| Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended
"...The House Theatre's "The Nutcracker," which is better than ever this year under Tommy Rapley's direction, has a lot to offer those brave souls beyond its affordability. With a book by Phillip Klapperich and Jake Minton, it's a piece with unusually broad appeal: Little kids get served cookies, and they can watch toys come to life and play in faux snow; older kids and teenagers can embrace the kind of Big Mythic Story With Death that this group tends to like; college students and 20- or 30-somethings won't feel like they're in some terminally unhip setting (the Chopin Theatre is in Wicker Park and has a cool, urban gestalt); and most of those on the wrong side of middle age will appreciate the freshness, warmth and concision of the show, as well as the wisdom of the message, which is about the ability of kids to work through their problems, assuming the adults in charge have learned how to get out of their way."
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Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...House Theatre of Chicago has been staging this imaginative and inventive version since 2007, and since then, it's more than earned a place in the roster of exceptional Chicago holiday shows. I was teary-eyed in less than five minutes. Director/choreographer Tommy Rapley provides a near-perfect staging featuring a live band and notable performances from Paige Collins as the doe-eyed Clara and Brenda Barrie as the grieving mother."
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Centerstage - Highly Recommended
"...The cast is uniformly excellent, with a number of actors getting to pull double duty, especially Brenda Barrie and Benjamin Sprunger who portray Clara's grieving parents in addition to a pair of deliciously evil (and British) rats. Their ability to leap back and forth between broad, slapstick comedy and emotionally restrained realism were impressive indeed. And for those with young children in attendance, the actors come out before the show and during intermission to chat, have photos taken, etc. And if one doesn't have children, never fear, because this show is one of those rare few that can truly be enjoyed by all (and I do mean all) ages."
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Time Out Chicago - Recommended
"...Collette Pollard's clever in-the-round set design provides for multiple entrances and exits and a few well-hidden surprises when Clara goes "into the walls" to confront the Rat King at the play's climax. Director Tommy Rapley admirably manages the heavy traffic, and Minton and Klapperich's use of cast doubling feels particularly rich in Brenda Barrie and Benjamin Sprunger's turns both as Clara's increasingly distant parents and the rat vanguard. The play's smattering of songs, composed by Kevin O'Donnell with lyrics by Minton, still feels as half-baked as Clara's underdone cookies, but on the whole this Nutcracker is an engaging, family-friendly treat."
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ChicagoCritic - Highly Recommended
"...In a sea of overproduced television movies that just manufacture their so-called ‘magic' in bulk, The Nutcracker is an authentic piece of real life Christmas cheer pitched right at the sweet spot of transformative spectacle and enthralling tale. This is one spellbinding tradition I hope The House Theatre lets Chicago continue keeping every year, if only to remind us-as Uncle Drosselmeyer states with a deadpan sobriety-"Magic is real.""
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