Review by Karen Topham, ChicagoOnstage, member American Theatre Critics Association Radio plays are nothing new; in fact, in this age of virtual reality, they are so antiquated as to seem almost quaint. One of the most well-known of this genre is the original Orson Wells version of The War of the Worlds, an adaptation of […]
By Beverly Friend, PHD, Member American Theatre Critics Assn. While I certainly miss seeing plays, I miss reviewing them even more: the excitement of opening night, the thrill as the house lights dim and the curtain goes up, the responsibility of writing a valid assessment of the production which will benefit readers by giving — […]
Review by Karen Topham, ChicagoOnstage, member American Theatre Critics Association; photo by NeoFuturists Theatre as a history lesson: I actually learned something just reading the subheading on NeoFuturists’ page promoting its newest offering, 45 Plays For America’s First Ladies. As internet memes put it, I was “today old” when I first learned that we have […]
Review by Karen Topham, ChicagoOnstage, member American Theatre Critics Association; photo by Kamille Dawkins The traditional British fox hunt, of course, features hunters on horseback and packs of dogs on long leashes tracking down an elusive fox for some reason alleged to be sport. British playwright Titas Halder turns that old image on edge in […]
Review by Karen Topham, ChicagoOnstage, member American Theatre Critics Association. I’m going to answer the biggest question right off the bat. For those who may not have already heard, the filmed version of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton is in fact utterly captivating. Directed by the Broadway stage director Thomas Kail, it manages to capture all of […]
Review by Karen Topham, ChicagoOnstage, member American Theatre Critics Association. Note: This show, originally slated to be performed live at Theater Wit, is available online instead due to coronavirus. For a discussion of theatres responding to coronavirus restrictions, click here. 16th Street Theatre was about to open Methtacular, a revival of a one-man show by […]
“I know someone like you understands the importance—the all-consuming social importance of live theater.” — Mark Lew, from Teenage Dick As the coronavirus crisis worsens and states, including Illinois, are instituting “shelter-at-home” proclamations, Americans are having to learn how to deal with a social and cultural situation they have never faced before. Quarantines are adversely […]
Review by Karen Topham, ChicagoOnstage, member American Theatre Critics Association; photos by Charles Osgood. Note: This show, originally slated to be performed live at Theater Wit, is available online instead due to coronavirus. I was planning to review Theater Wit’s new production of Mike Lew’s Teenage Dick long before the coronavirus changed the world, forcing […]
Review by Karen Topham, ChicagoOnstage, member American Theatre Critics Association; photos by Liz Lauren. Note: This play has been canceled due to the coronavirus; however, the cast and crew worked hard and deserve to be reviewed anyway. I voted for Jane Byrne in 1979, when she successfully ran to replace the utterly ineffectual Michael Bilandic […]
Review by Edward Rubin, member of American Theatre Critics Association, NYC’s Drama Desk, and the Outer Critics Circle; photo by Monique Carboni Surprise of all surprises, the 1969 movie “Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice,” thanks to The New Group and Pershing Square Signature Center, is back in the news again—this time, not […]