Spotlight on Reviews

**** Recommended **** I really enjoyed “An Evening with C.S. Lewis”, more than I thought I would.  A few years back I saw “C.S. Lewis Onstage: The Most Reluctant Convert” starring Max Mason, and was bored stiff.  Oh, no, another C.S. Lewis I thought.  I’m happy to say David Payne’s C.S. Lewis was entirely different, more personal.  His anecdotes were funny and quite delightful, his poems – or as he called them, little ditties – displayed a wry sense of humor.  3 ½ Spotlights

***RECOMMENDED*** The Early Verdi Series at Lyric Opera of Chicago is certainly off to a fantastic start. Over the course of the next several years, Lyric will be featuring a single Verdi opera each season which was composed either early or in the middle of his very long and prolific career. First up is "Luisa Miller" from 1849. Lyric Opera has only performed this work once before in its 65-year history, and that was over 35 years ago. Thanks to some innovative programming on Lyric's part and the addition of conductor Enrique Mazzola (who is Lyric's music director designate), opera lovers now have a rare chance in a brief limited run to see how this pivotal and transitional work ultimately affected Verdi's later masterpieces, both in terms of its musical score and dramatic structure.  3 SPOTLIGHTS

***RECOMMENDED***   As most of the local theatre companies are premiering new works or presenting highly anticipated productions within the past several weeks in order to kick off what has become a very busy beginning to the new season, one solid and beloved company is actually concluding their 15th season with a lovely and quite moving production of the musical "Big Fish." BoHo Theatre, which has seen three of it past four shows heavily nominated for multiple Jeff Awards, can expect to add to that string of nominations in 2020 with several more for this poignant tale about holding on to your dreams and never letting go of the wondrous and magical perspective that childhood can impart upon our lives.  3 and 1/2 SPOTLIGHTS

***RECOMMENDED*** Just in time for a good-time Halloween haunting comes the newest show from those zany folks at Hell in a Handbag Productions, “The Facts of Life: Satan’s School for Girls.” This musical parody (book and lyrics by David Cerda and music by Cerda and Andrew Milliken) is loosely based upon the long-running 1980s sit-com. “The Facts of Life” was surprisingly NBC’s highest rated program during the early ‘80s and the wildly popular show, which featured multiple characters who were students at a private school for girls and the slightly dowdy but lovable matron who cared for them, inexplicably ran for eight seasons.  3 SPOTLIGHTS