Author: Colin Douglas
A Dazzling and Emotional Ride
A Strange Loop
Recently Raven Theatre presented OCTET, their very first musical. It was stunning and remains one of the most exhilarating, inventive and successful shows I had ever seen. But in this first co-production between About Face and Raven Theatre, our Fall Theatre season opens with yet another production that’ll undoubtedly be making Chicago history. This new musical is another dazzling and emotional ride, a very different, unconventional kind of show that’s also so electrifying that it will haunt your mind and burrow into your soul.
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It’s Always Five O’Clock Somewhere
Jimmy Buffett’s Escape to Margaritaville
Say there Parrotheads, do you feel like a drink? Well, go right ahead and have one! You don’t have consult your iPhone or wristwatch for the time because, as Jimmy Buffett wrote, “It’’s Always Five O’Clock Somewhere.” You can celebrate Happy Hour in any time zone you like! And that seems to be part of the message of the musical, JIMMY BUFFETT’S ESCAPE TO MARGARITAVILLE. Life’s just too darn short not to live it up a little and celebrate, whenever the mood strikes.
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No Reward for Telling the Truth
Vladimir
Does that sound familiar? That there’s no reward for speaking or publishing the truth today? Every journalist during the past two years who truthfully reports the facts is personally ridiculed and their broadcasts or writing is called “a hoax” or “fake news”? In Russia, under the rising reign of Vladimir Putin, several courageous and daring journalists were murdered for their investigation and for reporting the facts. There was, and still is, no reward for telling the truth.
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What Happened to Maria?
Dead Girl’s Quinceañera
Enjoying its World Premiere at the Goodman Theatre, Phanesia Pharel’s first full-length play, DEAD GIRL’S QUINCEANERA, is a very funny, often chilling and sometimes somber comic thriller. It takes place in Miami during an important right of passage for all young Latina ladies. When fifteen-year-old Maria mysteriously disappears during her Quinceañera, her three Latina gal pals, Salma, Este and her cousin, Phoebe, set out to solve the mystery of what happened to Maria?
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A Mighty Maiden With a Mission
Princess Ida
As Lindsey Baer, the talented musical director and orchestra conductor of PRINCESS IDA, launches into the operetta’s rousing Overture, theatergoers are treated to an informative dramatic prologue to the story. Director Kingsley Day’s delightful production cleverly begins with a pantomime depicting Ida, as a little girl. After she gleefully discovers some books, discarded by her three doofus brothers, young Ida resigns herself to the bad behavior of the young men. This ingenious opening scene lays the ground for who the Princess will ultimately become as an adult: a “Mighty Maiden With a Mission.”
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Move Toward the Darkness
The Addams Family
Fall has arrived and there’s a definite chill in the air—especially at BrightSide Theatre. Celebrating the company’s 15th Anniversary, the theatre kicks off their 2026-27 season with a musical that’s not only perfect for Halloween, but a show that began its life in Chicago. In 2009, THE ADDAMS FAMILY had its preBroadway tryout. Despite a star-studded cast it opened to mixed reviews. Following a much-needed script revision, by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice (JERSEY BOYS, PETER AND THE STARCATCHER), and some changes, additions and deletions to the score, with music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa (BIG FISH, THE WILD PARTY), the musical opened on Broadway the following year.
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A Brilliant Musical Comedy
Operation Mincemeat
From the unusual title to the bizarre television commercials advertising the show, OPERATION MINCEMEAT certainly wasn’t on my list of must-see musicals. Well, it most definitely is now! Anywhere this show is playing, I will be in the audience. And may I recommend that OPERATION MINCEMEAT should be on the must-see list of 1.) every musical theatre lover, 2.) all fans of wacky British humor and 3.) for every true history aficionado in Chicagoland. OPERATION MINCEMEAT is absolutely a brilliant musical comedy, and it should definitely not be missed.
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Sibling Rivalry and Resentment
Topdog/Underdog
The American Dream is a joke for many, especially if you’re a member of a minority. In this commanding production, moments of dark, adult comedy are offset by sudden, knee-jerk periods of violence in this 2002 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama by Suzan-Lori Parks. The two-act play takes a deep, probing look at the sibling rivalry and resentment that’s been building and festering for years between two African American brothers.
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A Multitude of Mayhem
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
A little Boy decides that he’d rather stay at home and read his new comic book, while his Mom spends the afternoon visiting his Aunt Polly. Just as he begins enjoying his Jungle Man magazine, the generous, kind and polite young man receives a surprise visit from a rascally rodent who has more requests than the Boy could ever imagine. After the courteous kid offers the hungry Mouse a delicious chocolate chip-and-oatmeal cookie, the rodent politely asks for a glass of milk. But since he’s so tiny and the glass is so tall, the Mouse hints that a straw would be useful. And so begins an afternoon of requests that result in a multitude of mayhem and messes for the little Boy to clean up, before Mom gets home.
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Bustin’ Out
You Can’t Fake the Funk
They often say that everything old is new again. Well, in celebration of Black Ensemble Theater’s dazzling and impressive 50th anniversary this exuberant, exciting musical revue has rediscovered, refreshed and recast to become a much-applauded, brand new production all over again. While a company of gloriously gifted singers, dancers and musicians were pouring their hearts out to entertain the audience, most of the theatergoers were leaping out of their seats, clapping, singing and dancing along. The performance was like being at a huge, happy block party, where the fun never stops “Bustin’ Out”!
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