Rachel Weinberg

TEATRO ZINZANNI is still kicking it in the indoor Spiegeltent Zazou nestled on the fourteenth floor of the Cambria Hotel in the Loop. It’s still a reliably entertaining variety show, and this particular edition includes many returning performers.

& JULIET is an unserious jukebox musical that’s deeply serious about its commitment to fun.

FALSETTOS, originally written as two-one act musicals set in 1979 and 1981, respectively, feels simultaneously dated and prescient. In this co-production from Court Theatre and TimeLine Theatre Company, director Nick Bowling leads a first-rate ensemble that preserves the musical as a period piece but also makes it feel utterly alive. Lauren Nichols’s set design evokes a 1970s retro roller rink and Theresa Ham’s costume designs also use extremely ‘70s colors (and each character wears a signature color). But many of the show’s central themes hit now as ahead of their time and eerily relevant. In particular, the musical’s reverence for Jewish culture and tradition and its unabashed embrace of queer love are especially moving at a time when anti-Semitism and homophobia seem tragically on the rise in America.

In Ngozi Anyanwu’s LEROY AND LUCY, two strangers meet at a crossroads in Mississippi...and not much happens. Based upon the myth of Robert Johnson, who supposedly sold his soul to the devil to make it as a blues musician, the play finds Leroy (Jon Michael Hill) and Lucy (Brittany Bradford) in a liminal space. And that’s precisely the challenge of this play: Anyanwu’s characters don’t know each other and literally exist on Andrew Boyce’s empty (but pretty) set. It’s a tall order to create high stakes when characters are unknown to each other, and unfortunately, Anyanwu’s play isn’t dynamic enough to sustain its 90-minute run time.

The Second City’s latest e.t.c. revue BEST KEPT SECRET: TELL EVERYONE wants to remind audiences that life is a cabaret, old chum. While some Second City revue themes hang together better than others, BEST KEPT SECRET slyly pays homage to the classic Kander and Ebb musical CABARET and the general idea of cabaret shows.

SOME LIKE IT HOT brings old-fashioned musical comedy, hijinks, and a ton of superbly executed tap dancing to the stage. 

Namir Smallwood’s performance as Kenneth is a real testament to his superb abilities as a performer and the intimacy of PRIMARY TRUST becomes more profoundly emotional thanks to him.

Magician Siegfried Tieber’s sparkling, genuine charm is every bit as magical as his tricks in his special engagement at THE MAGIC PARLOUR.

Emmet Smith stars as Albus Potter, Harry Potter’s middle son and the play’s protagonist, in the national tour of HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD. Read BroadayWorld's interview with the actor!

HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD is three hours of nostalgia-fueled, utterly captivating theater...with heaps of stage magic. The Chicago engagement marks the national tour debut of the eighth installment in J.K. Rowling’s HARRY POTTER series.

Goodman Theatre’s season-opening production of INHERIT THE WIND centers on a fictionalized version of the 1925 “Scopes Monkey” trial — at its heart, a debate on creationism vs. evolutionism. Though playwrights Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee make it clear they’re on the side of evolution, it’s still a treat to watch this production’s Matthew Harrison Brady (Alexander Gemignani) and Henry Drummond (Harry Lennix) go head-to-head in a verbal spar.

NOISES OFF is lengthy and occasionally redundant because the show literally runs through Act One three times from different perspectives. But it’s also legitimately funny — which is rare and welcome for a Steppenwolf show.

It’s a joy to experience GREAT COMET end-to-end, and for musical theater lovers that want to hear a complicated score flawlessly performed, this is the ticket. This GREAT COMET soars.

= BACK TO THE FUTURE: THE MUSICAL is a fun and faithful adaptation of the 1985 film — but it’s overly long and generically scored. With music and lyrics by Alan Silvestri and Glen Ballard (Silvestri composed the film’s original score) and book by Bob Gale, the musical has a typical pop Broadway score — with some 1950s flare when protagonist Marty McFly travels back in time to 1955.

While Kokandy Productions’ ALICE BY HEART has some lovely performances, the musical itself is far less imaginative than its ALICE IN WONDERLAND-inspired title suggests. 

I think LOTR die-hards will appreciate the world-building and the visual spectacle of this production, but the material needs editing and more focus and refinement on key moments and characters.

MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL is a sprawling, messy musical that weaves together the threads of several characters in 1980s Savannah, Georgia. Composer/lyricist Jason Robert Brown draws on a variety of different musical styles, while Taylor Mac’s book scenes present a series of vignettes for the Savannah residents.

In LITTLE BEAR RIDGE ROAD, Samuel D. Hunter has accomplished a rare and magical feat: He’s given us a play that’s mundane and profound at the same time. With Joe Mantello directing, Steppenwolf’s ensemble of Laurie Metcalf, Micah Stock, John Drea, and Meighan Gerachis make the play yet more fascinating and emotionally raw. 

The Second City’s 112th Mainstage Revue, THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETOURS, promises “weird, sexy comedy” in its opening moments. This ensemble definitely hits on the weird and occasionally hits on the funny. I think this revue, while not always consistently funny, gave this ensemble some real moments to shine. And as with past Second City revues I’ve seen, the show’s mix of sketch and improv has lively energy, and the wide variety of sketches presented made me curious to see what comes next.

The SIX queendom is back in Chicago for a third visit...and this latest group of queens still magnificently bring the house down with Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss’s clever book and fantastic pop Broadway-style songs.