Hugen Hall of Strawdog Theatre Company presents the World Premiere adaptation of D.O.A. The room is dark. The door opens. A bright light silhouettes a character in the doorway. The posed person then struts into the smoky room. Each cast member makes an entrance like it’s a 1950s film noir fashion show. It’s the last production ...
Review “The Hounds of the Baskervilles” (Idle Muse Theatre): The Original Bro-mance
Idle Muse Theatre Company presents a World Premiere adaptation of THE HOUNDS OF THE BASKERVILLES. Sherlock Holmes is perhaps the most famous detective in history. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle created a persona whose superior intellect picked up on the smallest hint of a clue. Sherlock’s sleuthing was aided by his trusted sidekick Dr. Watson. The duo ...
Review “Heathers: The Musical” (Kokandy Production): It Kills!
Kokandy Productions presents the Chicago Premiere of HEATHERS: THE MUSICAL. Before the “Mean Girls”, there were the “Heathers.” The 1980s cult classic movie showcased a high school run by a trio of girls named Heather. The creative team of Kevin Murphy and Laurence O’Keefe gave Daniel Waters’ dark comedy a musical make over. Murphy and O’Keefe ...
Review “Rolling” (Jackalope Theatre): Mean-Spirited, Hilarious and Relatable
Jackalope Theatre presents the World Premiere of ROLLING. The news is news! The hot media story of the day questions a sexual assault news story from the past. The reporter is under attack. She decides to go into hiding. She runs home… much to her mother’s chagrin. Playwright Calamity West pens a dark comedy about the adult ...
Review “Midnight Cowboy” (Lifeline Theatre): “A Tapestry of Loneliness”
Lifetime Theatre presents the World Premiere Adaptation of MIDNIGHT COWBOY. Loneliness pours off Lifetime’s stage in its newest production. A naive young man moves to NYC to hustle rich ladies. Playwright Christopher Hainsworth has adapted the Midnight Cowboy novel by James Leo Herlihy. Although the novel also became the 1969 iconic movie starring Jon Voight and ...
Review “A Loss of Roses” (Raven Theatre): Simply Complicated Perfection
Raven Theatre presents A LOSS OF ROSES. This play is simply complicated. In depression era Kansas, a widow and her twenty-one year old son have a routine. They work. They have supper. Mom goes to church. Son goes to the pool hall. Mom nags about his late night carousing. Son whines about her store bought pie. They exist as ...
Review “Pop Waits” (The Neo-Futurists): No Clowning Around
Reviewed by Tom Lawler Set the scene: The Neo-Futurists are housed in a funky Andersonville space with colorful, art-festooned halls and vestibules perched above a funeral home. Since the late ‘80s the Neo-Futurists have occupied their own rung in the Chicago theater scene with a revolving ensemble of young, diverse writers-actors dedicated to creating their own ...
Review “Romeo and Juliet” (Lyric Opera): The Greatest Love Story Ever… Sung!
Lyric Opera of Chicago presents ROMEO AND JULIET. At the Lyric, I’m gotten fairly adept at reading the English titles while watching the opera. This time because I’m very familiar with ‘the greatest love story ever told,’ I chose to ignore the printed translation and just experience the opera. I focused on the ...
Review “In a Word” (Strawdog Theatre): Collision of Fact and Fiction
The Strawdog Theatre Company presents a National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere of IN A WORD. Playwright Lauren Yee’s new play is about ‘words.’ The ones we hear. The ones we say. The ones we wish we heard. The ones we wish we said. All these words get tangled in the emotional mishmash of memory. ...
Review “Other Letters” (The Other Theatre): Romantic Sonnet of Love’s Complications Over The Years
The Other Theatre Company presents the World Premiere of OTHER LETTERS. In an age of texting and emailing, sentiment is abbreviated to essential words, acronyms and emoticons. Letter writing has become a lost art. And along with that loss is the missing written expression of the human connection. Inspired by A.R. Gurney’s Love Letters, Other Letters, ...