Review by Karen Topham, ChicagoOnstage, member American Theatre Critics Association. Photo by Liz Lauren. Slipping back into the world of Jane Austen for a brand new experience is as easy as meeting an old friend at a new cafe: you feel at once completely familiar and a bit excited for new discoveries. And with Northlight […]
Review by Karen Topham, ChicagoOnstage, member American Theatre Critics Association. Photo by Scott Dray. Here is the thing about Christopher Durang plays: when done well, they can be very, very funny; it’s critical, though, to mine them for every ounce of humor you can find. When things start to fall flat, Durang’s trademark sense of […]
Review by Karen Topham, ChicagoOnstage, member American Theatre Critics Association. Photo by Michael Brosilow. It’s likely that pretty much everyone going to see Court Theatre’s new production of Oedipus Rex already knows at least the basics of the tale of the unfortunate King fated by Apollo to kill his own father and marry his mother. […]
Review by Karen Topham, ChicagoOnstage, member American Theatre Critics Association. Photo by Liz Lauren. If Lee Edward Colston II’s The First Deep Breath is not at or near the top of every Chicago theatre critic’s end of the year top shows list, well, they are simply wrong. This is an utterly remarkable show in every […]
Review by Karen Topham, ChicagoOnstage, member American Theatre Critics Association. Photo by Michael Brosilow. The first thing you notice upon walking into the Bookspan Theatre at the Den is that the versatile space has been turned into a quite realistic honky tonk bar (thanks to scenic designer Lauren Nichols). There is country music playing while […]
Review by Karen Topham, ChicagoOnstage, member American Theatre Critics Association. Photo by Brett Beiner. For countless Americans, including me, Walt Disney’s Mary Poppins was the first movie and first musical that could be called their favorite. (I made my mother take me to see it four times on its theatrical run in an era in […]
Review by Joe De Rosa; photo by Liz Lauren. “Most of the people who will walk after me will be children, so make the beat keep time with short steps.” –Hans Christian Andersen You enter the Lookingglass to the tick-tock of a grandfather clock. As you get settled in your seat, you look around the […]
Review by Karen Topham, ChicagoOnstage, member American Theatre Critics Association. Photo by Michael Brosilow. Ever since they burst onto the US music scene on Paul Simon’s “Graceland” album, Ladysmith Black Mambazo has been known for its trademark harmonies and gorgeous, understated musicality. In Chicago, the group has also become something of a staple at Steppenwolf […]
Review by Karen Topham, ChicagoOnstage, member American Theatre Critics Association. Photo by Austin D. Oie. Considering that, at one point near the climax of Red Tape Theatre’s Queen of Sock Pairing, an overflowing toilet in an upstairs bathroom dumps globs of oozing brown waste onto the stage, it’s a good thing that Sophie Weisskoff’s play […]
Review by Karen Topham, ChicagoOnstage, member American Theatre Critics Association. Photo by Cody Jolly Photography. From the opening image of amber waves of grain projected onto its floor, Scott Bradley’s solo show Packing is pretty much a gay Americana play. During this 90-minute monologue, we watch through the eyes of a frequently broken and lost […]