**** Highly Recommended **** "Galileo’s Daughter" is an absolute gem. There isn’t anything I’d change about this Remy Bumppo production. The cast is superb, the set looks/feels like Florence and the story is interesting and engaging. Only 85 enchanted minutes long, "Galileo’s Daughter" is on my top ten must-see list for 2023! 4 BIG Spotlights
*** Recommended *** A jukebox musical is a story written to feature hit songs of a popular music group or genre. More often than not, these musicals turn out to be light, frothy musical romps. "Jagged Little Pill", which features the music of Alanis Morissette’s album of the same name, definitely breaks that mold. It’s dark, depressing and sad, but it did have a real impact. I thought Act I was somewhat over-choreographed and the music was so loud I had a hard time understanding the words in many of the songs. 3 Spotlights
*** Recommended *** Robert Falls has assembled a stellar cast for the Goodman Theatre’s production of "The Cherry Orchard". Although the story is about the Russian aristocracy in denial, Chekhov said it was a comedy (although I’ve always thought the story was tragic), so this cast played it for laughs and they got them. I thought everything – costumes, set, et al – was just about perfect, but I’m still not a Chekhov fan. By the way, is the term ‘Russian comedy’ actually an oxymoron? 3 ½ Spotlights
**** Recommended **** It’s official, "The Book of Mormon" is just as funny the second time around! The show has lots of off-color jokes, one liners, pop culture references, and pratfalls. In fact, the show hadn’t even opened when some ministers were objecting to the off-color and/or offensive content. Bawdy content aside, The Book of Mormon, written by Trey Parker and Robin Lopez, the duo responsible for TV hit South Park, is a Tony-winning Broadway blockbuster musical, complete with a talented cast, sparkly costumes, snappy choreography, even a tap-dancing chorus line! I give The Book of Mormon 4 BIG Spotlights
**** Recommended **** Lookingglass Theatre’s production of "Villette", Sara Gmitter’s new adaptation of Charlotte Brontë’s 1853 novel, is a small, rather intimate story about a young woman without a family or means (money) must find a way to support herself when few opportunities were available to women. The enigmatic and self-contained Lucy Snowe (Mi Kang), a keen observer of human foibles, rarely revealed anything about herself. I remember saying that Mi Kang gave a tour de force performance in TimeLine’s production of
"The Chinese Lady" last year. It’s great to see her shine in a completely different kind of role. 3 ½ Spotlights
*** Recommended *** I’m still not sure how I feel about Goodman Theatre’s production of "Layalina". On the one hand, the cast was superb and I loved the set! On the other hand, although I could figure out how the first act led into second, there were just too many unanswered questions. Layal is a complete mystery. What was she doing during the missing 17 years? Did she resent being forced to raise her siblings? How/why was she also raising Amin. Was he her cousin or her husband’s brother? 3 Spotlights
**** Highly Recommended **** Chicago Shakespeare’s production of The Comedy of Errors is Barbara Gaines last gift to Chicago audiences – and it’s a great one! I can’t think of anything I’d change. Gaines collaborated with Second City’s Ron West to update and reprise their 2008 version – putting Shakespeare’s shortest play literally inside another play. The result is hilarious – with a ton of sight gags, slapstick and pratfalls. Shakespeare lover or not, I think everyone will enjoy The Comedy of Errors! A must-see! 4 BIG Spotlights
*** Recommended *** Music Theatre Works production of "Avenue Q", an adults-only spoof of a well-known public TV children’s show, will have you laughing out loud. Set in a shabby, down-at-the-heels neighborhood where people, puppets and monsters alike can afford the rent, "Avenue Q" is not for the faint of heart. It’s charming, sweet, raunchy, profane and really, really funny. 3 ½ Spotlights
*** Recommended *** If you’re planning on seeing TINA – THE TINA TURNER STORY you should know that it is not a juke box musical. There’s plenty of music, but it’s Broadway musical music, not Top 40 hits music. In other words, this is Tina Turner’s life story, and it’s very, very dark. That said, the audience was cheering at the opening night performance, the 200th performance. I thought the was too long, coming in at 2 hours, 45 minutes; the encore performance after the bows redeemed the show for me. 3 Spotlights
*** Recommended *** Court Theatre's production of Fen is very dirty - and no, I don't mean raunchy, I mean dirty, really really dirty. If you sit in the first two rows (as I did), you need to wear a mask because there are clouds of dust arising from the stage. Why, you might ask. All I can say is that Fen is set in/on a farm (that used to be part of a marshy area that was drained and recleaimed - i.e.
