With direction by Michael Weber, Porchlight Music Theatre’s production of Andrew Lloyd Weber’s SUNSET BOULEVARD provides one wild ride of a musical evening. The musical’s storyline itself vacillates between the predictable and the shockingly dark and twisted. It chronicles the story of former silent movie star Norma Desmond as she descends further and further into madness. Based upon the film of the same name, Don Black and Christopher Hampton’s book paints a portrait of Norma as she continues to lose her grasp on reality (which was not all that firm to begin with) and as she plots an unrealistic comeback into the Hollywood spotlight. Hollis Resnik conveys all of Norma’s mania and desperation in a star-worthy performance. Though Norma has long faded from the limelight by the time audiences meet her in SUNSET BOULEVARD, Resnik commands the stage with ease. 

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The first Steppenwolf for Young Adults production of the season marks the return of Tarrell Alvin McCraney’s THE BROTHERS SIZE to the theater’s stage. McCraney wrote the play in 2007 and it had its Steppenwolf debut in 2010. In this new production with direction from Monty Cole, the piece’s exploration of brotherhood and the ties that bind remains no less relevant. 

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Isango Ensemble’s A MAN OF GOOD HOPE, now at Chicago Shakespeare Theater for a limited engagement as part of the theater’s WorldStage programming, pays homage to human resilience. Directed by Mark Dornford-May, the production incorporates the South African Isango Ensemble’s signature use of music and dance to tell the story of young Somali refugee Asad Abdullahi. After witnessing the death of his mother at the hands of the Somali militia, Asad travels across the continent in the hopes that he will survive and make a better life for himself. The play’s title comes from Jonny Steinberg’s book of the same name, but it is particularly poignant to watch the story unfold onstage. 

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