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Stellar Revival at Music Theater Works! PicksInSix® Review | Guest Contributor | Ronald Keaton To borrow from the barrister, it is nowadays considered a kind of 'settled literature' that the pedigree of “West Side Story” is thick and heavy with legend and quality. It allowed Jerome Robbins—a one-of-a-kind director, creator, and choreographer—to push dance toward its now familiar dominance in…
Living Room Drama: Peeping Tom Edition PicksInSix® Review | Guest Contributor | Perse Grammer From the moment we step into the Hoover-Leppen Theatre, the “Windows” world premiere—produced by PrideArts—has already begun. Olivia (Lucabella Sangin) lounges on the living room couch, staring at two colorfully lit windows. Behind her hang a dozen white window frames and a gauzy black drape, courtesy of…
Love Notes: For Better Or Worse. PicksInSix® Review | Guest Contributor | Sarah Frances Fiorello The musical “The Notebook” has returned to Chicago, ready to meet all new audiences and be reacquainted—and reintroduced—with theatregoers who found themselves at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre’s pre-Broadway production in the fall of 2022. The musical, based on the book by Nicholas Sparks and subsequent…
‘The Outsiders’—Sound and Fury to Spare! PicksInSix® Review | Guest Contributor | Catey Sullivan By the time I read it in 1972, S.E. Hinton’s 1967 novel “The Outsiders” was already a classic—the plaudit was in bold letters right on the cover blurb. At nine, I wasn’t entirely sure what that meant. But I did know that the coming-of-age story of poor vs. rich kids in Tulsa, Oklahoma stirred up…
Dunes’ ‘Avenue Q’ Finds Its Purpose! PicksInSix® Gold Review | Ed Tracy There is no denying that you can do anything with a puppet in your hand and no better example on stage right now than the terrific revival of the 2004 Tony Award–winning musical “Avenue Q” playing at the Dunes Summer Theatre. The hilarious send up of the adult-themed Sesame Street is the inspiration of Robert Lopez and Jeff…
Kokandy’s ‘Hair’ – “Where do I go?” PicksInSix® Review | Ed Tracy “Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical”—a Kokandy Productions revival of which you can experience yourself now at Chopin Theatre on West Division—represented a turning point in the social consciousness of a generation when it debuted on Broadway in 1968 following an Off-Broadway run in 1967. Many of us around to witness the…
Raven’s ‘Octet’: “Infinite In Both Directions!” PicksInSix® Gold Review | Ed Tracy It is easy to see why the brilliant Raven Theatre production of Dave Malloy's stunning a cappella masterpiece "Octet" so captivated audiences at the initial run earlier this year at the theater on North Clark that the Goodman Theatre has planted the show in the Owen Theatre for a run that has already been extended…
‘The Young Are At The Gates!’ PicksInSix® Review | Ed Tracy Political activism of any kind, especially the Suffragists Movement and the crusade for the right for women to vote, requires the kind of universal commitment and passion that is at the heart of Shaina Taub’s brilliant Tony Award winning musical “Suffs” directed by Leigh Silverman. Two factions—the wives, mothers and daughters of the…
‘Frankie and Johnny’: After The Lovin! PicksInSix® Review | Ed Tracy The Dunes Summer Theatre’s 75th Anniversary Season continues through July 12 with a fine production of Terrence McNally’s “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune.” It’s a two-hander, of sorts, where all four hands—and a lot more—are working overtime at the top in a small 1980s New York City tenement. The two lovers, Frankie (Kat…
Be Careful What You Wish For. PicksInSix® Gold Review | Ed Tracy There is nothing quite like the experience of sitting in the dark as the lights come up on opening night. It matters little what the show is, how big the theater is or whether or not it is a world premiere or a revival. There is no doubt that a similar thrill lies deep in the dark reaches of every performer on stage, in the pit…
