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Love is fragile | Glassheart at City Lit Chicago

Love is fragile | Glassheart at City Lit Chicago

What are you willing to sacrifice to be the light in someone else’s life? This story by Chicago-based playwright Reina Hardy is partly about getting in touch with our better nature, rejecting a poor self-image, overcoming your own self-doubts and negative inner dialog and indeed 

The Long Christmas Dinner Theater Review & Comments

The Long Christmas Dinner Theater Review & Comments

Holidays have a unique way of punctuating our lives. Through this activity we assess alliances, trade information, and mark the passage of time. In The Long Christmas Dinner written by Thorton Wilder, presented by TUTA Theatre in Chicago we join an affluent Midwestern family, sometime 

Hey! Djou See Royko?

Hey! Djou See Royko?

Mike Royko was an outspoken Chicago journalist, who in the 1960s through 1990s railed against the political machine and championed the cause of the underdog with the same zeal he displayed toward his beloved Chicago Cubbies.

Mitchell Bisschop’s roughly two-hour performance as Royko serves as a reminiscence for those of a certain age, and as an entertaining summary of our recent history for those of a younger generation who might not have first-hand familiarity with events related to the quickly fading recent past.

This is some observations of the person as well as a podcast theater review of the one-man show ROYKO: The Toughest Man in Chicago playing at the Chopin Theatre in Wicker Park.

Time Passages a Documentary Film Review

Time Passages a Documentary Film Review

Reno Lovison, Executive Producer comments on the documentary Time Passages by Chicago filmmaker Kyle Henry who tenderly reviews his relationship between himself and his mother, whose memory is slowly slipping away due to dementia. Looking at other people’s lives is always interesting. We can’t help but to 

By The Way, Meet Vera Stark – Theater Review

By The Way, Meet Vera Stark – Theater Review

An aspiring African American actress, Vera Stark (Ashayla Calvin) works as a personal maid to fading 1930s movie star Gloria Mitchell (Caitlin Jemison), once known as “America’s Little Sweetie-Pie.” The two have a close relationship and have a shared struggle to find success. However, due 

Dear Elizabeth – Theater Review

Dear Elizabeth – Theater Review

Letter writing is more akin to internal dialogue and can have a kind of naked intimacy that is difficult to achieve in the flesh.

This is a smart biographical drama providing us a glimpse into the lives and thoughts of two interesting, actual people, who through their own words demonstrate to us the value of friendship and human connectedness.

Dear Elizabeth by Remy Bumppo Productions is at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago through November 17, 2024. Runtime is about 100 minutes with one 10 minute intermission. For information visit RemyBumppo.org.
Reviewer: Reno Lovison

Elizabeth Bishop – Leah Karpel
Robert Lowell – Christopher Sheard 

Director – Christina Casano 
Assistant Director – Eduardo Xavier 
Scenic Designer: Catalina Niño 
Lighting Designer: Max Grano De Oro 
Costume Designer: Kotryna Hilko 
Sound Designer: Chris Kriz 
Projections Designer: John Boesche 

Noises Off at Steppenwolf -Theater Review

Noises Off at Steppenwolf -Theater Review

Kicking off this popular Chicago ensemble theater company’s 49th season a rather incompetent troupe of actors are expertly portrayed by a considerably expert cast, in Steppenwolf’s revival of Michael Frayn’s classic comedy “Noises Off,” directed by Anna D. Shapiro. A co-production with Geffen Playhouse. Featuring ensemble 

“Inherit the Wind” revives fundamental conflicts at Goodman Theatre | Review

“Inherit the Wind” revives fundamental conflicts at Goodman Theatre | Review

The Goodman Theatre reminds us that the more things change the more they remain the same in this production of the classic courtroom drama, “Inherit the Wind.”

Small town school teacher Bertram Cates is on trial for breaking a state law that prohibits the teaching of evolution.

The prosecution is aided by the bombastic self-important fundamentalist bible thumping Matthew Harrison Brady while Cates is represented by famed Chicago lawyer Henry Drummond, a clever defense attorney known for taking on difficult and controversial cases.

Beethoven’s love story of Fidelio speaks to a modern audience.

Beethoven’s love story of Fidelio speaks to a modern audience.

Lyric Opera of Chicago presents Beethoven’s message of freedom of expression in this captivating, new to Chicago, contemporary production of Fidelio.  It’s interesting to see how easily this 18th Century music transforms to modern times. It’s and story of good triumphing over evil but most importantly a story of hope combined with the courage to speak truth to power while taking action to stand up to tyranny and oppression in order to right a wrong. Twenty-first century audiences will appreciate the portrayal of a strong female hero and the allusions to political oppression that sadly continues to be perpetrated around the world.

Music by Ludwig van Beethoven an opera in two acts in German with Libretto by Georg Friedrich Treitschke
Presented October 2, 5, 10, 2024

Conductor Enrique Mazzola
Director Matthew Ozawa
Set & Projection Designer Alexander V. Nichols
Costume Designer Jessica Jahn
Lighting Designer Yuki Nakase Link


CHARACTERS IN ORDER OF VOCAL APPEARANCE
Jaquino – Daniel Espinal
Marzelline – Sydney Mancasola
Rocco – Dimitry Ivashchenko
Leonore – Elza van den Heever
Don Pizarro – Brian Mulligan
1st Prisoner – Travon D. Walker
2nd Prisoner – Christopher Humbert, Jr.
Florestan – Russell Thomas
Don Fernando – Alfred Walker

South Pacific at Skokie Theatre | Podcast Review

South Pacific at Skokie Theatre | Podcast Review

This timeless classic amounts to an enchanting evening that deserves to be seen and heard. Whether you are experiencing it the first time or you are coming from a place of nostalgia, the musical South Pacific includes some of the best and most recognizable tunes 

Georgia O’Keefe Exhibit – Art Institute Chicago

Georgia O’Keefe Exhibit – Art Institute Chicago

If you think you know something about Georgia O’Keeffe, be prepared to be pleasantly surprised.  Her styles at this time while living in New York during the 1920s seems to have generally drifted away from her previous more colorful and amorphous forms, and instead varied 

Wells and Welles Podcast Theater Review

Wells and Welles Podcast Theater Review

A war of words. In 1938 twenty-five-year-old Orson Welles became famous after his radio play interpretation of “A War of the Worlds” shook the airwaves, purportedly nearly causing national panic.

The book’s seventy-five-year-old author H.G. Wells was not amused at how his intellectual property was in his mind misused without permission.

This play by Amy Crider presented by Lucid Theater is inspired by an actual encounter in 1940 with the two men, “Wells and Welles” who both happened to be on lecture tours, finding each other in San Antonio, Texas on the same rainy night.

For more information visit LucidTheater.com