The revue plays an open run

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.

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The Broadway In Chicago engagement of the SIX national tour runs through July 14, 2024

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.

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Sanaz Toossi’s Pulitzer Prize-winning ENGLISH is a beautiful, well-paced exploration of language’s simultaneous ability to open up our worlds, and yet for new language learners, make them smaller in terms of what we can express. 

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World premiere of Levi Holloway’s dystopian play runs through June 22, 2024 at The Chopin Theatre

Levi Holloway’s dystopian play TURRET introduces audiences to an intimate bunker in a post-apocalyptic world. And notably, the play marks Michael Shannon’s return to A Red Orchid. Shannon plays Green, who presides over this mysterious bunker in which he’s holding captive his trainee, Rabbit (Travis A. Knight). At the play’s opening, this particular iteration of Rabbit appears to be one of many test subjects within Green’s clutches. The first several scenes of TURRET have a kind of mundanity: Rabbit runs furiously on a treadmill while Green performs a series of tests. The text doesn’t reveal much about the nature of these experiments, and audiences are left to wonder what, exactly, is happening for much of the play. 

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The Chicago premiere of Larissa FastHorse’s play runs through June 2, 2024

In THE THANKSGIVING PLAY, four actors’ road to creating an elementary school Thanksgiving performance is paved with good intentions. But good intentions aren’t enough to save them from their “white savior” complexes. 

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The world premiere comedy starring Jason Alexander runs through May 26, 2024

JUDGMENT DAY may be a world premiere comedy, but it trades in old-school jokes. Rob Ulin’s play is relatively simple and wears its moral heart on its sleeve (Main takeaway: Don’t be a jerk), even if lead role Sammy Campo doesn’t have a heart at all. While JUDGMENT DAY pokes some fun at the Catholic church, the play’s satire is not that deep. That said, this play is swiftly moving and delightfully entertaining, and it fully delivers on the promise of offering audiences a good time. 

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Director Chuck Smith’s production runs through May 19, 2024

JOE TURNER’S COME AND GONE conveys the search for Black American identity among the inhabitants of Seth and Bertha Holly’s boarding house in 1911 Pittsburgh. Chronologically, it’s the second play in Wilson’s Twentieth Century Cycle (though, admittedly, the first this critic has seen on stage!), and it’s a layered character study within Wilson’s body of work. Director Chuck Smith has a long history of championing and producing Wilson’s work at the Goodman and here he leads a talented Chicago cast who weave artfully between the play’s moments of grounded reality and eerie mysticism and spirituality. Perhaps that’s one of the most striking parts of this play: In the characters’ search for identity, they must reckon with the hauntings of their pasts. 

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The pub of nine singing lads is open for business through May 26, 2024

Raise a glass to THE CHOIR OF MAN, a rollicking good time of a show. The show’s a UK transfer and it transports audiences to the fictitious pub The Jungle, modeled after classic Irish and British pubs. Therein, the eponymous nine man choir serves up pop and rock hits on tap. THE CHOIR OF MAN is all about having fun and delivering on its promise of great vocal arrangements.

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The “homegrown” premiere of the bio jukebox musical showcasing the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons runs through July 28, 2024

Mercury Theater Chicago has staged a “homegrown” production of JERSEY BOYS full of Chicago heart. The bio jukebox musical has graced Chicago tour stages over the years (in fact, I had a chuckle looking back at the review of the first national tour I wrote for my high school newspaper), but this is the first staging to showcase Chicago talent — and it definitely accomplishes that goal.

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Artistic Director Susan V. Booth’s production runs through March 31, 2024

Retellings of ancient Greek mythology and texts have been the subject of many theater productions — and now Goodman Theatre Artistic Director Susan V. Booth puts her own spin on Margaret Atwood’s decidedly feminist tale THE PENELOPIAD. THE PENELOPIAD is a reimagining of the story of Odysseus’s’ wife Penelope, who waits 20 years for his return from the Trojan War. Notably, Atwood’s play focuses on Penelope and 12 of her maids, who are hanged upon Odysseus’s return for supposed treason and conspiracy with Penelope’s slimy suitors. As with her famous novel THE HANDMAID’S TALE, Atwood uses THE PENELOPIAD as a device to convey the horrors and abuse committed against women. While Penelope feels confined to her role as dutiful wife, her maids likewise long for the freedom she has as a woman who’s not enslaved like they are. Atwood’s points are valid and mirror the gender inequalities and abuse women still experience now (the original novella was penned in 2005). But THE PENELOPIAD’s feminist argument isn’t revelatory. Instead of providing truly new insight or perspective, the play rather reinforces existing (though rightfully undeniable) points. 

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