• Topdog/Underdog brings the American nightmare to vivid life at Steppenwolf

    Topdog/Underdog brings the American nightmare to vivid life at Steppenwolf

    If you need a reminder of how lucky we are to live in one of the great theater cities, catch the exquisite, enthralling, earth-shattering Topdog/Underdog now onstage at Steppenwolf under the crackerjack direction of Kenny Leon, who also helmed the recent Broadway production. The ending of Suzan-Lori Parks’ Pulitzer-winning play is contained in the set-up:…

  • Operation Mincemeat serves up tasty musical comedy at CIBC

    Operation Mincemeat serves up tasty musical comedy at CIBC

    The U.K.’s domestic counterintelligence agency, MI5, is having quite the pop-culture moment, though perhaps not a very desirable one. It’s the subject of Slow Horses, the Apple TV hit (based on the best-selling Mick Herron novels) starring Gary Oldman as the ringmaster of a group of MI5 rejects who manage to expose the misdeeds of…

  • Kowalski delivers a breezy take on Marlon Brando’s Streetcar audition for Tennessee Williams at Lookingglass

    Kowalski delivers a breezy take on Marlon Brando’s Streetcar audition for Tennessee Williams at Lookingglass

    Richard Linklater is one of my favorite directors, especially when he works with Ethan Hawke. So I was delighted to find his 2025 film Blue Moon available to watch this summer during a long flight. It features Hawke as a late-career Lorenz Hart ruminating on his partnership with Richard Rodgers while holding court in Sardi’s…