Culturally, the distance between 1951 and 2020 is vast. It’s the distance between a new born entering a world transformed from what it was nearly seventy years ago and her grandparents or great-grandparents who’ve watched a Cold War dissolve and the overwhelming digitization of the planet. A span of time that could easily induce nostalgia. …
Sometimes when the lights go down and a theater stage stirs to life, you’re carried away and dropped into lives and experiences that uniquely sharpen your understanding of what it takes to either survive or thrive. The low boiling excitement filling the air opening night for Victory Garden’s How to Defend Yourself let you know …
How to Defend Yourself Radiant on Lincoln Avenue Read More »
Nancy Pelosi might be a fascination you never knew you had. A production premiering over the weekend at Victory Gardens Theater for an abbreviated run could dispel any doubt. On the surface, an examination of one of the most enigmatic and pivotal political figures in the country would appear tempting, but prohibitively daunting. Access and …
Tantalizing Portrait of Power on Victory Garden Stage Read More »
Probably one of the most enduring and compelling attributes common to the arts is their lack of complacency. Creativity has a need to push and explore and change and innovate and, in the end, excite. That may be why in its 15th year, Chicago’s Too Hot to Handel: The Jazz – Gospel Messiah felt like …
Too Hot to Handel: The Jazz – Gospel Messiah Still on High Sizzle Read More »
As Ronnie Marmo so skillfully reminds us in his ravishing one-man show, you can pay a very high price for telling uncompromising truths. Just entering its second extension at the Royal George, I’m Not a Comedian…I’m Lenny Bruce takes us back to the 60s and reintroduces us to a man known more for his penchant …
Lee Colston’s wonderfully unexpectant play, The First Deep Breath, celebrates two things; acceptance and truth. We see very little of either until the end of this meaty story that challenges us to think about how high a regard we hold for these two liberating ideals. The family we’re introduced to is the total opposite of …
The First Deep Breath Tallies the Cost of Secrets Read More »
You don’t often hear about how enticing the story driving The Light in the Piazza eventually becomes. An unlikely love story viewed from the vantage point of an over protective mother; it’s so consciously refined that Piazza’s core message can be obscured in its romantic beauty. Very much in the way the love between Clara …
Worthy Message at the Heart of The Light in the Piazza Read More »
When something this wild is that wonderful, you can expect praise to flow far and wide. Eclipse Theatre’s season closes big this winter with Christopher Durang’s wonderfully absurdist jewel, Why Torture is Wrong and the People Who Love Them, now playing to contented audiences at the Athenaeum. The title tells both everything about the play …
Even though the marriage’s prospects looked promising; it was still surprising to see it succeed with such dazzling effect. Chicago Sinfonietta, one of Chicago’s great musical assets, celebrated Diwali at Symphony Center Monday night with a program that merged two classical music worlds. It also sagely incorporated the dynamic richness of South Asian dance by …
Basking in the Glow of Diwali at Symphony Center Read More »
When they mirror the people who live in them, cities are like living kaleidoscopes. Holidays, festivals and celebrations turn diversity into an engine that makes the city more colorful, dynamic and interesting by allowing people to reach back to their pre-America days and bring joyful memories of the past to the present. For most Chicagoans, …