Top 5 Shows

“Caroline, or Change,” Court Theatre

“A House with No Walls,” Timeline Theatre

“The Glass Menagerie,” Steppenwolf Theatre

“No Darkness Round My Stone,” Trap Door Theatre

“The Birthday Party,” Signal Theater

—Monica Westin

Top 5 Shows

“Jon,” Collaboraction

“A Very Merry Unauthorized Children’s Scientology Pageant,” A Red Orchid

“Be More Chill,” Griffin Theatre

“Men of Tortuga,” Profiles

“Picked Up,” Neo-Futurists

—Nina Metz

Top 5 Theatrical Experiences

“Caroline, or Change,” Court Theatre

“Columnibus,” Raven Theatre

“As You Like It,” Writers’ Theatre

“The Comedy of Errors,” Chicago Shakespeare Theater

“Romeo y Julieta” (Staged Reading), Chicago Shakespeare Theater/Shakespeare in Español

—Fabrizio O. Almeida

Top 5 Guilty Pleasures

“Jarred: A Hoodoo Comedy” by Tanya Saracho, Teatro Luna

“Speech and Debate” by Stephen Karam, ATC

“Dead Man’s Cell Phone” by Sarah Ruhl, Steppenwolf

“The Little Dog Laughed” by Douglas Carter Beane, About Face Theatre

“After Ashley” by Gina Gionfriddo, Stage Left Theatre

—Fabrizio O. Almeida

Top 5 New Plays

“Kita y Fernanda” by Tanya Saracho, 16^th Street Theater

“The U.N. Inspector” by David Farr and James Sherman, Next Theatre

“Dead Man’s Cell Phone” by Sarah Ruhl, Steppenwolf Theatre

“Our Enemies: Lively Scenes of Love and Combat” by Yussef El Guindi, Silk Road Theatre Project

“Superior Donuts” by Tracy Letts, Steppenwolf Theatre

—Fabrizio O. Almeida

 Top 5 Revivals

“The Maids,” Writers’ Theatre

“The Lion in Winter,” Writers’ Theatre

“Requiem for a Heavyweight,” Shattered Globe

“Plaza Suite,” Eclipse Theatre Company

“The Birthday Party,” Signal Ensemble Theatre

—Fabrizio O. Almeida

Top 5 Play Revivals

“Our Town,” Hypocrites

“The Lion in Winter,” Writers Theatre

“Requiem for a Heavyweight,” Shattered Globe

“Journey’s End,” Griffin

“M Butterfly,” BoHo

—Dennis Polkow

Top 5 Memorable Productions by a Smaller Theatre Troupe

“Multi-Purpose Doom,” Sandbox Theatre Project

“The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler,” Dog & Pony

“Termen Vox Machina,” Oracle Productions

“On My Parents’ 100^th Wedding Anniversary,” Side Project

“The Last Days of Judas Iscariot” (original mounting), Gift Theatre

—Fabrizio O. Almeida

Top 5 Directors

Ann Filmer for “Kita y Fernanda,” 16^th Street Theater

Charles Newell for “Caroline, or Change,” Court Theatre

Sean Graney for “Edward II,” Chicago Shakespeare Theater

William Brown for “As You Like It,” Writers’ Theatre

Greg Kolack for “Columbinus,” Raven Theatre

—Fabrizio O. Almeida

Top 5 Musicals

“Caroline, or Change,” Court Theatre

“Grey Gardens,” Northlight Theatre

“Tell Me On A Sunday,” Bailiwick Theater

“The Full Monty,” Marriott Lincolnshire Theatre

“All Shook Up,” Marriott Lincolnshire Theatre

—Fabrizio O. Almeida

Top 5 New Musicals

“Caroline, or Change,” Court Theatre

“Grey Gardens,” Northlight Theatre

“Songs for a New World,” Porchlight

“The Ballad of Emmett Till,” Goodman Theatre

“I Am Who I Am: The Story of Teddy Pendergrass,” Black Ensemble Theater

—Dennis Polkow

Top 5 Musical Revivals

“Tell Me on a Sunday,” Bailiwick Theater

“Sweet Charity,” Drury Lane Oakbrook

“1776,” Signal Ensemble

“Jacques Brel’s Lonesome Lovers of the Night,” Theo Ubique

“Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” Circle Theatre

—Dennis Polkow

Top 5 Worst Musicals

“Shout! The Mod Musical,” Drury Lane Water Tower

“Avenue Q,” Broadway in Chicago

“Dirty Dancing,” Broadway in Chicago

“Russian on the Side,” Royal George Theater

“Gutenberg! The Musical,” Royal George Theater

—Dennis Polkow

Top 5 Worst Musicals

“Dirty Dancing,” Broadway in Chicago

“The Kid from Brooklyn,” Mercury Theater

“Gutenberg! The Musical!,” Royal George Theatre

“Jekyll & Hyde—The Musical,” Bohemian Theatre Ensemble

“Sweeney Todd,” Broadway in Chicago

—Fabrizio O. Almeida

Top 5 Operas

“Manon,” Lyric Opera

“The Abduction From the Seraglio,” Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Ravinia

“Lulu,” Lyric Opera

“Porgy and Bess,” Lyric Opera (second cast)

“Don Giovanni,” Chicago Opera Theater

—Dennis Polkow

Top 5 Productions of Shakespeare

“As You Like It,” Writers Theatre

“Comedy of Errors,” Chicago Shakespeare

“Much Ado About Nothing,” First Folio

“Merchant of Venice,” Boho

“Twelfth Night,” City Lit

—Dennis Polkow

Top 5 Touring Shows

“Saint Joan,” Shaw Festival Canada, Chicago Shakespeare

“Cirque du Soleil: Kooza,” United Center

“The Drowsy Chaperone,” Broadway in Chicago

“My Fair Lady,” National Theatre London, Broadway in Chicago

“Jesus Christ Superstar,” Broadway in Chicago

—Dennis Polkow

Top 5 Holiday Shows

“The Christmas Schooner,” Bailiwick Theater

“A Dublin Carol,” Steppenwolf Theatre

“A Christmas Carol,” Writers Theatre

“Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular,” Rosemont Theatre

“The Seafarer,” Steppenwolf Theatre

—Dennis Polkow

Top 5 Comedy Shows

“Impress These Apes,” Blewt!

“Shatter,” Pat O’Brien’s solo show at Second City e.t.c.

“Steve and Jordan, Respectively” i.O. Theater

“Brother, Can You Spare Some Change?” Second City e.t.c.

“PennyBear: A Collection of Miniature Plays and Curious Diversions,” Apollo Theater Studio

—Nina Metz

Top 5 Female Performances

Janet Ulrich Brooks, “Golda’s Balcony,” Pegasus Players

Christina Anthony, “Brother, Can You Spare Some Change?” Second City e.t.c.

Erin Barlow, “Red Angel,” LiveWire

Sarah Goeden, “13 Dead Husbands,” Sansculottes Theater

Rachel Quinn, “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” Circle Theatre

—Nina Metz

Top 5 Male Performances

David Cromer, “Our Town,” The Hypocrites

Usman Ally, “Celebrity Row,” American Theater Company

Steve Wilson, “Red Angel,” LiveWire

Edward Thomas-Herrera, “The Last Days of Beast,” Live Bait’s Fillet of Solo Festival

Daniel Behrendt, “Beggars in the House of Plenty,” Mary-Arrchie

—Nina Metz

Top 5 Out-of-the-Box Performances

“Inner Space,” Joffrey Ballet’s American Moderns

“Walking Mad,” Hubbard Street Dance Winter Series

“The Young Ladies Of…,” About Face Theatre

“Dr. Egg and the Man With No Ear,” Redmoon Theater

“One on One,” Hubbard Street Dance Winter Series

—William Rogers

Top 5 Dance Shows by Chicago Companies

“The Sky Hangs Down Too Close,” Lucky Plush Productions

“Nuevo Folk,” Luna Negra Dance Theater

“De-Evolution of Mudwoman,” Breakbone DanceCo

“Vintage Modern,” Same Planet Different World Dance

“American Moderns,” Joffrey Ballet

—Sharon Hoyer

Top 5 Overrated Productions

“Dave DaVinci Saves the Universe,” House Theatre

“Dirty Dancing,” Broadway in Chicago

“Shining City,” Goodman Theatre

“The Glass Menagerie,” Shattered Globe Theatre

“Scenes from the Big Picture,” Seanachai Theatre

—Fabrizio O. Almeida

Top 5 Theatrical Disappointments

“Dirty Dancing,” Broadway in Chicago

“Les Miserables,” Marriott Lincolnshire Theatre

“Yohen,” Silk Road Theatre Project

“Richard III,” Strawdog Theatre

“Macbeth,” Greasy Joan & Co.

—Fabrizio O. Almeida

 

“It is like opening up a present you have no idea what is inside,” says Hallie Gordon, artistic director of Theater on the Lake. “It is a surprise and sometimes you can absolutely love it.”

The Chicago Park District is currently producing its fifty-sixth season at the charismatic waterfront locale. It is the second year under the artistic leadership of Gordon, who previously served as general manager, and once again it has a little something for everyone.

“The great thing about the people that come here is if they don’t like one show they always like the other show,” Gordon shares. That is her methodology. Over the year she sees upwards of a hundred shows to arrive at the eight that will represent the best of Chicago’s off-Loop theater in week-long engagements at the space.

“We take the best of the season and recreate it on our stage,” Gordon continues, “and a lot of patrons come to us because they don’t have the opportunity, or ability, to go out during the rest of the year and see theater. They know that when they come here they will have a taste for everything that is going on.”

Comedy, drama, musical, sketch—it is all ripe to end up on the Theater on the Lake stage. “People think that the shows that are loud and big and have a lot of spectacle do well down here because they compete with the lakefront, but there are a lot of dramas that do really well,” Gordon has discovered. If the show is of quality and the difficult scheduling of remounting live theater performances can be worked out, Gordon is glad to offer any type of production a space in her season. The opportunity to bring in new work like the forthcoming Chicago Dramatists production of Bill Jepsen’s “Cadillac” is particularly exciting to her.

“It is an opportunity for the director and the writers and the actors to revisit that work,” she says. “You very rarely get a chance to redo things that you think you made a mistake on. It is never finished so now is that opportunity.” (William Scott)

This week, Neo-Futurists present “Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind.” The Theater on the Lake series runs through August 3 at 2400 North Lake Shore Drive. See the entire schedule at chicagoparkdistrict.com.

RECOMMENDED

Because “Picked Up,” the new one from the Neo-Futurists that stages a different television sitcom pilot each week, owes so much of its comedic success to pure nostalgia, I couldn’t help but feel nostalgic for the too short lived “Strangers with Candy,” Comedy Central’s late 1990s glorious satire on all the situational comedies with which I had grown up. The story of “boozer, user and loser” Jerri Blank, the 46-year-old ex-con-turned-high-school freshman, brilliantly realized by actress Amy Sedaris, “Strangers with Candy” lovingly-viciously skewered everything from pedophilia to mental retardation, religion to physical disabilities. Nothing was off-limits or taboo and in this spirit the revolving lineup of six “shows” that “Picked Up” will present over the next six weeks—from retarded wrestlers to crime-fighting mimes to horny teenagers in space—should make for some hysterical comedy. That is, if the first entry that the press was invited to review, the pilot concerning the retarded high-school athlete who forms a wrestling club called the Unitards (get it?), is any indication. But although the content (read: show) will change from week to week, the framing device will remain the same. The head writers “pitch” their series to the audience, there are some morbidly meta monologues typical of the Neo-Futurists, and there’s an inspired choreographic dance sequence by the writers to the synthesized beats reminiscent of eighties pop band Devo that hopefully will remain throughout the run. As if that weren’t enough, the icing on this very rich comedic cake is the heartfelt honesty and emotional truth with which the writers address their feelings on the desire for creative success in the tainted yet totally addictive commercial world of television sitcom-writing. It has to make you wonder: what would happen if a Neo renegade sold out to the Nielsen Rating. (Fabrizio O. Almeida)

At the Neo-Futurarium, 5153 N. Ashland, (773)275-5255. This production is now closed. 

It’s pilot season at that sexy little think tank of imagination called the Neo-Futurarium. Having just completed a journey through the concept of invention with “Contraption,” The Neo-Futurists are setting their aim on the stalwart torchbearer of popular culture that pervades America’s homes, offices and iPods—the television sitcom.

“Because we create pieces for ‘Too Much Light’ in a very specific way, we were interested in pursuing a project that would require us to write through a completely new process,” says Jay Torrence, Neo artistic director and co-creator of the six-week string of live sitcom ideas, pitched not to television executives but to the paying audience. Together with fellow creators Dean Evans and Ryan Walters, they have assembled a writing team including Ian Belknap, Sean Benjamin, Laura McKenzie and Lauren Sharpe. These scribes represent a multitude of disciplines including standup, solo performance, dance and clowning. With the Neo-Futurists’ rebellious aesthetic, you can bet there will be no single girls in the city working at magazines. These concepts are far more delightfully off-kilter.

“Unitards” (April 10-12)

Ronnie Wexler’s dream is to wrestle. But when the high-school wrestling team doesn’t want his extra chromosome anywhere near their mats, special hopes and special dreams are confronted with even special-er challenges.

“The Colony” (April 17-19)

Six misfit teens ditch out on high school and start a colony on Mars. This red planet’s about to get a whole lot of awkward horny.

“Office Prison Break” (April 24-26)

If you think your nine-to-five job is bad, try doing nine-to-life. At Solutions Inc. you can clock in but you can’t clock out!

“No Place Like Home” (May 1-3)

From failed dreams to nighttime riddles, Emily Kane just can’t seem to get it right. Will she decipher her premonitions in time to save her dead friend Chris? Tune in and find out!

“Too Much” (May 8-10)

Six pretentious artists, one house and an awful lot of miscommunication equals “Too Much”… comedy. When these performance artists leave the stage, the real drama begins. Find out what happens when people stop being Neo-Futurists and start being roommates.

“The Mime” (May 15-17)

“Don’t do the crime if you can’t face the mime.” A reluctant superhero mime artist takes on the mafia by thinking outside of the box. (William Scott)

At the Neo-Futurarium, 5153 North Ashland, (773)275-5255. This production is now closed.

RECOMMENDED

Things have gone a little crazy inside the New-Futurarium.  Writer/director Bilal Dardai’s “Contraption” has taken over and it will not quit until everyone in room is a little uncertain of their own state of mind.  Part infotainment, part Brechtian pontification on the grip  insanity has had on many of histories great inventors, “Contraption” delivers one vaudevillian sight gag after another but manages to be more than a good laugh.  Despite the total deconstruction of the play before your very eyes, it still keeps a gripping and educational through line.    Dardai’s writing, however, is stronger than his direction.  He manages to construct striking stage pictures that are undoubtedly from a Neo-Futurist, but some less obvious choices with the text would have served the material well.  The cast is a tight ensemble of four.  Dina Connelly stands out, though.  Equally at home playing an animatron as a sexy psychiatrist, her energy is exuberant and perfect for the wonderfully quirky production. (William Scott)

At the Neo-Futurarium, 5153 N. Ashland, (773)275-5255. This production is now closed. 

RECOMMENDED

From the press release I am told that “The Fool (returns to his chair),” the Neo-Futurists’ latest, “…presents an abstract history of fools through the ages…from Western Romantic fools and Russian Holy Fools to the trickster Gods, ancient tarot traveling fool, and Bugs Bunny.” In addition, in interviews creator and co-writer John Pierson has stated that he “…wanted the challenge of presenting a visual and musical piece with minimal spoken word that is highly entertaining yet provides emotional weight with historical context.” This translates into a pre-show performance prologue where you might have the privilege of holding a peeled banana dipped in peanut butter as another performer on all fours blows a wad of crumbled paper around the auditorium floor. Later, to the tune of “Mr. Bojangles,” a Neo-Futurist will attempt to pour a drink from a pitcher of water that has been scotch-taped atop tiered milk crates resting on his head and shoulders. Another Neo rambles some stream-of-consciousness monologue about celebrities (“I wonder how Brad and Angelina drink a latte?”). And the piece de resistance sees the entire ensemble regurgitating red liquid from their mouths onto each other and their pristine white plastic jumpsuits. My companion summed up his experience as akin to “talent night at the mental institute.” Besides the Bugs Bunny bit, which I got, I didn’t know what to make of this. I don’t have to love a work of art in order to appreciate it. Hell, I don’t even have to like it as long as I can make some sense of what it’s trying to say intellectually or accomplish artistically. I try to remember this each time I encounter something that could be termed “experimental”—from Karen Findley to elephant-dung stained depictions of the Virgin Mary to yes, the Neo-Futurists. But here the storytelling is muddled, the imagery is not memorable, and the overall execution so sloppy—I oftentimes had trouble discerning where one vignette began or ended, if it mattered—that all I could gather from “The Fool,” even with the added benefit of a press release to explain it all for me, was that it was one of the most pointless, self-indulgent, in your face and gross for gross sake “experiments” that I have ever had the displeasure of sitting through. (Fabrizio O. Almeida)

At the Neo-Futurarium, 5153 N. Ashland, (773)275-5255. Thu–Sat 8pm. $10-$15. Through September 29.