53 stories by "Catey Sullivan - For The Sun-Times"
"Rent" isn't edgy or groundbreaking anymore, but it remains powerful and true to the original in all the right ways.
At times, it seems director John Doyle is aiming for magical realism. But even magical realism needs to be grounded in a compelling narrative.
Drury Lane Theatre's staging, directed with a keen eye for the monstrous (and the monstrously funny) by Mitch Sebastian, lives up to Dahl's book.
Set in 1961, the TimeLine Theatre production looks at the economics of revolution and the steep price it exacts from those who could least afford it.
Barbara Gaines' production of the Shakespeare classic succeeds as a thriller, a tragedy and a doomed coming-of-age story.
The show's book writer Chris D'Arienzo clearly understands that as Journey is to Mozart sonatas, so is "ROA" dialogue to Shakespearean sonnets.
The major selling point for "Footloose" is leading lady (and Northwestern University grad) Lucy Godinez as Ariel, the preacher's daughter.
Money, mystery and music are all vehicles Holter uses to get to the heart of "Lottery Day." That heart is a damning commentary on gentrification.
Director Wardell Julius Clark has assembled a cast who delivers first-rate performances emblematic of the smart, uncompromising production.
This show based on earlier incarnations of "Cruel Intentions" should, to quote the poets of pop whose music it fails to do justice, go "Bye Bye Bye."
If the days wherein you could stage a play about race without a single person of color on stage aren't entirely over, they should be.
Caryl Churchill's play is science fiction, but every day, the "fiction" part of that seems to be fading just a little bit more.
The show has as much to do with the Romanovs as Caesar salad has to do with Julius Caesar. That's precisely what you'd expect in family-friendly fare.
Set in Pennsylvania, and alternating between 2000 and 2008, Ron OJ Parson's staging of "Sweat" is as familiar as a decade's worth of headlines.
Running March 14 " 16, Femme Fest spotlights the creations of five female choreographers of Black/African or Diaspora/African descent.
The onstage chemistry of the cast adds palpable depth to a first-rate production at Theo Ubique.
In the music of "Mahalia," we get a glimmer of the joy she brought to countless others, but the script offers little sense of the woman herself.
In director Jason Gerace's staging, Tennessee Williams' story of brutal oppression and irrecoverable loss is a fascinating psychological thriller.
"Last Stop on Market Street" is what children's theater should be. It is burgeoning with wonder.
If it's music you're after, you could do far worse than the bittersweet "Once." The script has troubles. The score is extraordinary.
"When we were their age, we couldn't conceive of world where school shootings happened. They can't conceive of a world where they don't.
This "Superstar" has a lush, glorious sound the likes of which you've never heard before.
A lively exploration of "race music" of the 1950s and how these records by African-American artists sparked the rock and roll revolution.
The harmonies are exquisite, the lyrics raw and real. The ensemble could probably make a decent living gigging around Chicago.
Musically, "Oklahoma!" still works. But the Marriott Lincolnshire's revival sits uneasily in a contemporary context.
