Chicago Theatre Review

Monthly Archives: September 2018

Through a Blink of Time

September 30, 2018 Comments Off on Through a Blink of Time

Indecent – Victory Gardens

 

After seven years, forty drafts, a number of workshops and an Off Broadway run, Pulitzer Prizewinning playwright Paul Vogel’s historically-

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Eclectic Full Contact Theatre’s “Dear Brutus” Bursting with Frantic Whimsy

September 30, 2018 Comments Off on Eclectic Full Contact Theatre’s “Dear Brutus” Bursting with Frantic Whimsy

Dear Brutus – Eclectic Theatre

 

Each and every day, we are confronted by the totality of choice. Some decisions are small: do I want steak for dinner or do I want chicken? Some choices are irrevocable: do I maintain my cozy office desk job or move across the country to pursue my passions with reckless abandon? The haunting spectre of the hypothetical — of choices made and not made — is a common trigger for sleepless nights. Thanks to Eclectic Full Contact Theatre, this anxiety-inducing quandary is no longer limited to late-night self-interrogations. Loosely based upon A Midsummer Night’s Dream, JM Barrie’s Dear Brutus confronts the inherent fallacy (and value) contained in longing for that which one cannot have: a second chance.

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Little Boy Lost

September 27, 2018 Comments Off on Little Boy Lost

Caroline, or Change – Firebrand Theatre and Timeline

 

The title of this smart, unusual, mostly sung-through musical uses the word “change” in the sense

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Opening His Heart

September 27, 2018 Comments Off on Opening His Heart

We’re Only Alive for a Short Amount of Time – Goodman Theatre

 

Everyone has a story to tell. But rarely do theatergoers have the opportunity to relive the difficult

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Foolishly Playing God

September 26, 2018 Comments Off on Foolishly Playing God

Frankenstein – Lifeline Theatre

 

Wisely eliminating the framing narrative from Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s original 1818 novel, Lifeline ensemble member Robert

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What is Normal?

September 25, 2018 Comments Off on What is Normal?

The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? – Interrobang Theatre

 

Martin is a very successful, highly respected middle-aged architect living in New York City with his wife, Stevie, and his teenage

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Into the Wild

September 25, 2018 Comments Off on Into the Wild

Borealis – House Theatre

 

Bennett Fisher’s world premiere season opener for The House Theatre of Chicago is an Alice in Wonderland-like quest story. It

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What We Do for Family

September 22, 2018 Comments Off on What We Do for Family

Curve of Departure – Northlight Theatre

 

When the lights rise on Lauren Nigri’s detailed, ultra-realistic Santa Fe motel room setting, we discover Linda ironing a man’s suit, while an

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Theatre at the Center’s “Ghost” Comes Off Life Support

September 22, 2018 Comments Off on Theatre at the Center’s “Ghost” Comes Off Life Support

Ghost – Theatre at the Center

 

For millennia humanity has contemplated what lies beyond the mortal coil; philosophers, poets, and holymen alike have argued and toiled with great ardor over the unknowable elusivity of the afterlife — and its spiritual ramifications upon the mortal plane. Theatre at the Center takes a shot at this gnawing existential dilemma with the critically divisive Ghost: the Musical.

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The Psychology of Murder

September 21, 2018 Comments Off on The Psychology of Murder

Crime and Punishment – Shattered Globe

 

Sometimes one slaves over his plans for an event, rationalizes it to death and even envisions its aftermath. Such is this, Fyodor

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