By Patrick O’Brien As theaters begin opening their doors again, the invitations have been coming in thick and fast. So, in a bit of a fluke, I ended up with a weekend chock full o’ opera. Here’s a rundown on the offering: the old, the new, the old made new, etc. *** Shakespeare’s Macbeth, either
Reviews
The musical theatre reviews featured here are written by reviewers, not critics. These impressions and opinions are from individuals passionate about musical theatre and represent, in most cases, one observation of one performance. The primary purpose in publishing reviews is to help patrons decide whether a production is a good use of their time and entertainment budget. Our reviewers are also encouraged to creatively shine a light on particularly good work done onstage and backstage, understanding that successful productions happen because of the work of many. Finally, ChicagolandMusicalTheatre's reviewers are asked to walk into a show expecting enjoyable entertainment—because that's the mindset of patrons who buy tickets to professional theatre.
Theatre Wit’s ‘Mr. Burns,’ in return engagement, finds lessons in chaos and ‘Simpsons’ episodes
By Patrick O’Brien It takes a bit for the music-theater part to kick into gear at Theatre Wit’s return engagement of Anne Washburn’s Mr. Burns, a post-electric play. Fair enough; Armageddon isn’t much to sing about. In this case, “Armageddon” means the annihilation of the power grid following a string of devastating operational failures at
This ‘Kinky Boots’ is so Paramount, truly everybody can say, ‘Yeah!”
By Barry Reszel It’s not a surprise when Aurora’s Paramount Theatre sets the musical theatre bar with its splendid production value. And to be sure, its first-since-pandemic-shutdown extravaganza that is Kinky Boots delivers delight to audiences in every possible way. But for just a couple upfront paragraphs here, the joyous onstage and backstage work itself
PrideArts’s “Things I Could Never Tell Steven” has little new to say
By Patrick O’Brien Midway through The Things I Could Never Tell Steven, PrideArts’s grand re-opening of their space on Broadway, one starts to feel something like the restlessness afflicting each of its four characters. All of them — Mother, Father, Wife, and Ex-Boyfriend With Benefits — keep trying to reach Steven, and all of them
Music Theatre Works gets back into the groove with “Mamma Mia!”
By Quinn Rigg When instability seems to be the only constant, one can’t help but long for days gone by dancing alone in the bedroom mirror before taxes and global trade were factors in daily conscious thought. While abandoning responsibility is never a solution for real-world problems, it’s only human to need a place to
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