The live-looped hip-hop musical runs through November 21, 2026

Written and performed by Brian Quijada and Nygel D. Robinson, the live-looped hip-hop musical Mexodus is genuinely unique in its storytelling format. Quijada and Robinson have centered their story on a little-known historical fact: For a few thousand slaves, the Underground Railroad led south to Mexico instead of up north. Mexodus imagines an encounter (and eventual bromance) of escaped slave Henry (Robinson) and Mexican farm worker Carlos (Quijada).

Continue reading “Review: MEXODUS at the Studebaker Theatre” →

You can catch Audrey II and the other Skid Row residents at the Biograph Theatre through December 13, 2026

Porchlight Music Theatre kicks off the 2027-2027 with the campy crowd-pleaser Little Shop of Horrors. Artistic Director Michael Weber directs this traditional and intimate staging that puts human-eating plant Audrey II at the center (with set and props design by Jonathan Berg-Einhorn). Porchlight’s cast skillfully delivers Howard Ashman and Alan Menken’s catchy score. This production captures the kitschy joy,  and the satirical horror, of Little Shop well.

Continue reading “Review: LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS at Porchlight Music Theatre” →

The world-premiere play by Stephanie Alison Walker runs through December 13, 2026

Adirondack Chair Circle is a satirical take-down of a group of wealthy conservative Chicago moms dedicated to their cause. Pam McKinnon directs this world premiere at Steppenwolf. In Stephanie Alison Walker’s script, it’s easy to tell she’s not on their side. Walker has constructed a strawman argument: The conservative moms are entirely foolish and the one “woke” liberal mom depicted on-stage (Evelyn Grace) seems the smartest of them all. Much of the satire works, but this wasn’t a piece that challenged my existing views in any way (Spoiler: I’m on Evelyn Grace’s side.) Admittedly, if you’re not, Adirondack Chair Circle might not be to your taste.

Continue reading “Review: ADIRONDACK CHAIR CIRCLE at Steppenwolf Theatre Company” →

The Spiegeltent in the Cambria Hotel is now home to a new burlesque cabaret from Kermess, the Chicago offshoot of production company Circensia

Premonitions Inc. is an oddball new cabaret and acrobatics show in the Spiegeltent of the Loop’s Cambria Hotel. Directed by Charlie Maréchal and Nicolas Allard, the show combines cabaret and circus acts with a burlesque twist. Unlike the previous offerings from Teatro ZinZanni in this space, this is a 21+ show. Some of the aerial and acrobatic acts might be familiar to audiences (Maréchal is a former Lead Innovation Designer at Cirque du Soleil), but the show ends with a mechanical bull contortion act/striptease, that’s definitely for adults only.

Continue reading “Review: PREMONITIONS INC. at Kermess” →

The Chicago premiere of Michael R. Jackson’s Pulitzer Prize winner runs through December 13 in a co-production with About Face Theatre

Michael R. Jackson’s wildly inventive and unique 2020 Pulitzer Prize-winning musical A Strange Loop now makes its Chicago premiere. A Strange Loop is a “big Black and queer-ass American Broadway show,” in the main character Usher’s words, about the lead trying to write a musical called A Strange Loop that accomplishes the same. Usher, so named for his gig as a Broadway usher at The Lion King, has taken the job in the hopes that someday he’ll make it big as a musical theater composer/lyricist. Thus, A Strange Loop is an original and episodic look at the creative process.

Continue reading “Review: A STRANGE LOOP at Raven Theatre” →

The world premiere co-production runs through November 8 in the Owen Theatre

Dead Girl’s Quinceañera brings a missing person case to the stage — and the detectives are a group of three Latina teen girls in Miami, Florida. Phanésia Pharel’s play capitalizes on the pop culture obsession with true crime and murder mysteries — though Dead Girl’s Quinceañera is ultimately more of a cozy one. Alas, the play’s concept is perhaps more clever than the resulting content. While the mystery may be solved in the end, Pharel’s narrative has some plot holes and non-sequiturs.

Continue reading “Review: DEAD GIRL’S QUINCEAÑERA at Goodman Theatre” →

The first Equity national tour of the terrifically creative 2025 Tony nominated musical runs through October 11, 2026

The Operation Mincemeat tour is an absolute smash. I adore this inventive and fun musical. It’s extremely original, and it’s the kind of show that gives me hope for the future of new one-of-a-kind musicals like it. Written by David Cummings, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson, and Zoë Roberts, Operation Mincemeat tells the true story of the MI5 mission to turn the tide of World War II. Members of the British intelligence agency devised a plan to have a corpse wash up on the tides of Spain, outfitted with fictitious documents detailing Britain’s plan to invade Sardinia — diverting Nazi troops away from Sicily.

Continue reading “Review: OPERATION MINCEMEAT Tour Presented by Broadway In Chicago” →

Steppenwolf opens its 51st season with a blistering and captivating production of Suzan Lori-Parks’s Topdog/Underdog. This play has long been on my theater bucket list, and it’s absolutely what I think of when I think of a “Steppenwolf play”: A gritty family drama about brothers undergoing hard times, grappling with racial injustice and the fallacy of the American Dream. 

Continue reading “Review: TOPDOG/UNDERDOG at Steppenwolf” →

This reimagining of Twelfth Night using Duke Ellington’s song catalog runs through October 18, 2026

Play On! is a lively retelling of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. Conceived by Sheldon Epps (who also directs) and with a book by Cheryl L. West, Play On! transports Shakespeare’s story to Harlem, New York. West’s book skillfully weaves Duke Ellington’s songs into the narrative. 

Continue reading “Review: PLAY ON! At Chicago Shakespeare Theater” →

TimeLine’s 30th anniversary season opens with the world premiere of Jessica Huang’s play, based on Jonathan Eig’s book, running through October 11, 2026

TimeLine Theatre Company’s The Birth of the Pill takes some big swings…and sometimes misses. Adapted for the stage by Jessica Huang from Jonathan Eig’s book, it’s certainly relevant now. And Huang’s script takes “A People’s History of the United States” approach to storytelling. The play takes a character who refers to herself as a “footnote” in Eig’s original text and places her literally center stage. Ramona Delgado represents an amalgamation of the Puerto Rican women who were the trial subjects for the Pill — often without informed consent, and notably, taking pills with much higher doses of progesterone than the current medication — and sometimes debilitating side effects. 

Continue reading “Review: THE BIRTH OF THE PILL at TimeLine Theatre Company” →