Monty Python’s Spamalot is a jubilant and genuinely hilarious touring rendition of the 2023 Broadway revival. If you’re looking for hearty laughs and a winning combo of slapstick humor, witty pop culture, and musical theater references, Spamalot’s got it in spades.
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TimeLine Theatre Company opens their gorgeous new permanent theater home with a captivating and deeply resonant staging of Amy Herzog’s adaptation of An Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen. Herzog’s taut and contemporary reimagining of Ibsen’s text fits TimeLine’s mission beautifully: To connect moments of history to the current cultural climate. It’s a testament both to Herzog’s adaptation and to director Ron OJ Parson’s phenomenal ensemble at TimeLine that the play feels timely and engaging — but never overly pointed.
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The Chicago premiere runs through June 7, 2026
What happens when you make a deal with the devil? Covenant asks its characters to find out. Drawing inspiration from both horror films and classic blues music, York Walker’s Chicago premiere play follows a group of characters as they explore their faith — in both Christianity and the supernatural.
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Though it’s a musical about a support group for internet addicts, Dave Molloy’s Octet is delightfully analog. And that’s precisely the point — Molloy’s musical invites audiences to look away from their screens and lean into this intimate, inventive, and fully a cappella show. Molloy (perhaps best known for Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812) has written the kind of show that gives me hope for the future of new musicals. Octet is timely, creative, often funny — and truly, wholly original. And based on the recent news about the forthcoming movie musical directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda, it has commercial legs.
Continue reading “Review: OCTET at Raven Theatre”
The blame game’s the thing in FAULT at Chicago Shakespeare Theater. In this world premiere from Scooter Pietsch, wealthy and privileged married couple Jerry (Enrico Colantoni) and Lucy (Rebecca Spence) come to blows in an argument that’s part farcical, part deeply cutting as the wounds of their relationship reveal themselves.
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THE GREAT GATSBY packs in plenty of melodrama. Based on the iconic Jazz Age novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, this musical adaptation captures the pining and tragedy of the lovesick, mysterious Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan, the woman of his dreams — but it often lacks specificity. Gatsby, Daisy, and narrator Nick Carraway are some of the most recognizable characters in classic American literature, but Kait Kerrigan’s book, Jason Howland’s score, and Nathan Tysen’s lyrics often render them in broad, generic strokes. Likewise, Howland’s score skews towards contemporary pop Broadway, not taking advantage of the opportunity to infuse Jazz Age influences.
Continue reading “Review: THE GREAT GATSBY National Tour Presented by Broadway In Chicago”
Tarrell Alvin McCraney’s world-premiere play WINDFALL is part somber, part whimsy — which is true to his unique playwriting style. It’s a poignantly topical play, yet sometimes too on the nose. I enjoyed how McCraney blends the hyperreal and the surreal in a play that asks the question: Should we reject the system altogether (in this case, law enforcement), or should we take what it offers us as a form of fighting from within? While WINDFALL certainly sways audiences towards one side, it genuinely ponders both.
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MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM is a well-acted, slow-burn character study. August Wilson’s 1982 play centers on a fictitious 1927 Chicago album recording, as the musicians gather and wait for the notorious Ma Rainey (or Madam Rainey, as she demands they call her) to record her latest album. Ma Rainey has some dramatic tendencies — she’s an hour late to her own recording session and then comes in with a whirl of demands and suggestions for the session.
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THEATER OF THE MIND is an engaging, interactive, and fun tour through the senses. Co-created by David Byrne and Mala Gaonkar with direction from Andrew Scoville, this is a fully immersive and genuinely unique show. It’s also challenging to review because I don’t want to spoil any of the surprises or the show’s intricate illusions. The less you know going in, the better.
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This really won’t be a review so much as my love letter to HAMILTON. I first saw Lin-Manuel Miranda’s genius musical in 2016 when it first came to Chicago; ten years later — and on my sixth viewing — I love it as much as I did the first time. Miranda created a singular work in HAMILTON, but also paved the way for other contemporary musicals. With HAMILTON, he hit the sweet spot: He wrote a musical that has legitimate artistic merit and originality but also has become immensely profitable. That’s an extremely rare feat in the theater landscape.
Continue reading “Review: HAMILTON National Tour Presented by Broadway In Chicago”