Let’s begin with what this 2006 jukebox musical is not. It is not a rich, textured, nuanced, moving, memorable musical biography of Johnny Cash. It does not attempt to do onstage what the rousing, Academy Award-winning 2005 movie, I Walk the Line, did on the silver screen: bring us Cash in his power and glory […]
Tag: Drury Lane Theatre
Posted inTheater Review
Missing some beats
Taken alone, political thrillers and farce can be tricky beasts to pull off. Put them together and you really have to have everything honed to the sharpest point possible for the laughs to land without completely diluting the dramatic tension. The 39 Steps already has a convoluted history. Patrick Barlow’s 2005 parody was adapted from […]
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Still the word
There have been many versions of Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey’s Grease: the raunchy one that premiered at Kingston Mines in 1971; a much cleaned-up version that opened a year later in New York; the star-heavy 1978 movie (which, among other abominations, takes a Chicago girl named Dumbrowski and gives her an Aussie accent). And […]
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The beautiful business of show
First, some mathematical context: I’ve seen A Chorus Line at least 18 times since 1976, the year the first national tour rolled into Chicago. Prior to last week, I was certain the brilliant show about aspiring Broadway hoofers held no more surprises. How could it? I’ve known every word, lyric, cadence, and character in this […]
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Elf off the shelf
Like much that passes for entertainment during the holiday season, this 2010 musical, based on the 2003 movie, lives on the infinitely thin line between charm and utter stupidity. The characters are all derived from earlier entertainments and holiday advertising—jolly old Santa Claus, his myriad elf slaves, the sweet naif who believes in “the spirit […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Beyond the mustache
Larry Yando has been a prominent presence on stages in Chicago and beyond for many years, including as Ebenezer Scrooge in the Goodman’s annual production of A Christmas Carol (this year marks his 15th outing). He plays Hercule Poirot in Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express at Drury Lane Theatre through October 23. (Read […]
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Mystery train
It is 2022 still, so . . . a nostalgic romp through a bygone era with a whodunit twist? Bring it! Ken Ludwig transformed Agatha Christie’s novel into a riveting stage text. This timeless mystery is an examination of the limits of a justice system, which may account for its eternal appeal. I will say […]
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Pleasant posies
My daughter tells me she likes the 1989 movie version of Steel Magnolias because you can have it running in the background while you do other things, and still more or less follow the plot. The 1987 play the movie is based on has the same virtue. You don’t really have to use all your […]
Posted inTheater Review
A warhorse, reconsidered
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II’s 1951 musical The King and I, based on Margaret Landon’s novel, Anna and the King of Siam, is one of the warhorses of musical theater. The original run was three years (1,246 performances), and it has been revived with a mind-numbing regularity since, produced seemingly by every professional and […]
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A fresh Evita
Marcia Milgrom Dodge demonstrates in Drury Lane’s Evita what great casting in 2022 looks like. The director and choreographer gathered a cast diverse in race, age, and body type, creating what feels like an authentic picture of Argentina from 1934 to 1952. There is no color line among the military, upper-class, or poor. Her diverse […]
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An American in Paris works best when it faces the music
It’s Gershwin for the win in Drury Lane’s production.
Posted inArts & Culture
Believable: changing the story on how plays address violence against women
The fall theater season has brought several shows about women surviving trauma—and reclaiming their stories.
The fall theater season has brought several shows about women surviving trauma—and reclaiming their stories.
Posted inArts & Culture
The Color Purple fills Drury Lane’s stage with triple threats
Lili-Anne Brown’s staging of the musical based on Alice Walker’s classic novel brings down the house.
Posted inArts & Culture
Grit and heart: Arnel Sancianco draws on both for his evocative theater sets
With two major shows opening this fall, the designer’s career is booming—but he’s focused on making audiences connect emotionally with the world of the play.
Posted inArts & Culture
Who thought that Matilda was suitable children’s entertainment?
Or maybe kids just have a higher tolerance for Roald Dahl’s sadism.