RECOMMENDED Where: Northlight Theatre, North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie Blvd., Skokie When: through April 19 Tickets: $25-$75 Phone: 847-673-6300 By ANNE SPISELMAN Theater Critic “Chapatti” could easily be performed by two actors with almost nothing in the way of sets, lighting, costumes or music. Christian O’Reilly’s tale of two lonely […]
RECOMMENDED Where: Goodman Theatre Albert Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St. When: through April 13 Tickets: $25-$86 Phone: 312-443-3800 By ANNE SPISELMAN Theater Critic David Ives’ 2010 “Venus in Fur” is good not-so-clean fun. Using the 1869 novella “Venus in Furs” by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch (for whom “masochism” is named) as a take-off point, Ives has created […]
RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS Where: Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis Ave. When: through April 6 Tickets: $45-$65 Phone: 773-753-4472 By ANNE SPISELMAN Theater Critic In the program notes for Court Theatre’s Chicago premiere of Ouiara Alegria Hudes’ “Water by the Spoonful,” director Henry Godinez says that plays get their message across most potently when […]
RECOMMENDED Where: Bailiwick Chicago at Victory Gardens Richard Christiansen Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Ave. When: through April 5 Tickets: $40 Phone: 773-871-3000 By ANNE SPISELMAN Theater Critic “Dessa Rose,” the 2005 musical by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty (“Ragtime,” “Once on This Island,” “Seussical!”), is appealing and annoying, and Bailiwick Chicago’s heartfelt production at Victory […]
RECOMMENDED Where: Timeline Theatre Company, 615 W. Wellington Ave. When: through April 6 Tickets: $35-$48 Phone: 773-281-8463 By ANNE SPISELMAN Theater Critic Sarah Treem’s “The How and the Why” is a combination of the captivating and the contrived. On the one hand, the writer, whose credits include HBO’s “In Treatment” and Netflix’s “House of Cards,” […]
RECOMMENDED Where: Writers Theatre, 325 Tudor Court, Glencoe When: through April 6 Tickets: $35-$70 Phone: 847-242-6000 By ANNE SPISELMAN Theater Critic If you’re used to seeing “Hedda Gabler” with a Victorian aesthetic, reliance on subtext, and plenty of suppressed emotion, the production at Writers Theatre will come as something of a shocker. Sharply directed by […]
SLIGHTLY RECOMMENDED Where: The Hypocrites at the Mercury Theater, 3745 N. Southport Ave. When: through March 30 Tickets: $22-$59 By ANNE SPISELMAN Theater Critic If you’re only vaguely familiar with Stephen Sondheim (music and lyrics) and James Lapine’s (book) “Into The Woods,” The Hypocrites’ production will serve as a reminder of how brilliantly the 1987 […]
RECOMMENDED Where: Porchlight Music Theatre at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont Ave. When: through March 9 Tickets: $43.50 Phone: 773-327-5252 By ANNE SPISELMAN Theater Critic Porchlight Music Theatre is cannily celebrating Black History Month with Murray Horwitz and Richard Maltby, Jr.’s “Ain’t Misbehavin’,” the 1978 smash musical revue devoted to Thomas Wright “Fats” Waller, the […]
RECOMMENDED Where: Chicago Shakespeare Theater Courtyard Theater, Navy Pier When: through March 23 Tickets: $45-$88 Phone: 312-595-5600 By ANNE SPISELMAN Theater Critic In most of the productions of “Gypsy” I’ve seen, Mama Rose is the iconic stage mother from hell relentlessly pushing her daughters to succeed in show business out of her own failed ambition. But […]
RECOMMENDED Where: Lookingglass Theatre Company, Water Tower Water Works, 21 N. Michigan Ave. When: through March 16 Tickets: $45-$75 By ANNE SPISELMAN Theater Critic Ever since it was published in 1943, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s “The Little Prince” (“Le Petit Prince”) has been captivating hearts and minds with its touching story of an aviator who crashes […]