An icon and legend, the late Princess Diana, first wife to King Charles III, lends herself to many different interpretations. Jillann Gabrielle has established herself as a creator and performer of one-woman musicals about such iconic women as Greta Garbo, Hedda Hopper, Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Now Gabrielle presents her interpretation […]
Tag: Greenhouse Theater Center
Doff we now our gay apparel
There are two Christmas pantomimes based upon 19th-century fables currently playing on Chicago stages, and unless Mary Zimmerman has been up to some dramatic retooling, it’s safe to assume this is the only one that features crotch sparks. Producer Jaq Seifert’s cheeky, irreverent holiday-themed burlesque revue returns for its sixth edition and first back from […]
World AIDS Day screenings, the Buttcracker, and more
Last week, the annual winter flower shows opened at the city’s conservatories in Garfield Park and Lincoln Park. This year, the theme at Garfield Park Conservatory (300 N. Central Park) is “Snow Day,” which they’re channeling with a 12 feet tall “tree” created with white poinsettias, as well as oversized snowmen hidden throughout the conservatory’s […]
Buttcracker burlesque cracks traditional ballet wide open
Jaq Seifert admits that the title of the holiday show they created, The Buttcracker, came to them while sitting around a campfire in 2015. “I was hanging out with some burlesque dancers,” they recall. “I had been working at a burlesque theater for a little bit as a sort of company manager. We were just […]
Sex education
The Chicago production of off-Broadway’s longest running comedy is a fun, interactive night out with some surprisingly touching, and even useful, takeaways. The 75-minute show is based on a 1997 book of the same title (by Dan Anderson and Maggie Berman), which the program reminds us was ahead of its time—before Will & Grace, Sex […]
Lesley Nicol steps out of the TV kitchen
Early in her autobiographical monologue How The Hell Did I Get Here?, Lesley Nicol notes that as a child she was described as “bonny,” which can mean either pretty or a bit too chubby. By the same token, describing a show as “cute” can mean either it’s charming or merely trivial. Fortunately, in Nicol’s case, […]
Judy and Liza—Once in a Lifetime shows the bond between two divas
A cabaret homage to Garland and Minnelli lights up the Greenhouse.
Spoken Word muddies the issue of consent
MPAACT’s campus drama pushes some hot buttons, but casts an ugly pall.
The Land of Forgotten Toys has forgettable songs, but a charming story
A young girl must save Christmas in this new family musical.
Sons and Lovers is faithful, but not thrilling
D.H. Lawrence’s portrait of mother love misses the mark in this On the Spot adaptation.
All Quiet on the Western Front brings diversity and relevance in Red Tape’s production
Matt Foss’s adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque’s World War I classic is both powerful and frustrating.
The Mushroom Cure chronicles one man’s quest for relief from OCD
If you’ve ever been to a 12 Step meeting, this will feel familiar.
The latest edition of El Stories explores the drama of the Holiday Train
The Waltzing Mechanics’s production returns after a two-year hiatus.
Arcadia pulls its audience into various emotional and historical puzzles
The story serves as a love letter to hunger.
There are a lot of facts in Truman and the Birth of Israel, but they don’t add up to much
Instead this Greenhouse production invents its central dramatic incident to make its point.