Reviews by Carol Moore

**** Highly Recommended  Hell in a Handbag is one of my absolute favorite Chicago theater companies.  Their unauthorized parodies of old black and white films and favorite TV shows, packed with double entendres, puns, running sight gags and bad wigs, never fail to make me laugh!  This fall’s offering, "The Golden Girls Meet The Skooby Don’t Gang: The Mystery of The Haunted Bush," is a farce so ridiculous, it’s hysterically funny! If you need some laughter in your life, this is the show for you. I loved it and you will too. Kudos to playwright David Cerda, Hell in a Handbag’s Artistic Director. "The Golden Girls Meet The Skooby Don’t Gang: The Mystery of The Haunted Bush" is one of his best! 4 BIG Spotlights

*** Recommended  I have real mixed feelings about "Ironbound", the first production of Raven Theatre’s season. It was dark, dystopian and very intense, but really confusing. The story jumped back and forth in time leaving me wondering when was this, who is that person and why was he there.  Darja (Lucy Carapetyan), the central character, is abrasive, aggressive and angry, making it difficult to empathize with her.  The cast was spot on, however, especially Carapetyan who never left the stage!  3 Spotlights

Highly Recommended  Goodman Theatre’s thoughtful revival of "Inherit the Wind", directed by Henry Godinez, is incredibly timely.  To paraphrase a baseball pundit, it was like déjà vu all over again.  The play, written by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee, is loosely based on the famous 1925 Scopes ‘Monkey’ trial.  There’s a lot of religious ranting and bigotry but the trial comes down to a battle of wits between two larger than life lawyers.  The title comes from the Bible, Proverbs 11:29.  For me, the mark of a good play is in the discussion on the way home.  My friend Crista, who happens to be a prosecutor, and I had a great time dissecting "Inherit the Wind". 4 Spotlights

**** Highly Recommended  Chicago Shakespeare’s "Henry V" is a fast moving action-filled production. It is martial, violent, nationalistic and very loud, but it still manages to include a bit of comic relief as well as moments of introspection.  I remember the first time I saw "Henry V," back in 2014, I said it was like watching the Military Channel, all war, all the time – and I just couldn’t get involved.  This production had me from the moment the ensemble cast marched into the Courtyard Theatre singing "A Pair of Brown Eyes" (by the Pogues) – and as the Chorus, deliver the Prologue – until the Chorus returns at the end.  4 Spotlights