**** Highly Recommended Shire and Maltby, the musical creators, originally wanted to call their show “Baby Baby Baby” because this is the story of three different couples surprised by unexpected babies in their futures. This delightful musical ended up being called, “Baby, The Musical” and its production is being put on by Lake Forest’s Citadel Theatre.
****HIGHLY RECOMMENDED**** Suzan-Lori Parks' play "Topdog/Underdog" has always been a showcase for two supremely talented actors. When it premiered off-Broadway, the 2002 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama starred Don Cheadle and Jeffrey Wright. During the 2022/2023 season, the Broadway revival was graced with two highly-respected and quite well-known actors, both of whom received Tony Award nominations for Lead Actor in a Play. The production itself went on to win the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play. Now, Invictus Theatre Company is presenting a powerhouse production, under the brilliant and compassionate direction of Aaron Reese Boseman, that features two of Chicago's very own up-and-coming stars that shine ever so brightly. 4 SPOTLIGHTS
My two young sons, my mom, and I attended Roald Dahl’s "James and the Giant Peach" at the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire. The show was excellent. The wonderful singing, colorful costumes, animated actors, and live action keeps the audience very engaged. I highly recommend this play. Go see how the giant peach sets James free!
***RECOMMENDED*** As with all well-constructed dramas, audiences are often faced with more questions than easy or simple pat answers by the play's end. Such is the case with Raven Theatre Company's world premiere of playwright Paul Michael Thomson's "brother sister cyborg space." Highly relevant and pressing issues -- namely the climate crisis -- are addressed in Thomson's twisty script. You may not be entirely comfortable with the outcome. 3 SPOTLIGHTS
***RECOMMENDED*** Court Theatre's Oedipus Trilogy comes to a fitting and deeply satisfying conclusion with its very daring and bold new production of "Antigone," written by Sophocles. Associate Artistic Director Gabrielle Randle-Bent has directed a timeless classic with such strikingly vivid strokes that the work is virtually reimagined by her visionary choices. Wisely, Randle-Bent has utilized Founding Artistic Director Nicholas Rudall's translation. Rudall, whose career spanned over four decades as a Professor Emeritus in Classics at the University of Chicago, is widely recognized as an expert in making ancient Greek tragedies engaging for modern audiences. Since "Antigone" is a play whose central theme is justice, it seems like true poetic justice that Court Theatre's final offering of the trilogy should exalt in Rudall's translated text. 3 SPOTLIGHTS
*** RECOMMENDED For lovers of Shakespeare, and especially for patrons of Chicago Shakespeare Theater, this is most definitely not the winter of our discontent. Edward Hall, Chicago Shakespeare Theater's new artistic director, is making his directorial debut with a smashing and gore-filled "Richard III" which is, quite simply, the most accessible version of this great work that you are likely ever to see. Shrewdly revising some of the text by transposing certain scenes, combined with an audacious choice in casting of the titular role and assembling a dynamite design team, Hall has stamped this "Richard III" with a distinctive style. The resulting production is brazenly original, skillfully executed (pun intended) and downright disturbing. Oh...it's terribly funny, too. 3.5 SPOTLIGHTS
****HIGHLY RECOMMENDED Whenever you see Anna Deavere Smith's name attached to a project, you can be sure that you will experience a unique and well-researched theatrical presentation of often under-appreciated and frequently marginalized voices, which -- when listened to closely -- become both educational as well as emotionally authentic. Whether dealing with the Los Angeles riots following the beating of Rodney King in her legendary "Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992" or the segment titled "The Walkers," which detailed efforts to curtail violence on the South Side of Chicago and made up the bulk of the three stories presented in the contemporary opera titled "Proximity" at Lyric Opera of Chicago last season, Smith has always created works that are rallying cries for social justice. Her "Notes from the Field," receiving its Chicago premiere at TimeLine Theatre Company in a rousing production, is no exception. 4 SPOTLIGHTS
**** Highly Recommended On Saturday, December 2, 2023, I saw “The Snow Queen,” a new musical adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s adventure, with my mom and two young children. It was excellent! The audience was filled with young girls and young boys, alike. All ages enjoyed this musical! I would give this play 5 out of 5 stars.
***RECOMMENDED*** No one does fairy tales (pun intended) as well as PrideArts.
And no one does adult adaptations of children's fairy tales better than Tom Whalley. After a very successful run of Whalley's "Jack Off the Beanstalk" in December of 2022, PrideArts is once again presenting a holiday version of one of Whalley's very British pantomime interpretations with the hilarious "Sleeping with Beauty." 3 SPOTLIGHTS
***RECOMMENDED "Power is the only fact."
No, this is not some sound bite from a certain politician who is seeking re-election but rather one of the many rantings of a former king of England nearing the end of his reign. In James Goldman's "The Lion in Winter," currently at Court Theatre, sometimes it's hard to tell the difference. Director Ron OJ Parson and his assured ensemble have clearly done a comprehensively thorough textual analysis of Goldman's witty yet sardonic script, which translates to a highly entertaining bit of fun. 3 SPOTLIGHTS
