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

 

RECOMMENDED

The smartest show you’ll see all year. A left-wing activist and a conservative academic, both black, confront one another on the grounds of George Washington’s slave quarters, where a proposed American Museum of Liberty would be built. No rhetorical punches are pulled as the two exchange personal diatribes and arguments so freshly wrought that the show literally feels as though it’s staging this debate for the first time. The true story of Oney Judge, a slave of Washington’s, is juxtaposed with the story so elegantly, so astutely, that both stories haunt one another in a play that refuses to simplify the issue of race in America and the history machine itself. What dazzles about this show is its raw intelligence, visible in every aspect of the production, from the artful depiction of the presence and absence of history, through shadows, literal projections and echoing of lines from past to present; to playing with the convention of the historical reenactment business; to the participation in and then deconstruction of political speech codes. The actors understand that to keep up, they have to be as complex and shifting as the rest, showing admirable restraint, and even the set, resembling the blueprints and foundation of a house, is a thought-provoking addition to the show. (Monica Westin)

At TimeLine Theatre, 615 W. Wellington, (773)281-8463. Through December 21.

RECOMMENDED

A sharp, polished and exciting performance of a real clunker of a play. Given the writer Gore Vidal’s propensity to produce epic books that can double as door stops, it’s no surprise that his play is in dire need of editing—far too long for its snappy, of-the-political-moment air, and heavily burdened by digressions into Human Nature, sometimes offensive monologues on race and gender, and often very stilted dialogue. “Weekend” examines the political climate of the late 1960’s through the drama surrounding Republican presidential hopeful Senator MacGruder, complete with blackmail, conspiracy, and bigotry. The play does manage to capture both the climate of 1968 and seem very timely today—with eerily familiar southern conservative voices talking about unpopular wars and America’s duty to spread democracy— and it’s often extremely witty, especially when shooting barbs at academia and Nixon, who ends up being an easy mark. The acting is superb, with Janet Ulrich Brooks stealing the show as a hilariously small-minded political wife. Ultimately, “Weekend” is entertaining but light, only as good as it is fast-paced, and could have benefited from heavy cutting. (Monica Westin)

At TimeLine Theater, 615 W. Wellington, (773)281-8463. Through October 12.

RECOMMENDED

In the press kit accompanying this show, there is a release detailing the “world premiere” of some small lyric changes made by Sheldon Harnick, the Chicago-born lyricist for this now mostly forgotten 1959 show that was the first collaboration between Harnick and composer Jerry Bock, the team that would go on to write the longest-running Broadway show of the 1960s, “Fiddler on the Roof.” But the lyrics aren’t the problem with “Fiorello!”—in fact, the music and the lyrics are superb, even if unlike “Fiddler,” which chose to emulate Yiddish music, there is no overall musical style here, vacillating as it does between neo-vaudeville and operetta. But the book is another matter. In fact, you’ll learn far more about New York lawyer, congressman and longtime mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia from the excellent program book that TimeLine Theatre has put together for this revival of its 2006 surprise hit than you will from the overblown, overtly chatty and repetitious spoken portions of “Fiorello!” which leave you wanting the all-too-brief music portions never to end by comparison. What sense, for instance, does it make to have the characters detail all of the action of a trial in humorless dialogue details that are so much more cleverly and hysterically repeated in the words and music of the jaunty and playful “Little Tin Box”? But reviving a rarely done musical like this gives much needed context to the works of the same era that have endured (“Gypsy,” “Sound of Music,” et al) which is important so that we don’t end up with what Pierre Boulez calls a “Swiss cheese” view of culture, i.e., full of holes. And this TimeLine revival is so spectacularly done that if you have any affection for musicals and missed this production the first time around, don’t miss it now. At a time when there has been an annoyingly increasing tendency for smaller area theaters to treat the music in musicals as if it were needlessly interrupting the action, both music and drama are served up here with all of the trimmings and with immense tender loving care. (Dennis Polkow) 

At TimeLine Theatre, 615 W. Wellington, (312)409-8469. This production is now closed.

RECOMMENDED

I would not have imagined that a play about political neutrality set during World War II could strike the soul with as much emotional and psychological profundity as does Timeline Theatre’s Chicago premiere production of Frank McGuinness’s 1999 drama, “Dolly West’s Kitchen.”  Set in Ireland between the years of 1943-1945, it concerns the three adult West children, two sisters and a brother, as well as their saucy matriarch of a mother who manipulates their lives when she welcomes two American GIs and an old family friend, an estranged British officer, into their home and hearts.  McGuinness weaves heterosexual passions, complicated love triangles and homosexual repression into a rich Chekhovian tapestry that finds a political metaphor in Ireland’s infamous neutral stance towards fighting Hitler in the Second World War;  like their country and the war, the West siblings initially refuse to take sides for what they know to be right in their relationships, until they discover that the psychological costs are hardly worth their emotional neutrality.  I imagine that in its original production at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin “Dolly West’s Kitchen” gleaned a tremendous resonance from its political dimension given that country’s strong sense of Irish Nationalism.  So director Kimberly Senior, an expert handler of Chekhovian-type dialogue and drama, to which McGuinness clearly aspires here, is wise to focus her production on the triptych of love stories without ever allowing the play to fall into mawkish sentimentality.  On the contrary, her trademark light directorial touch,  uncluttered staging—on Brian Sidney Bembridge’s gorgeously realisticm neutral-colored set—as well as deft handling of male homosexual relationships, makes for a sustained sense of “feeling” throughout.  The ensemble is first-rate, with Kat McDonnel in the title role, Kathleen Ruhl as her mother and Cliff Chamberlain as the British officer particularly memorable.  If you see only one Irish play this winter—playwright Conor McPherson and his much ballyhooed “Shining City” at the Goodman is the other big contender—you should make it this one.  (Fabrizio O. Almeida)

 At TimeLine Theatre, 615 W. Wellington, (312)409-8469. This production is now closed.

RECOMMENDED

Entering the lobby of TimeLine Theater is entering the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade, Serbia. If your knowledge of the father of alternating current (AC) and the turbulent history of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is nil, you aren’t alone. Jeffrey Stanley’s tight drama, “Tesla’s Letters,” is here to turn the lights on… pun only slightly intended. Director Nick Bowling has taken great care in shaping this story as much about American complacency as it is a lesson on Tesla’s biography. The small cast exercises tight control over their characters with rich specificity and a real sense of inhabitation. Janet Ulrich Brooks stands out as Biljana, the matriarch of a family mauled by war. Collette Pollard’s scenic design is infused with subtle detail and Mike Tutaj’s name is one more for the list of innovated projection designers throwing images all over Chicago stages. TimeLine’s exploration of contemporary topics through historical context is well served by “Tesla’s Letters.” Do not miss this show. (William Scott)

Att TimeLine Theatre, 615 West Wellington, (773)281-8463. This production is now closed.