Spotlight on Reviews

**** Highly Recommended   LUCHA TEOTL was a total blast!  I laughed so much my face hurt – it was that much fun!  Let me set the stage so you can visualize – people making signs to cheer on their favorites; pre-show mariachi music; a wrestling ring – and why call it a ring when it’s square, but I digress – in the center of the Goodman’s Owen Theatre: and wrestlers bouncing off the ropes.  Sheer craziness and it totally worked!  4 BIG Spotlights

*** Recommended   "Sanctuary City", an angst-filled drama, was just not my cup of tea. I really didn’t like the stop-action staging, on an empty stage, often repeating the same line of dialogue over and over again in different areas on the stage.  I found it distracting, making it difficult to concentrate on what the actors were saying, which meant I didn’t/couldn’t empathize with them.  I ended up thinking B was whiny, G was mean.  3 Spotlights

**** Recommended   As we were driving to Writers Theatre in Glencoe to see "Eurydice", my friend Crista and I discussed and dissected Sarah Ruhl’s plays.  Crista tended not to like them, I liked more than I disliked.  We both had questions about her version of Eurydice, wondering how the addition of Eurydice’s father would fit into the Greek legend.  In fact, I think Eurydice’s interaction with her father added emotion, pathos if you will, to a harsh legend.  Unfortunately, it’s rather slow-moving, so I zoned out once or twice.  3 ½ Spotlights

**** Highly Recommended   The Goodman Theatre production of "The Nacirema Society" is quite simply outstanding!   The play is centered on the women of the Dunbar family of Montgomery, Alabama and their long-time connection to the Nacirema (American spelled backwards) Society, whose members consider themselves to be the crème de la crème of Negro society.  Pearl Cleage has written a dynamic play about privilege that still manages to be laugh-out-loud funny; the cast is stellar and the set is awesome!  It reminded me a lot of Noel Coward’s plays – in which good manners will prevail over all. 4 BIG Spotlights