Reno Lovison picks for 2024
#1 – “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil” at Goodman Theatre was best all around and also best new musical. Great energy, scenery, music, dance and general performance.
#2 -“Jersey Boys” at Mercury Theater is best revival. Well written story with awesome retro music well performed.
#3 – “Wells and Welles” by local playwright Amy Crider presented by Lucid Theatre was best two person play. Difficult choice because I also liked “Dear Elizabeth” and “Reclamation of Madison Hemings.”
#4 – “English” at Goodman was most thought provoking. Nice cross-cultural story. “The Long Christmas Dinner” by Thorton Wilder at TUTA Theater is a close second.
#5 – Best individual performance goes to Harry Lennix for “Inherit the Wind” at Goodman.
* Best new venue is Bramble Arts Loft, 5545 N. Clark Street, an unusual light and airy second floor loft space with elevator.
“Natasha, Pierre & the Comet of 1812” at Writers Theatre
Picks from Jodie Jacobs
#1 – “Natasha, Pierre & the Comet of 1812” at Writers Theatre as a complete, entertaining production. It had it all from great vocalizations and costuming to story line and exceptional acting.
#2 -“Every Brilliant Thing” at Writers Theatre. Jessie Fisher Fisher is brilliant in this one-persons show and so is the play written by Duncan Macmillan with Jonny Donahoe. It likely touches many lives as it balances depression with hope.
#3 – “1776” as best revival at Marriott Theatre. Audiences might wonder what there is to say about the Declaration of Independence, a document written by Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, modified by some of the delegates to the Continental Congress and whose wording we presumably learned in elementary school. But under Nick Bowling’s direction the scene comes alive with terrific acting by a well-chosen cast and Tanji Harper’s choreography.
#4 -“Silent Sky” by Lauren Gunderson at Citadel Theatre, as most thought provoking. The well-acted play is about Henrietta Leavitt and other 19th century female astronomers who were not recognized at the time for their work because they were women.
#5 – “Rigoletto”at Lyric Opera of Chicago. Yes, opera is theater. It is drama, great voices, good staging and costuming even if you don’t care for the story. And even non-regular opera goers would recognize “La donna è mobile,” translated as “Woman is fickle.”