare Theater presents PERICLES. There’s a reason that PERICLES is a lesser known work of Shakespeare. It’s muddled! Based on the real life of a prominent Greek Statesman (495-429 BC), the play takes us on a voyage of Pericles’ life… actually multiple voyages. And unlike in the literary stories of “Nicholas Nickleby” or “Robinson Crusoe,” ...