Teresa Budasi

FUN HOME is a great title for a musical. It conjures lightness, joy, whimsy … fun. There is some of that in the Tony Award-winning show, now enjoying its first national tour that includes a two-week stint at Chicago's Oriental Theatre. But for the most part, FUN HOME is dark.

Richard Wagner's 'Ring' cycle is an intriguing opportunity to immerse oneself in an epic experience -- something akin to reading the 'Harry Potter' or 'Lord of the Rings' series, savoring each singular story, then eagerly anticipating the next installment.

Lookingglass Theatre's season opener, the ironically life-affirming LIFE SUCKS, might as well have been titled 'Love Sucks,' because every character's issues stem from that all-encompassing drive to connect with the person with whom they think completes them.

Northlight Theatre couldn't have chosen a better time to launch this show. The current presidential race is perhaps the most polarizing in U.S. history, but playwright Anthony Giardina's drama, which begins in the late '70s, reminds us that the landscape was shifting long before The Donald promised to 'make America great again.'

If you aspire to see 'Hamilton' while it's in Chicago but have yet to score tickets, you can get a tease of what Lin-Manuel Miranda has to offer this town by checking out Porchlight Theatre's production of IN THE HEIGHTS.

'How often does it happen that a secretary's boss wants to marry her? Hallelujah!' These lyrics get to the heart of why shows like HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING can't possibly maintain relevance in modern theater.

From the haunting opening notes to the robust finale, there's not a wrong note in Marriott Theatre's latest musical, MAN OF LA MANCHA.

To be or not to be … married. That is the question facing Robert throughout COMPANY, the Stephen Sondheim/George Furth musical that concludes Writers Theatre's current season at its spiffy new venue in Glencoe.

Lookingglass Theatre always brings thought-provoking, visually entertaining work to its stage, and its latest production fits that bill, for the most part.

THE HOUSE OF BLUE LEAVES is a mixed bag of tone and theme. It is comedy, tragedy, drama, slapstick and farce and then ends in a dark, dark place. Its themes -- The American Dream, mental illness, religion, loneliness, violence and betrayal -- are played out to varying levels of hysteria, which makes for a bewildering night at the theater.

Remember when your little brother re-enacted every 'Star Wars' scene in your basement when you were kids - complete with voice impersonations, sound effects and light saber battles? Fast-forward about 35 years and you'll see him all grown up, onstage, wielding an imaginary light saber and occasionally cracking himself up in ONE-MAN STAR WARS TRILOGY.

Folks of a certain age might remember Hazel, the spunky, middle-aged maid upon which a 1960s television sitcom was based. Now, 50 years later, she's on stage, taking care of the same family, only this time she's cracking wise via song and dance.

If Major General Benjamin Franklin Butler hadn't been a lawyer, he might have tried his hand at psychotherapy, particularly talk therapy. His hyper-focus on word choice and the meaning behind said choices is the first impression we get of this Civil War leader in BUTLER, now playing through April 17 at Northlight Theatre in Skokie.

It's all about the chorus kids in 42nd STREET, the latest national touring company to come through town. And these kids have talent and energy to spare. Better act fast, though, because this Broadway in Chicago offering will be shuffling off to Buffalo -- or wherever it's headed next -- faster than their dancing feet can rip through a pair of tap shoes.

The title character's opening soliloquy sets the tone for the despicable acts to come in William Shakespeare's 'RICHARD III,' but it is a later scene in The Gift Theatre's version that packs the biggest punch.

When it comes to boosting attendance at Sunday mass, the Chicago Archdiocese could learn a thing or two from the nuns in The Marriott Theatre's latest production, SISTER ACT.

'Tend her garden,' Josh Hyman tells the men in the audience at MEN ARE FROM MARS, WOMEN ARE FROM VENUS LIVE! 'And ladies, throw us some fish.'