CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio review of the new 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray version of 1979’s “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” the first film of one of the most successful film franchises in movie history, spun off from the original breakthrough sci-fi TV series of the 1960s. Beam me up.
HollywoodChicago.com Theater Reviews & Interviews
Theatre Review: David Arquette’s ‘Sherlock Holmes’ Cheapens Drama With Campy, Unfunny Comedy
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on November 26, 2015 - 4:32pmCHICAGO – 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’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on November 17, 2015 - 8:26amCHICAGO – 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
Submitted by PatrickMcD on September 27, 2015 - 2:10pmCHICAGO – 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
Submitted by PatrickMcD on September 17, 2015 - 6:42am- Assassination Theater: Chicago’s Role in the Crime of the Century
- Chicago Outfit
- Conspiracy
- Dallas
- Hillel Levin
- HollywoodChicago.com Content
- Jack Ruby
- John F. Kennedy
- Kevin Christopher Fox
- Lee Harvey Oswald
- Mark Ulrich
- Martin Yurek
- Michael Joseph Mitchell
- Patrick McDonald
- Ryan Kitley
- Texas School Book Depository
- Theater
- Theater, TV, DVD & Blu-Ray
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
Submitted by PatrickMcD on August 3, 2015 - 4:20pmCHICAGO – 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!’
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on June 21, 2015 - 1:38pm- 238 Studios
- Adam Fendelman
- Alexander Dinelaris
- Ana Villafañe
- Birdman
- Broadway
- Emilion Estefan
- Gloria Estefan
- Hairspray
- HollywoodChicago.com Content
- Interview
- Jeff Doles
- Jerry Mitchell
- Jersey Boys
- Josh Segarra
- Kinky Boots
- Lauren Wolf
- Marquis Theatre
- Memphis
- On Your Feet!
- Oriental Theatre
- Sergio Trujillo
- Theater
- Video
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’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on May 22, 2015 - 11:01amCHICAGO – 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.”
Interview: Actor David Dastmalchian on His Remarkable Film ‘Animals’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on May 21, 2015 - 1:42pmCHICAGO – Sometimes you just need a break, that small window of opportunity to burst through and make the mark. Actor David Dastmalchian knows all about that phenomenon, as he produced and starred in his semi-autobiographical film “Animals,” and got the break of a lifetime landing a role in the film, “The Dark Knight.”
Theater Review: ‘Down the Moonlit Path’ a Sensational, Interpersonal Stage Experience
Submitted by PatrickMcD on April 16, 2015 - 9:50amCHICAGO – The power of creativity, and the risk of live theater, is all on display through Nothing Without a Company’s latest amazing journey, “Down the Moonlit Path.” The interactive stage experience refreshes the soul and realizes the joy of life.
Theatre Review: Hans Christian Andersen’s ‘The Princess and the Pea’ Gets Modern Makeover at The Marriott
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on March 14, 2015 - 10:42pmCHICAGO – Merging old-fashioned chivalry with modern-day TV screens, The Marriott Theatre for Young Audiences is currently staging a smile-inducing, family friendly reimagining of Hans Christian Andersen’s beloved fairy tale “The Princess and the Pea”.
Theater Review: Brown Paper Box Co. Stages Pointed ‘Spike Heels’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 29, 2015 - 3:40pmCHICAGO – If you can remember the 1990s outside of childhood, you are in the glow of middle age, so congratulations. The Brown Paper Box Co. theater ensemble takes us back to those thrilling days of yesteryear with “Spike Heels,” a relationship comedy centering on the co-mingling antics of two couples, with a slight nod toward George Bernard Shaw and the play “Pygmalion” (or its musical counterpart, “My Fair Lady”).
Theater Review: ‘The Book of Merman’ Should Satisfy Both Sets of Fans
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 23, 2015 - 12:08pmCHICAGO – One potential theater-goer loves the “The Book of Mormon.” The other would rather stay home and watch old Ethel Merman YouTube videos. Pride Films & Theater offers the ultimate solution by combining both in a campy musical, “The Book of Merman.” Yep, two Elder characters from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints meets foghorn singer Ethel Merman.
