You need a minute to unpack all the messages in Tiger Style! Essentially a story about self-discovery, it’s rare this kind of journey to self-knowledge includes two people undergoing it together. But Tiger Style! seems to thrive on the unexpected as it busily sheds much needed light on a group of overlooked fellow Americans. Missing …
Tiger Style! Unfurls the Joy of Telling Your Own Story Read More »
Clyde’s, that wild masterpiece garnering nightly standing ovations at the Goodman Theatre, is one of those stories you didn’t know you were waiting a life time to see until you do. Even when it’s over, you don’t quite know how to describe what you experienced. Too funny to be considered straight drama and grounded in …
Langston Hughes loved music. And he especially loved the blues. Learning that Chicago’s esteemed Black Ensemble Theater (BE) would be presenting a play profiling Hughes’s life naturally generated lofty expectations. At last a contemporary Black performance venue specializing in musical theater would be taking on this neglected literary giant. My Brother Langston now playing at …
Giant water slides, over the top fireworks, or a night at the circus might all be reliable bets to cure the doldrums, but none of them holds a candle to Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. The 1994 cult classic movie finally got refitted into a musical in 2006 and is now blowing the doors off …
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It’s not so unusual when you give it a little thought. People meet online all the time and use the written word as their bridge to connect to others. Using apps like Bumble or Hinge as matching tools is all but de riguer these days. That reality takes a little of the quaintness out of …
It’s not often that taking your seat at the theater feels like going to a party, but it certainly did Friday night in Glencoe. The warm current filling the lobby of Writers Theatre as people waited to take their seats for Pearl’s Rollin’ with the Blues: A Night with Felicia P. Fields, proved an excellent …
Outstanding Talent and the Blues Conquer Writers Theatre Read More »
After seeing Where We Belong, it’s clear some one-man shows are made of just three things; courage, intelligence and an irrepressible spark of passion. That’s certainly true for this revealing and highly satisfying effort in the Goodman’s Owen Theatre. More accurately a one woman autobiographical exposé about its creator and performer, Madeline Sayet, Where We …
Opening last week at the Goodman, Life After proves musical theater can tell serious stories just as compellingly as straight drama. Musicals with sober or unconventional themes aren’t rare. This year’s Tonys saw two, Paradise Square and A Strange Loop vying for top awards. Musicals about death and grief however can qualify as unusual which …
Grandma’s Jukebox, playing now at Black Ensemble Theatre (BET), deserves a lot of love for the way it prizes a shero we never meet. One of those rare forces whoradiate purpose, Grandma Betty has just passed away. We meet her family gathered in the living room of her home following her services as they come …
Live theater owns many wonders. One of them is its uncommon ability to slip the audience into the skin and minds of the characters you meet on stage. Athena, now playing at Glencoe’s Writers Theater, achieves this feat far better than most. Its story isn’t unusual because it’s unlikely or far-fetched, it’s rare because it’s …