Citadel Theatre – Chicago Theater and Arts

Admissions

Highly recommended

“Admissions,” a play by Joshua Harmon now at Citadel Theatre, should have its audiences talking about who, how and why a graduating high schooler is readily admitted to the college of choice.

Bright high school student Charlie Luther Mason, superbly interpreted by Justin Jarzomek, is applying to college. He has the grades and activities needed to supposedly get into many prestigious Eastern universities. That is not the problem.

We learn that his friend who wrote “black” on his application because his dad is black, gets into Yale but Charlie is on the school’s deferred list.

Ginnie Peters (Tina Shelley) his friend’s mom, is white and a good friend of Charlie’s mom, Sheri Rosen-Mason (Susie Steinmeyer), at least when the play begins.

Spoiler alert: Charlie is admitted to a prestigious university by the play’s end but but thinks he shouldn’t go because he is supposedly taking up a spot for a less advantaged student.

How he arrives at that kind of thinking is really what this this play is all about. That, and the attitude of Charlie’s mom Sheri, a college admissions administrator (not clear if she works for the high school) and his dad, Bill Mason (Tim Walsh) offer the play’s philosophical bent.

Directed by Beth Wolf, the play should spark some interesting conversations.

Admissions is at Citadel Theatre, 825 Waukegan Rd. Lake Forest, Il now through March 15, 2026.

Jodie Jacobs

For more reviews visit Theatre in Chicago

Citadel Theatre takes on a Stephen King novel

Scott Phelps and Ellen Phelps in “Misery” at Citadel Theatre (Photo by Ralph Durham)

Highly recommended

When you hear that “Misery,” a play by William Goldman, is based on a Stephen King novel you are likely to assume it is scary audience theater. It’s not.

Directed by Rob Reiner, the movie was a thriller that starred James Caan as novelist Paul Sheridan and Kathy Bates as his “captor,” Annie.

However, the Citadel play, though not a “thriller,” is fraught with nervous tension as Sheldon, magnificently portrayed by Scott Phelps appeases Annie’s demands to write a new novel the way she wants while he recuperates from an auto accident.

The plot, well interpreted as the dangerous obsession of Annie Wilkes, his “number one fan” perfectly played by Ellen Phelps, it all takes place in Annie’s rural home near where Sheldon has crashed his car.

And yes, the Phelps are related. They are the professional actor husband and wife team that created the acclaimed Lake Forest, IL based Citadel Theatre about 23 years ago.

The surprise here is not about the really superb acting but about how scenic designer Bob Knuth was able to fit in all the needed elements, indoors and out, onto Citadel’s tiny stage. The theater seats about 150 people.

The play is quite short – taking a mere 93minutes. But during that time Director Scott Westerman leaves no doubt that no matter how accommodating Annie may seem at first, Sheldon is now at her mercy and needs to somehow escape from her and her property.

Details: “Misery” is at Citadel Theatre, 300 S. Waukegan Rd., Lake Forest, IL, Sept 12-Oct.12, 2025. For tickets and more information call (847) 735-8554 or visit www.Citadeltheatre.org.

Jodie Jacobs

For more shows visit Theatre in Chicago

Sex and drugs and rocking chairs

L to R Bob Sanders, Ellen Phelps, Kenneth Johnson and Elizabeth Rule. Photo by North Shore Camera Club.

HighlyRrecommended

In case you think that “A Jukebox for the Algonquin” is merely about an old people’s care center, the phrase listed under the title is a hint to what the show at Citadel Theatre in Lake Forest is really about.

Well directed by Scott Westerman it takes place in upstate New York’s Placid Pines Senior Care Center where a recreation room is dominated by a fish tank that you don’t see but can imagine as a handful of residents feed the fish or refer to it.

They decide a much better use of the space would be a jukebox they could use to play tunes and dance to. They hear of a second-hand Wurlitzer but how would they pay for it? You get the how idea at the end of Act I as they learn what is among the stuff being cleaned out of a room there just vacated.

They are residents Johnny ( Kenneth Johnson) somewhat of a leader of the group, his good friend Dennis (Bob Sanders), Annie (Ellen Phelps) who has an over-the top personality and BTW is Citadel’s co-producer, and Peg who bakes cookies (Elizabeth Rude who also plays Mrs. McDarren, a visitor who is checking out the facility).

Also on the set are Chuck, a knowledgeable and funny janitor (Patrick Thornton), and the facility’s staff members, Josefina who often pops in (Karla Corona) and Tyler (Joshua Thomas).

Written by Paul Stroili, the plot reminds us there is more to senior citizens and growing old than gazing at the TV or a large fish tank.

I like that scenic designer Catalina Nino kept the setting simple and that costume Danielle Reinhardt stayed with normal, wearable clothes so that the audience could focus on the words and actions.

DETAILS: “A Jukebox for the Algonquin” is at Citadel Theatre, 300 S. Waukegan Rd., Lake Forest, IL. now through May 25, 2025. Running time: 2 hours with one intermission. For tickets and other information call 847-735-8554, x1, or visit www.citadeltheatre.org.

Jodie Jacobs

For more shows visit Theatre in Chicago

I and You and a surprise ending

Caroline (Amia Korman) and Anthony (Jay Westbrook) in Citadel Theatre’s
“I and You” (North Shore Camera Club photo)

Highly recommended

Meet Caroline and Anthony, two teenagers in playwright Lauren Gunderson’s “I and You.” On stage now at Citadel Theatre in North Suburban Lake Forest, the show is way more than about two exceptionally bright teens who seem to have an English lit assignment on Walt Whitman due the next day.

Before you see the show, and you should absolutely go, know that Whitman was a 19th century American poet and essayist who wrote the famed and controversial poetry collection “Leaves of Grass” and favored free verse, realism and transcendentalism.

It is fine to have high expectations of this production. Perfectly fine-tuned by Director Scott Shallenbarger, beautifully interpreted by Korman and Westbrook, it is a well imagined tale by Gunderson, author of Citadel’s recently acclaimed “Silent Sky” production.

Caroline, confined to her room due to acute illness or condition, and Anthony who visits her there to supposedly finish a school project, debate Whitman, sickness, death, life and hope in the show’s 90 minute, three-act time frame.

You truly won’t predict the ending.

DETAILS: “I and You” is at Citadel Theatre, (in a school building) 300 S. Waukegan Rd., Lake Forest, IL now through March 23, 2025. Running Time: 90 Min. no intermission. For more information and tickets call (847) 735-8554.

Jodie Jacobs

For more shows visit https://www.theatreinchicago.com/

Love and marriage are all in an extended family in the hilarious ‘The Cottage’

L-R Joel Ottenheimer, Shannon Bachelder, Melody Rowland, Elizabeth Bushell (Standing), and Philip J. Macaluso. (Photos by North Shore Camera Club)

Four Stars

You practically need a score card to keep track of who is doing “it” with whom even though two brothers and their current and past lovers and spouses all makeup somewhat of an extended family. They all pop into “The Cottage,” a small but attractive country house 90 minutes outside of London.

The year is 1923. The tone is that of a British farce but don’t expect a strong English accent or a lot of popping in and out different doors. Guests properly enter from the front door.

What we have is a very funny play by Glenview native Sandy Rustin that has come to Citadel Theatre in Lake Forest straight from its Broadway run.

At first, we see the morning after a once-a-year affair between Sylvia (Elizabeth Bushell) and her brother-in-law, Beau (Philip J. Macaluso). Before Beau can dress and leave for his office others in this casual, but unanticipated gathering come knocking at the door.

First to pop in is Beau’s regular lover, Dierdre (Melody Rowland) because Beau’s office told her he could be found at the family Cottage. Next to stop by are Beau’s brother, Clarke (Joel Ottenheimer), with his sister-in-law, Beau’s wife, Marjorie (Shannon Bachelder). Sylvia, who’s slightly ditsy, thinks she may have sent a telegram to Clarke about wanting a divorce.

They hear Diedra’s husband, Richard (John Dooley), knocking on the door. The problems now is that Sylvia said her first love was called Richard but she believes he died and Diedra admits that her Richard keeps killing her lovers.

And so, Act I ends with everyone hiding and Richard coming in with a gun.

Well directed by Jack Hickey, the entire cast is terrific. In addition, there is superb scenic design by Eric Luchen and properties design by Audrey Tieman. The house is charming and those cigarettes that Beau keeps snagging turn up everywhere.

No letting on here what happens in Act II. Go see this wonderful, comic play but don’t tell anyone else what happens.

Details: “The Cottage” is at Citadel Theatre, 300 S. Waukegan Rd., Lake Forest, IL now thro0ugh Oct. 13, 2024 Running Time: Two hours. For tickets and other information visit Citadel Theatre.

Jodie Jacobs

For more shows visit Theatre in Chicago.

Oh Baby

Pam (Katie Engler), Arlene (Julie Bayer) and Lizzie (Madison Jaffe-Richter) (Photo by North Shore Camera Club)

Highly Recommended

Combine perfect casting with the keen insight of director Scott Shallenbarger and you have the superb production of “Baby,” now on stage at Citadel Theatre in Lake Forest.

A high-energy musical that appeared on Broadway in 1983-84, “Baby” explores how three different-aged couples, one in college, one in their thirties, and one who are older with kids in college, react to news that their two-member family might become three.

Lizzie (Madison Jaffe-Richter) and Danny (Ben Ballmer) live together in a basement apartment on a college campus. Instead of suffering from the flu, Lizzie finds out she is pregnant.

Pam (Katie Engler) and Nick (Mark Yacullo) are desperate to have a baby. After missing her period she’s hopeful until she learns the pregnancy diagnosis is a mistake.

Arlene (Julie Bayer) and Alan (Joe Lehman) are in their 40s and are ready to downsize from their large, older home when Arlene learns during a check-up she is pregnant.

With music by David Shire, lyrics by Richard Maltby, Jr. and a book by Sybille Pearson who developed the story with Susan Yankowitz, the show and songs reflect what the couples want from life.

The whole cast is excellent but kudos particularly go to Ballmer who totally fits his college-age musician role and to Engler who appears so physically fit that if she does get pregnant would undoubtedly give the sports ball baby present she received to her kid, a boy or girl.

Best of all, “Baby” likely will get at least a few members of the audience thinking about love and what they want from life.

DETAILS: “Baby” is at Citadel Theatre, 300 s. Waukegan Rd., Lake forest, IL, now through May 19,2024. Run time: 2 hours, 20 minutes with one intermission. For tickets and information visit Citadel Theatre.

Jodie Jacobs

For more shows visit Theatre in Chicago

Superb ‘Silent Sky’ reminds how gender matters

(L-R) Cameron Feagin, Anne Lentino, and Melissa Harlow (Photo by North Shore Camera Club

Highly recommended

First, I must reveal that Lauren Gunderson is my favorite contemporary playwright. I loved her ATCA award-winning “The Book of Will,” a play about saving the works of William Shakespear and how they got published. She is among the most produced current American playwrights.

Gunderson often intertwines witty dialogue with historical matter while developing themes that have been overlooked. Such is “Silent Sky,” currently on stage at Citadel Theatre in Lake Forest.

A true story based on what Ratcliff grad and astronomer Henrietta Leavitt faced in 1900 when she left Wisconsin and family to join the Harvard University Observatory, (she used her dowry to move and get settled), the play follows her discoveries and interaction with female coworkers called “computers” and a male who is the boss’ assistant.

Now imagine what it must have been like to be told she couldn’t touch much less use the famed telescope there. Picture her working after hours to explore the universe through photos that she and coworkers used in an office space called “the Harem” (really).

Do you think much has changed since then? Did you see the true NASA-related movie, “Hidden Figures?”

Through Gunderson’s words, finely interpreted by Melissa Harlow, Henrietta comes to life in the beautifully done Citadel show.

The entire production is well cast with Cameron Feagin and Anne Lentino, both of the Promethean Theatre Ensemble that did the excellent “Blue Stocking,” as fellow computers in the Harem and Adam Thatcher as Peter Shaw, the assistant boss. Thatcher just did Citadel’s “She Loves Me.”

Even though the theater space is small and the stage is tiny, Trevor Dotson’s set design includes a proper area for Henrietta’s Wisconsin’s home that includes her sister Margaret’s piano.

Margaret, now a young mother played by the very talented Laura Michele Erle (also the co-writer of “Three Sisters, Four Women”), is composing a symphony.

Pulling it all together is Director Beth Wolf, a Jeff award nominee for Citadel’s “Outside Mullingar” production.

Details: “Silent Sky is at Citadel Theatre, 300 S, Waukegan Rd, Lake Forest, (West Campus of Lake Forest School District) now through March 17, 2023. Run time is about 2 hours including one intermission. For tickets and other information visit www.citadeltheatre.org or call 847-735-8554.

Jodie Jacobs

For more shows visit Theatre in Chicago

Old romance conflict revived at Citadel Theatre

Recommended

On the one hand it’s hard to review a show that is dated. At least, that is the feeling audience members may get watching “She Loves Me” at Citadel Theatre. The show is a Jerry Bock/Sheldon Harnick, Joe Masteroff muscial with award-winning revivals that started out in 1937 as “Perfumerie” by Hungarian playwright Miklos Laszlo.

It went on to become the film “The Shop Around the Corner” in 1940 then redone as “In the Good Old Summertime.”

The action takes place as the seasons change but mainly during the holidays. However, this is not a family Christmas show. (except for older teens who may appreciate the more risqué parts in a café and the excekkent choreography by Amanda Schmidt in the Perfumerie.)

By the end of the first act, and it is a long first act, minds can also be changed.

What started out as somewhat stilted workplace activities, conversations and rifts, developed into a romantic confrontation, resolution and possible workplace disasters.

Once we meet and get to know Amalia Balash well-played by Hannah Louise Fermandes and nicely done by Georg Nowack portrayed by Travis Ascione as the verbally dueling couple who start out on the wrong foot, the action, directed by Director Matthew Silar, grows on you until you care about their conflict resolution and those of other characters. Kudos also go to Jake Busse as the café waiter.

Considering how small Citadel’s stage is the scenic design by Eric Luchen is perfect. It includes an excellent side balcony style space for a quintet led by keyboardist Rex Mayer.

“She Loves Me” is at Citadel Theatre, 300 Waukegan Rd., Lake Forest, IL from Nov. 17 through Dec. 17/ Running time 2 ½ hrs. For tickets and other information visit Citadel Theatre.

Jodie Jacobs

For more shows visit Theatre in Chicago

Chrisite defines what is a mousetrap

Cast O Mousetrap at Citadel Theater. (North Shore Photography Club photo)

Recommended

If you have seen “The Mousetrap,” Agatha Christie’s 1952 murder mystery that is still alive on stage in London, don’t give away the “who done-it” part.

With a reasonable run time of 2 hours, 20 minutes that includes a 15-minute intermission, the first act ends the play with you likely wondering, who is the next murder victim.

Directed by Scott Westerman who brilliantly presented Citadel’s award-winning “The Chrisians,” he has staged “Moustrap similar to a farce with characters moving in and out of doorways then appearing elsewhere.

As to the cast, they are mostly projected as somewhat overblown stereotypical characters that fit the “farce” slant.

So ask yourself who are these people, really? All the audience knows is that they are guests in the newly opened Monkswell Manor operated by newlyweds Mollie Ralston (Mary Margaret McCormack) and husband Giles (Jack Sharkey).

Next on the scene is a young, overly hyper lad named for architect Christopher Wren played by Jesus Barajas.

He is followed by Kristie Berger as the old maidish, times-have-changed Mrs. Boyle and William Ryder as the pleasant Major Metcalf.

Into the mix is Amy Stricker as Miss Casewell will drops hints that she had a difficult childhood.

The seemingly strangest character is Mr. Paravicini portrayed by Reginald Hemphill as an uninvited guest. He seems inordinately pleased with the guests’ makeup.

Last on stage is Detective Sergeant Trotter. Played by Sean Erik Wesslund, he first appears in the Inn’s big window on skis because the house is cut off by a persistent snowstorm.

Speaking of snow, the video created by cinematographer Ian Merritt adds drama to the show as does a strange mirror and other special effects.

So, don’t misread Westerman’s farcical handling of “Mousetrap.” Christie and Westerman are “dead” serious about the plot.

It supposedly was inspired by a real case about gravely mistreated children. It may lead some viewers to consider a case now in the news and the Illinois legal system.

Originally called “Three Blind Mice,” the nursery rhyme’s song is played in the background and thus raising the questions who are the mice and is the inn acting as a mousetrap?

DETAILS: Mousetrap is Sept. 15-Oct. 15 at Citadel Theatre Company, 300 S. Waukegan Rd., Lake Forest, IL. For tickets and information call (847) 735-8554, x1, or visit Citadel Theatre.

Jodie Jacobs

For more shows visit Theatre in Chicago

Profound Citadel play tackles religious divides

L-R (far back) Ellen Phelps,(front left) Abby Chafe), Scott Phelps and Manny Sevilla in 'The Christians' at Citadel Theatre. (Photo by North Shore Camera Club) — L-R (far back) Ellen Phelps, (front left) Abby Chafe), Scott Phelps and Manny Sevilla in ‘The Christians’ at Citadel Theatre. (Photo by North Shore Camera Club)

4 Stars

No matter what the religion espoused at home, “The Christians,” an Obie Award winning drama by Lucas Hnath, is bound to provoke discussion on the way home.

A remarkable production in both acting and set design, the play does not advocate a specific organized religion but raises theological questions about heaven, hell, G..d, the bible, sin and why members attend – all in an approximately 80 minutes of action and debate.

The setting is primarily Pastor Paul’s mega-church, enhanced by Pangaea Technology’s grid of 90 two-foot-square, state of the art digital video monitors to crate the church’s large interior. Also creating the right look are Intelligent Lighting Creations, BI (background Images), cinematographer Ian Merrin and scenic designer Johnathan Berg-Einhorn.

Audience members immediately become part of the congregation as Pastor Paul, played by Scott Phelps, walks in through the same door they used to enter, and welcomes the people he passes to the service.

Phelps then proceeds to mesmerize the audience with the first part of Hnath’s viewpoints in his sermon followed by theological disagreements argued by Associate Pastor Joshua, well portrayed Manny Sevilla.

Adding to the interplay are temperate thoughts from Church Elder Jay, quietly presented by actor Frank Nall, and agitated disagreement from Pastor Paul’s wife, Elizabeth, played by Scott Phelps wife, Ellen Phelps. (Both the Phelps are also production managers.)

In addition, Jenny, a congregant played with just the right emotional intensity by Abby Chafe, relays the problems she is facing from people who agree with the now former Pastor Joshua.

Members of Forte Chicago singers are in the choir who seem to be seated behind a screen at the back of the stage.

Tying it all together to create an atmosphere about to explode atmosphere is Director Scott Westerman who explains in the program how important the particular technical aspects used by Citadel are to a production on stage in the age of Zoom and selfies.

His note also raises meaningful questions about being good and doing good, rightness and righteousness and the source of people’s beliefs.

Hnath certainly deserves the Obie and Citadel and its excellent actors and crew deserve the standing ovation they received opening night.

Details: “The Christians” is at Citadel Theatre, 300 S. Waukegan Rd., Lake Forest, IL, now through March 12, 2023.

For tickets and more information visit Citadel Theatre.

Jodie Jacobs

For more shows visit Theatre in Chicago