CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Dan Baker on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on March 21st, 2024, reviewing the new streaming series “Manhunt” – based on the bestseller by James L. Swanson – currently streaming on Apple TV+.
HollywoodChicago.com Theater Reviews & Interviews
Theater Interview: Back on the Street With Lisa Helmi Johanson of ‘Avenue Q’
Submitted by Alissa Norby on May 7, 2010 - 11:33pmCHICAGO – The puppets are back in town. Those R-rated, sexually-inclined, potty-mouthed denizens of Avenue Q have once again taken over the neighborhood where they are appearing at Broadway in Chicago’s Bank of America Theater. Now in its seventh year Off-Broadway (where the production recently transferred from its previous home on the Great White Way), the Tony Award-winning musical by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx continues to tempt and tickle its Sesame Street fanbase on the road.
Theater Interview: The Write Stuff With Playwright Will Cooper
Submitted by Alissa Norby on May 7, 2010 - 10:37pmCHICAGO – Chicago Dramatists’ playwright Will Cooper isn’t interested in the simple answers. Rather, his new production, “Jade Heart”, has every intention to ask the hard-hitting questions of racial identity in a post-melting pot America, a topic as potentially layered as it is controversial.
Theater Review: New Play ‘SunChoke’ is a Dereliction of Beauty
Submitted by PatrickMcD on October 6, 2009 - 12:42pmCHICAGO – “Beautiful,” I said to Josh Arteaga, the playwright of “SunChoke,” after experiencing his post-apocalyptic narrative at the Raven Theater. Why that particular word would come out of such dread is emblematic of the entirety.
Interview: Director J. Spencer Greene’s Indy Film ‘Off-Loop’ Premieres in Chicago
Submitted by PatrickMcD on May 19, 2009 - 5:07pmCHICAGO – The spirit of independent film is embodied in J. Spencer Greene’s “Off-Loop”, which will be having its Chicago premiere on Wednesday night, May 20, at the Portage Theater on the northwest side.
‘Legally Blonde the Musical’ is Aptly Sweetened Chicago Refreshment
Submitted by Alissa Norby on May 16, 2009 - 1:49amCHICAGO – If you were one of those Chicagoans who discovered a new allergy to the hoards of hormonally-charged pubescents attached to “Wicked’s” wake, you may want to take heed, or rather cover—a new touring behemoth promises to tow along new teenie boppers to the Ford Theatre. But not to worry, plenty of chaperones will surely be on duty.
Something in the Way it Moves: Factory Theater’s ‘Mop Top Festival’ Celebrates The Beatles
Submitted by PatrickMcD on March 26, 2009 - 7:10pm Play Rating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – What has become of what John Lennon called, “The Greatest Show on Earth” (for what it was worth)? The Fab Four are still at The Beatle conventions – now called “The Fest for Beatle Fans”, which have gone on annually since 1977 in Chicago.
The House Theatre Stages Comeback With ‘Rose and the Rime’
Submitted by Alissa Norby on February 25, 2009 - 11:37pm Play Rating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – While most of America’s eyes were glued to the television screens Sunday night to catch Danny Boyle’s “Slumdog Millionaire” nab its gold, the celebrated underdog of Chicago theatre companies shyly began to spout its new wings.
Elizabeth Stanley Lifts ‘Xanadu’ to Place Where Nobody Dared to Go
Submitted by Alissa Norby on January 31, 2009 - 7:34pmPlay Rating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – If classics such as “A Chorus Line” and “Les Miserables” willfully suggest the existence of a secured, calculated recipe for a Broadway hit, Christopher Ashley’s “Xanadu” is a concoction that has once again gleefully tipped over this admittedly elusive boiling pot.
Maybe, Baby, Buddy Has Found New Groove in Chicago’s ‘Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story’
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on September 22, 2008 - 10:32pmPlay Rating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “Wow! I feel like I’m at a rock concert!” “Me too. It’s like I want to rush the stage!”
While overhearing this conversation between two young women at the recent Chicago opening of “Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story,” I realized there were no better words to sum up Drury Lane’s recent jukebox-blaring, toe-tapping homage to one of the greatest rock and rollers of all time.
Route 66’s ‘On an Average Day’ Brings the House Down at Chicago’s Victory Gardens
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on August 8, 2008 - 2:34pm Play Rating: 4.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Chicago theatre often surprises its audiences in the notorious fizzling summer months by providing us what I like to call “Christmas in July”. In this case, though, it’s August and Santa has hopped onto Route 66.
Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s ‘Willy Wonka’ Sure to Satisfy Your Child’s Sweet Spot
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on July 21, 2008 - 2:32pmRating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Ah, it’s summer again. Kids in Chicago are playing in the Millennium Park fountains, teenagers are flooding in to see the latest cinema blockbusters and families are enjoying Lake Michigan’s beaches.
‘Lookingglass Alice’ a Proud Chicago Work of Jibber Jabber, Nonsensical Wonderment
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on July 16, 2008 - 12:43pmRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – On the fourth of July in 1862, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson rowed a boat up the River Thames with 10-year-old Alice Liddell. Alice was the daughter of the new dean of Christ Church where Dodgson was employed as a lecturer in mathematics.
