Chicago Theatre Review

Daily Archives: November 7, 2017

As History Repeats, Still We Stumble

November 7, 2017 Comments Off on As History Repeats, Still We Stumble

Third Eye Ensemble – With Blood, With Ink

Third Eye Ensemble continues to highlight the spiritual journey of women with its current production of David Crozier’s operatic dramatization of the life of Juana Inés de la Cruz, a nun, scholar, poet, and champion of women’s rights well before our time, when women dare to hope, often hopelessly, that their humanity will be “protected.”

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Go Into Your Dance!

November 7, 2017 Comments Off on Go Into Your Dance!

42nd Street – Drury Lane Oakbrook

 

There’s an old saying proclaiming that “everything old is new again.” Generally it implies that, if you wait long enough, yesterday’s ideas will come back into fashion again. But that’s

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A Tree Without Roots

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Yasmina’s Necklace

 

Abdul Samee, or Sam, as he prefers to be called so as to be more accepted, is a product of several different cultures. Ali, his father, is an Iraqi immigrant; Sara, his extremely

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49th Annual Jeff Awards

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Paramount Theatre and Court Theatre Take Top Honors

at the 49th Annual Jeff Awards

The Drury Lane Theatre, Oakbrook Terrace hosted a star-studded evening November 6, 2017. The mega event was the 49th Annual Equity Jeff Awards. It celebrated a splendid

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You’re in the Band

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School of Rock – Broadway in Chicago
 
 
 
In 2003, and for many years thereafter, “School of Rock,” starring Jack Black and a classroom of musically talented kids, was the most popular, highest grossing comedy film of all time (until “Pitch Perfect 2,” two years ago). The movie came to the attention of Andrew Lloyd Webber. Soon thereafter the iconic British composer acquired theatre rights and work began on Webber’s newest musical. Julian Fellowes, known for writing such popular television series as “Downton Abbey,” the script for the Oscar-winning film, “Gosford Park,” as well as the libretto for the theatrical musical “Mary Poppins,” was asked to adapt Mike White’s cinematic screenplay. Webber, best known for his soaring, romantic scores for such theatrical classics as “Phantom of the Opera” and “Evita,” returns here to his earlier roots, so prominent in rock musicals like “Jesus Christ Superstar.” This time around, Webber worked with his “Love Never Dies” lyricist, Glenn Slater (“Sister Act,” “The Little Mermaid”), developing a fleshed-out score for the theatrical treatment that also featured several of the rock songs from the film. 
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A JOB WELL DONE

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J.B. – City Lit Theatre
 
Please allow me to step back in time for just a moment. We are heading back to the 5th century B.C. The main playwrights of the day include Euripides and Sophocles on the Greek Tragedy side. Aristophanes headed the Comedy side. These three men wrote over 240 plays. Each and every role was played by a man. The parts of women were played by younger men or boys.
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