• Writers Theatre delivers an unmissable production of Tom Stoppard’s epic Leopoldstadt

    Writers Theatre delivers an unmissable production of Tom Stoppard’s epic Leopoldstadt

    The Midwest premiere of Tom Stoppard’s final masterwork, Leopoldstadt, directed at Writers Theatre by his longtime collaborator, Carey Perloff, may be the best production of any play in Chicago this year. Spanning the first half of the twentieth century in Austria, the multigenerational play follows the falling fortunes of two Jewish families from 1899 through…

  • Brokeback Mountain scales the heights of forbidden love at Chicago Shakes

    Brokeback Mountain scales the heights of forbidden love at Chicago Shakes

    During Thursday’s opening of the North American premiere of Brokeback Mountain at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, my mind flashed to the chorus of Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here.” Adapted by Ashley Robinson from the Annie Proulx short story, this tragic tale of two lost souls swimming in the fishbowl of rural Wyoming year after year,…

  • Spamalot is alive and kicking at Broadway in Chicago’s CIBC Theatre

    Spamalot is alive and kicking at Broadway in Chicago’s CIBC Theatre

    I had the pleasure of introducing my youngest son to the delights of Monty Python via the National Tour of Spamalot, now onstage at Broadway in Chicago’s CIBC Theatre. This is a kid who loves to laugh, but I wasn’t sure how well the material would hold up two generations after my uncles turned me…