Local Performances

‘The Misanthrope’ Review — This 347-year-old Farce Couldn’t Be Fresher

Court Theatre sharpens the edges of Molière's cutting social satire

Brighton Beach Memoirs Review-Neil Simon at His Best and Funniest

A nostalgic look back at a Brooklyn family in the late 1930s-complete with the usual family fights, tensions, and fun

Herb Alpert and Lani Hall Interview – Performing at the Park West on June 2nd, 2013

Herb Alpert and Lani Hall perform at the Park West on June 2nd at 7:30. They are an amazing couple

New Local Performances Articles

Striding Lion’s Dada Gert Review - Moving the Dada Zeitgeist to a Contemporary Context

Relive the Dada times in a multimedia performance inspired by the renegade German dance-theater-film artist Valeska Gert

Scottish Festival Preview – You Take the High Road. I’ll Take I-290!

We’re vacationing in Scotland this summer, so we’re looking forward to the opportunity to sample the culture while we’re still at home. Thought you, too, might want to enjoy some Scottish Culture this summer

"Stella & Lou" Review - An Intimate Look at Second Acts

Recently I had the opportunity to see a play that I’ve been anticipating for some time now, Stella & Lou (written by Bruce Graham and directed by BJ Jones) at Northlight Theatre, located at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts...

Counter Balance IV Review – An Inspiring, Powerful, Eye-Opening Experience

Counter Balance IV presented by Access Living and Momenta took its place as part of the Bodies of Work (BOW) eleven day Festival May 17th and 18th, 2013. It was an inspiring, breath taking and amazing performance

“Ganesh Versus the Third Reich” MCA Performance Review—Outsider Art On Stage Stirs Thought and Some Squirms

Ganesh and the Third Reich tells the story of the Hindu Gods reclaiming the swastika. But how the tale is told makes us contemplate who has rights to tell a tale

Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg’s Rodin Review—Capturing the Tortured Process of Creativity

Muse and artist alike are bound by artistic genius bordering on madness -- a story told so well by psyche-oriented Boris Eifman in his ballet "Rodin" recently performed in Auditorium Theatre

Yves Dharamraj and Riko Higuma at Dame Myra Hess Concert Review - Rich Sensibilities Brought to a Thoughtfully Chosen Repertoire

Yves Dharamraj (Cello) and Riko Higuma (Piano) returned to perform the WFMT-simulcast Dame Myra Hess Concert on May 15, delighting the audience with work from 16th, 19th and 20th Century musicians with a flair suggestive of their love of new music

Ann James Interview - A Renaissance Woman—also known as the force bringing Shakespeare to Chicago’s schools…

..graduating from Smith College and thinking ahead to her Yale Divinity degree, it’s unlikely her thoughts went to the day when she would spellbind audiences wearing a combination Fredericks of Hollywood teaser with prosthetic hook arms...

“HAIR, the American Tribal Love-Rock Musical” Review - Let the Sun Shine In

What Wilmette’s Actors Training Center Repertory Company teaches us most is that the value of teaching via art is priceless

Chicago Dramatists Saturday Series Review – Watch How Theatrical Sausage is Made—It’s Fun and Educational

It's easy and fun to plug into the Chicago theater scene by watching award-winning playwrights develop their voice and a body of work at the Chicago Dramatist's Saturday Series--- play readings where you learn a lot and get entertained to boot

Christopher O'Riley In Concert - The Definition of A Classical Crossover Artist

O’Riley, a dynamic pianist dazzled the audience in the school’s intimate space with selections from his album of Liszt transcriptions entitled: O’Riley’s Liszt

Beyond the Score Review - We are Transported Through an 1888 Russian Window Looking to the East

Enchanted as never before by Rimsky-Korsokoff's Scheherezade

‘Henry VIII’ Review — Artful Sculpting of Shakespeare’s Portrait of a Flawed King

Director Barbara Gaines shines an unsparing stage light on serial wedder and beheader Henry VIII and those whose lives — and deaths — revolve around him

Paige in Full Review—the REAL Audience is M.I.A.

The Humanities Festival includes a "not-so-fairy-tale" real-life hip-hop dance autobiography in its season of fairy tale explorations. "Paige in Full" gave a high energy performance but the right audience was M.I.A.

Blood and Gifts Review – A suspenseful tale of international intrigue that should be required viewing

Blood and Gifts takes on the personal and the political, spinning a web of friendships and strategy in which we can never be sure whom to trust

Pat Boone Interview - Performing at Drury Lane Theatre in Oakbrook Terrace

Pat Boone spoke candidly and graciously in a telephone interview prior to his performance at Drury Lane Theatre in Oakbrook Terrace from his home in Beverly Hills

The Lake Effect Review – Thought Provoking and Compelling

On a lovely early spring afternoon my companion and I headed to the basement of the Pierce Hall at the Historic Chicago Temple Building, 77 W Washington St. to see the thought provoking play, "The Lake Effect"

Dame Myra Hess May Day Concert Review - A Rare Lyrebird Duet Treat

Lyrebird, a rare bird harp/flute duet treated the audience at the Dame Myra Hess Concert Series In Chicago Cultural Center

Museum of Contemporary Art Performance Review - More Noble Accents from Eighth Blackbird

Making a Chicago home for eighth blackbird performances is high on the list of the MCA’s achievements

About Face Theater’s Wonka Ball 2013 Review - Circus Maximus Delivers An Evening of Wonder and Merriment

About Face Theater delivered big time on its promise of colossal entertainment, excessive elegance and inspired grandeur at the 17th annual WONKA BALL 2013: CIRCUS MAXIMUS, held on Friday, April 26, raising $85,000 for the theater