Caitlin Jackson Archives - Chicago Reader

A disheveled middle-aged man in striped shirt and suspenders stands left. This is Kevin Webb as Sweeney Todd. On his right is Caitlin Jackson as Mrs. Lovett, with wild red hair and exaggerated makeup, wearing a vest over a light blouse and striped skirt.

Attend this tale

by Catey Sullivan September 22, 2022November 4, 2022

I’ve seen bloodier stagings of Sweeney Todd than the current incarnation from Kokandy Productions at the Chopin Theatre’s downstairs space, directed and choreographed by Derek Van Barham. I’ve seen more polished versions of Stephen Sondheim (music and lyrics) and Hugh Wheeler’s (book) magnum opus. But I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a Sweeney Todd […]

A drawing-room setting. Six people in evening clothes and feathers are seated in a semi-circle in the rear. A man in a combination of plaids is doing a chicken impression before them.

Theater Review

Flying feathers

by Dan Jakes June 30, 2022July 25, 2022

There are a lot of substantive and weighty criticisms to be levied at the RuPaul’s Drag Race franchise and its global juggernaut influence over drag culture. Then there are petty ones, like mine: the series sucks at showcasing scripted camp. Nothing hushes even the most raucous, shoulder-to-shoulder packed bar viewing parties quite like the competition’s […]

Man in drag as Joan Crawford stands center, with actors kneeling or standing in the background

Theater Review

Joan-sing for the holidays

by Albert Williams December 8, 2021December 8, 2021

Hell in a Handbag Productions’ campy spoof of A Christmas Carol replaces miserly moneylender Ebenezer Scrooge with hard-hearted Hollywood icon Joan Crawford, played by author (and Hell in a Handbag artistic director) David Cerda. In Cerda’s reworking of Charles Dickens’s behavior-modification fable, Joan—a tyrannical, tough-as-nails diva who abuses everyone around her, including her loyal personal […]