**** Highly Recommended "Some Like It Hot" is a big, old-fashioned Broadway musical straight out of the thirties and forties. It’s full of big band music and songs, big tap dance numbers, and beautiful people wearing stunning costumes. Some Like It Hot is also a farce, with rapid fire dialogue, mistaken identities, men dressing as women, insane chases, lots of doors and plenty of pratfalls. I loved every minute of this show! 4 BIG Spotlights
**** Highly Recommended I was moved to tears by Namir Smallwood’s tour de force performance in "Primary Trust." I didn’t know quite what to expect – given the whole imaginary friend thing – but as it turns out, the imaginary friend is more of a footnote because the play is actually about self-discovery and connection. Do not miss this poignant yet charming little play at the Goodman. It bumped some very prestigious plays to leap right into my top five plays of the year! 4 BIG Spotlights
“Little Shop of Horrors” is a smorgasbord of genres. It is sci-fi, drama, horror, romance and comedy supported by rousing classic pop rock music.
**** 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 Shattered Globe Theatre’s production of "Becky Nurse of Salem" is a play that grew on me. I didn’t think I liked it, but the more I thought about it, the more it intrigued me. Playwright Sarah Ruhl always seems to pick an interesting topic for her plays, and then takes the story in a really unexpected direction. In this case, Ruhl uses a real person, Rebecca Nurse, a hard-of-hearing, 71-year-old mother of nine, who was hung as a witch in 1692, as a starting point for a modern tale about an outspoken woman with modern problems. 4 Spotlights
Over the years I’ve been to many a Halloween show at M & M Productions’ Center Stage Studio Theatre. This year, the show is "Ghost Writer 1989" written & directed by Mike and Melinda’s son, Jacob Reinhart who took the tired “teens in an isolated cabin” trope and added his own creative plot twists. Kudos! Don’t miss this show.
***RECOMMENDED*** You certainly have to hand it to the clever folks at Chicago Opera Theater, especially their forward-thinking General Director Lawrence Edelson, for perfectly timing the North American premiere of the rarely seen Ferdinando Paer opera "Leonora." Edelson, who also serves as the stage director of this production, has waited many years for the chance to present this obscure work to Chicago audiences. When it was announced that Lyric Opera of Chicago would be presenting Ludwig van Beethoven's only opera, "Fidelio," during their 2024/2025 season, Edelson knew that his company needed to act fast to prepare for their own version of the same story.
*** 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**** Ludwig van Beethoven composed only one opera during his lifetime. That work was first performed at Theater an der Wien in Vienna in 1805. Beethoven, who wasn't completely satisfied with his efforts, did some major revisions and wrote several different versions for the overture of the same opera that, by 1814, became what we know today as "Fidelio." Lyric Opera of Chicago first presented "Fidelio" in November of 1961, which was the seventh season of the company's existence. It has now been over two decades since "Fidelio" has been staged at Lyric. Which makes this moment, and this particular production, the perfect time to acquaint yourself with Beethoven's only opera. 4 SPOTLIGHTS
**** Highly Recommended "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" is phenomenal! Really, I’m not exaggerating. Harry Potter is wizardly and action-packed. The special effects are awesome, in fact, mindboggling. It’s a true continuation to J.K. Rowlings’ original series, AND it’s not a musical. It’s a tad long at nearly three hours, but you’ll never notice while you’re watching! I loved this show! 4 BIG Spotlights
