Spotlight on Reviews

**** Highly Recommended **** For the last several years (try 15 or more), one of my favorite holiday treats has been the Towle Theater’s "A Fabulous 50’s Christmas." The show, conceived by retiring Towle Artistic Director, Jeff Casey, is modeled on the old Perry Como/Andy Williams Christmas specials our parents/grandparents watched in the 50s.  4 Spotlights

**** Highly Recommended  I missed seeing the Goodman Theatre’s annual intro to the holiday season, "A Christmas Carol," the last couple of years, so it was a definite joy to be back in that audience. Although the overall production remains the same, there are some changes – I loved Christopher Donahue in his first year as Scrooge and Kate Fry who stepped in as the Narrator.  A note: Austin Tichenor steps in as Scrooge at ten performances.  A Christmas Carol remains a holiday tradition for many families.  The Goodman lobby, festive with decorations and a sparkling holiday shopping area, adds zing to the holiday spirit.  Now in its 47th year, "A Christmas Carol" will put you in the holiday spirit with a fabulous cast, lavish sets and colorful period costumes. 4 Holiday Spotlights.

**** Recommended  "Falsettos," produced in Partnership with Court Theatre and TimeLine Theatre Company, and directed by TimeLine co-founder and Associate Artistic Director, Nick Bowling, is an unusual musical in that it defies classification.  It’s about the angst-ridden lives of six New Yorkers, but it’s not annoying – at least most of the time.  It has funny bits, but it’s not a comedy.  It has really sad bits, but it’s not a tragedy. The entire script is sung, but it’s not an opera or even an operetta, it’s a musical soap opera. 4 Spotlights

This season’s “The Marriage of Figaro,” one of Wolfgang Mozart’s most beloved operas and a masterpiece of music and the joy of life and love, surpasses all of Lyric Opera’s past incarnations of the last several decades.

In this production, Barbara Gaines, the now-retired founder and longtime director of Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, once more brings to Lyric her inimitable ability to imbue centuries-old characters with believable humanity and vibrancy – and make them feel like real people, despite the opera’s purposely contrived plot and the characters’ absurd hijinks.