HollywoodChicago.com Theater Reviews & Interviews

Interview: Richard Cotovsky on Abbie Hoffman Fest, Directing & Final Days of Mary-Arrchie

Richard Cotovsky Abbie Hoffman

CHICAGO – In founding and being an artistic director of a theater company for over 30 years, Richard Cotovsky of Mary-Arrchie Co. has a few stories to tell. In Part Two of an interview with the “Godfather of Chicago Storefront Theater” Cotovsky talks about the annual Abbie Hoffman Died for our Sins Festival, and the various acts of producing memorable stage productions.

Theater Review: Mary-Arrchie Co. Goes Out Passionately With ‘American Buffalo’

American Buffalo

CHICAGO – The legacy of the classic Chicago storefront theater has been celebrated at the Mary-Arrchie Theater Company for over 30 years, so for their final piece of stage craft they’re going out with a proper and gritty production bang, “American Buffalo,” by David Mamet.

Interview: Kevin Hanna on The Artist’s Lab Staging of ‘The Cowboy and The Showgirl Cycle’

Cowboy and The Showgirl, The

CHICAGO – Chicago is a hotbed for new stage talent, and the growth of that creativity is generated in new theater works. The Artist’s Lab at Stage 773 is one such developmental program, and director Kevin Hanna is currently in residence to create a new three part musical production called “The Cowboy and the The Showgirl Cycle.” The first part will have its premiere at Stage 773 on February 11th, 2016 (details below).

Interview: Richard Cotovsky on ‘American Buffalo’ as Last Production

CHICAGO – The final curtain is coming for the theatre company known as “Mary-Arrchie.” The Northside Chicago Angel Island playhouse is opening its final production, “American Buffalo” by David Mamet, on January 28, 2016. It also features the company’s founder, Richard Cotovsky, the “Godfather of Storefront Theater.”

Theater Review: ‘Beautiful: The Carole King Musical’ is a Lifetime of Song-Filled Brilliance

CHICAGO – Carole King, from modest roots and beginnings, went on to become the most successful female songwriter of the last forty years of the 20th Century. So this “natural woman” was perfect for a musical overview of her life and great songs, in “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.”

Theatre Review: David Arquette’s ‘Sherlock Holmes’ Cheapens Drama With Campy, Unfunny Comedy

CHICAGO – Different isn’t bad and might be great, but you’d better have an irrefutable reason to change what was never broken. Campy being the only word to accurately convey this alternate-reality version of Sherlock Holmes with an original script, writer Greg Kramer and director Andrew Shaver try too hard to be different without ever figuring out why.

Theater Review: We’ll Always Have Paris in ‘The Merry Widow’

CHICAGO – Standing up at the Lyric Opera house in Chicago is unusual before a show. But in this case, it was the night after a tragedy, and the operetta “The Merry Widow” – set in Paris, France, in 1905 – was about to unfold. The orchestra struck up La Marseillaise, a reminder that we’ll always have Paris.

Theater Review: Nothing Without a Company’s ‘Punk Punk’ Rocks

Punk Punk

CHICAGO – For theater that is audaciously in-the-now and generates a sparkle of life, there are few better storefront (garage, gothic gathering place) groups than “Nothing Without a Company.” Their latest, eclectic kick-in-the-head production is the intensely diverting and weirdly fun “Punk Punk.”

Theater Review: ‘Assassination Theater’ Digs Too Many Rabbit Holes

Assassination Theater

CHICAGO – There are two dates in modern American History that ring in the heads of certain generations. Of course, there is September 11th, 2001, but the granddaddy of that date is November 22nd, 1963. That is when an American president, John F. Kennedy, was shot point blank in the head and killed on the street of an American city. The official proclamation from the government is that a lone assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, fired those shots. In a new Chicago play, “Assassination Theater,” subtitled “Chicago’s Role in the Crime of the Century,” the jury is still decidedly out.

Theater Review: Revival of ‘Pippin’ Still Has Magic to Do

CHICAGO – It is the simple, timeless stories that work best when they are mounted again on Broadway, and the musical “Pippin” stays true to that assertion. Taking the concepts and the songs from a play that debuted in 1972, and featuring one of those original cast members in a key role, the National Touring revival of “Pippin” is being performed in Chicago at the Cadillac Theatre until August 9th, 2015.

Red-Carpet Video Interviews: Gloria Estefan’s Broadway Musical ‘On Your Feet!’

CHICAGO – HollywoodChicago.com presents our video coverage of the pre-Broadway premiere of the new musical “On Your Feet!” from Gloria Estefan and Emilio Estefan on June 17, 2015 at the Oriental Theatre in Chicago.

Theater Review: People History is Revived in American Theater Company’s ‘The Projects’

The Projects

CHICAGO – The legacy of public housing is one of the strangest forces of karma in the City of Chicago. For example, sites that were once some of the roughest and most neglected housing for the poor now contain luxury condos. It is the people of those former hellholes that still remember the sorrowful history of what they once called home. The American Theater Company (ATC) have gathered these stories for the poignant and extraordinary “The Projects.”

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  • Manhunt

    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+.

  • Topdog/Underdog, Invictus Theatre

    CHICAGO – When two brothers confront the sins of each other and it expands into a psychology of an entire race, it’s at a stage play found in Chicago’s Invictus Theatre Company production of “Topdog/Underdog,” now at their new home at the Windy City Playhouse through March 31st, 2024. Click TD/UD for tickets/info.

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