Reviews by Carol Moore

The Towle Theater’s annual Season Preview is always a lovely event.  It’s a short evening, just about two hours, with a reception (light hors d’oevres and drinks in the lobby) followed by a season sampler, typically a short scene or a single song from each. Two plays and two musicals make up the Towle 2020 season, “Theater with Vision - It’s all in how you look at it”.  Managing Director Jeff Casey introduced each play, explaining how and why it was chosen. 

*** Recommended *** My first reaction after seeing “Dance Nation” was a qualified ‘interesting’.  I just didn’t understand why adults were cast as tweens. However, the more I thought about it, the more it dawned on me.  Tween angst is real!  Some of the things that tweens are dealing with – things like fitting in, being bullied, zits, weight, menstruation, problems at home – are so embarrassing a young actor might have difficulty even voicing them.  The Steppenwolf cast – adults of all ages – are well able to access those angst-y memories of tween-hood.  “Dance Nation” was more than interesting, it was quirky, intense and insightful.  3 Spotlights 

**** Recommended **** Goodman Theatre’s production of “The Santaland Diaries”, written by David Sedaris and adapted for the stage by Joe Mantello.  In his early days as a struggling writer in New York, Sedaris took a job as an elf at Macy’s Department Store. Steven Strafford stars in the one-man show directed by Steve Scott.  “The Santaland Diaries” is irreverent, mischievous, snarky, and really, really funny.  4 Holiday Spotlights        

***** Highly Recommended ***** The Yard at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre is rocking with the return of” “Q Brothers Christmas Carol”.  IMPORTANT NOTE: this is not “A Christmas Carol” as Dickens wrote it.  The Q Brothers Collective (GQ, JQ, Jax and Pos) have yanked Ebenezer Scrooge and the gang into the 21st century!  I’ve seen this cheeky, snarky, funny and very, very original musical every year (and twice last year – but that’s another story) since it premiered in 2013 as a developmental work-in-progress (that’s 6 years!), and it still makes me laugh!  It’s become my very own holiday tradition!  4 BIG Holiday Spotlights