T.I.C. TOP LIST - The Highest Rated Shows In Chicago
The "Theatre In Chicago (T.I.C.) Top List" is a list of the top rated plays now running in the Chicago area based on what the current reviews are saying. To see all of the play reviews go to Review Round-Up.
Killer Joe focuses on the Smith family, a greedy, vindictive clan of Texans who hatch a plan to murder their estranged matriarch to cash in on her insurance policy. Unable to bring themselves to do the deed, they hire Killer Joe Cooper, a full-time cop and part-time contract killer. Once he steps into their trailer, their simple plan quickly spirals out of control.
The Building Stage, noted for unique retellings and adaptations of various media to the stage will have their newest and largest endeavor to date: a non-operatic theatrical re-imagining of the famous Richard Wagner opera cycle, The Ring of the Niebelung, into an epic long-form theatrical piece.
Chicago Tribune-
Recommended
Chicago Sun Times-
Highly Recommended
Time Out Chicago-
Highly Recommended
Chicago Reader-
Highly Recommended
NewCity Chicago-
Highly Recommended
ChicagoCritic-
Highly Recommended
Steadstyle Chicago-
Highly Recommended
Dee Gee Theatricals & John Cossette Productions at Apollo Theater
On December 4, 1956, an auspicious twist of fate brought together Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley. The place was Sun Records’ storefront studio in Memphis. The man who made it happen was the “Father of Rock-n-Roll,” Sam Phillips, who discovered them all. The four legends-to-be united for the only time in their careers for an impromptu recording session that embodied the birth of rock ‘n’ roll and has come to be known as one of the greatest rock jam sessions of all time.
You're invited to a marvelous party at Writers' Theatre! Weaving together songs and literary delights, Oh Coward! celebrates one of the theater’s greatest entertainers, Noel Coward. His effervescent music and charming quips combine for an unforgettable evening of the most memorable tunes of the 20th century.
Chicago Tribune-
Highly Recommended
Chicago Sun Times-
Highly Recommended
Time Out Chicago-
Recommended
Chicago Reader-
Highly Recommended
NewCity Chicago-
Highly Recommended
Copley News Service-
Recommended
Chicago Theater Blog-
Highly Recommended
ChicagoCritic-
Highly Recommended
Steadstyle Chicago-
Highly Recommended
A domestic cocktail party goes hilariously and horrifically awry exposing the obsessions, prejudices and petty competitiveness of the party-goers. A sort of suburban comedy of manners, and satire on the aspirations and tastes of the new middle class that emerged in Britain in the 1970s and ring so true today. The play, developed through lengthy improvisations in which Mike Leigh explored characters in all their beautiful flawed glory, provides a tremendous opportunity for the entire creative team.
Chicago Tribune-
Highly Recommended
Chicago Sun Times-
Highly Recommended
Time Out Chicago-
Recommended
Chicago Reader-
Highly Recommended
Copley News Service-
Highly Recommended
ChicagoCritic-
Recommended
Steadstyle Chicago-
Highly Recommended
On the banks of a steamy bayou, the tiny community of San Pere, Louisiana springs to life with stories of love, sexuality and coming-of-age. Influenced by lively Afro-Caribbean folklore, The Brother/Sister Plays explore the struggles that arise when the quest for self identity is at odds with community values.
Chicago Tribune-
Highly Recommended
Chicago Sun Times-
Highly Recommended
Chicago Reader-
Highly Recommended
Windy City Times-
Highly Recommended
Copley News Service-
Highly Recommended
Talkin Broadway-
Recommended
Centerstage-
Highly Recommended
Chicago Theater Blog-
Highly Recommended
ChicagoCritic-
Recommended
Steadstyle Chicago-
Recommended
A spellbinding drama with pitch dark humor about a writer accused of perpetrating the very acts depicted in his murderous stories. Featuring Redtwist’s Associate Artistic Director, Andrew Jessop, as the writer, and Jeff Award-winner (for Equus), Peter Oyloe, as his slow-witted brother. Tom Hickey, from Strawdog, and Redtwister, Johnny Garcia, are the good and bad cops respectively.
Chicago Tribune-
Highly Recommended
Time Out Chicago-
Highly Recommended
Chicago Reader-
Highly Recommended
NewCity Chicago-
Highly Recommended
Windy City Times-
Recommended
Centerstage-
Recommended
Chicago Theater Blog-
Recommended
Edge-
Highly Recommended
Chicago Stage Review-
Recommended
ChicagoCritic-
Highly Recommended
Steadstyle Chicago-
Highly Recommended
Recipient of a Drama Desk Award and a Tony Award nomination for Best Play in 1982, ’Master Harold’ ... and the Boys is considered Athol Fugard’s masterpiece, valued for both its universal themes of humanity and its skilled theater craft. Set in South Africa during the 1950s era of apartheid, it depicts how institutionalized racism can become absorbed by those who live under it. A white 17-year-old spends time with two African workers he has known all his life, and through their conversations on one rainy day we see what unites and divides them. The play’s beautiful and haunting dialogue and message of hope also inspire the recognition that there is much work to be done to bring people of different races together.
: This Pulitzer Prize-winning comedic classic recounts the numerous travails of an average American nuclear family from New Jersey who survive some not-so-average circumstances, including the Ice Age, the Great Flood, the Napoleonic War to name a few. The play is a testament to the resiliency and fortitude of the human spirit from one of America's most celebrated playwrights.
Chicago Tribune-
Highly Recommended
Chicago Sun Times-
Highly Recommended
Time Out Chicago-
Recommended
Chicago Reader-
Highly Recommended
Windy City Times-
Recommended
ChicagoCritic-
Highly Recommended
Steadstyle Chicago-
Recommended
11:11 tells the story of the first day at Camp Methuselah Pines and the team of young Christian camp counselors who unknowingly drug themselves. As the evening unravels, secrets are shared, temptations explored, and a group of friends realize they don't have the same understanding of the same God. Inspired by the experiences of the playwrights and ensemble, '11:11' asks an age-old question of a new generation: why are we willing to fight for something we cannot see or define?
This Tony Award-winning musical has captured the hearts of people all over the world. It is the bittersweet tale of a family coping with a changing world. Tevye, a Jewish dairyman, and his family live in a small village in 1905 Tsarist Russia. With the help of the local matchmaker, Tevye and his wife are in search of acceptable husbands for their three lively daughters. While their daughters are determined to break tradition and marry the men they love, Tevye begins to face bigger issues as Jews are being persecuted in his homeland. A hopeful celebration of the human spirit, Fiddler on the Roof features an unforgettable score with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein.
Chicago Tribune-
Highly Recommended
Chicago Sun Times-
Highly Recommended
Daily Herald-
Highly Recommended
Chicago Reader-
Highly Recommended
Copley News Service-
Recommended
Centerstage-
Highly Recommended
ChicagoCritic-
Somewhat Recommended
Steadstyle Chicago-
Recommended
It’s Harlem in the Spring of 1943. Elizabeth and Quilly, sisters of a certain age, are quietly nursing their loneliness and healing from heartache when their lives together change abruptly. Husband Witherspoon, a handsome young border, moves to New York from the country in search of his fiancée, and ends up finding love in the most unlikely of places. Told with heartwarming sincerity, humor and a touch of poetry, The Old Settler paints a poignant picture of two women testing the bonds of family and finding the strength and forgiveness only family can offer.
Chicago Tribune-
Somewhat Recommended
Chicago Sun Times-
Highly Recommended
Time Out Chicago-
Recommended
Chicago Reader-
Somewhat Recommended
Windy City Times-
Highly Recommended
Copley News Service-
Highly Recommended
ChicagoCritic-
Highly Recommended
Steadstyle Chicago-
Highly Recommended
On a startlingly bright autumn night in 2008, Harper Regan walked away from her home and her husband and her daughter and she kept walking. She told nobody that she was going. She told nobody where she was going. She put everything she ever built at risk. For two lost days and nights, until it looked as though her entire life might unravel, she didn't turn back. From Uxbridge to Stockport to Manchester and back again, Harper Regan navigates the UK, exploring family, love and delusion; and how to live in a godless universe.
Chicago Tribune-
Highly Recommended
Time Out Chicago-
Highly Recommended
Chicago Reader-
Highly Recommended
NewCity Chicago-
Highly Recommended
Windy City Times-
Highly Recommended
Centerstage-
Highly Recommended
Chicago Theater Blog-
Recommended
ChicagoCritic-
Somewhat Recommended
Steadstyle Chicago-
Not Recommended
Set at an all-boys boarding school in New England during World War II, A Separate Peace is a fascinating look into the dark side of adolescence. The complex bonds of friendship between shy, studious Gene and his athletic, daredevil roommate Finny are tested—with shocking consequences. Based on the best-selling novel, A Separate Peace is a quintessential American classic about trust and betrayal, war and peace. Weekday matinee performances are available for school groups only (Tuesdays- Fridays at 10 a.m.)
Zach and Abbie are an American couple desperate to have a child. Beena is a 19 year old Indian woman struggling to escape an abusive marriage and provide for her son. When financial concerns convince Abbie to hire a surrogate in India, the two women’s lives become tangled with surprising and dangerous consequences. Here Where it’s Safe is a new play by award-winning playwright and Stage Left ensemble member M.E.H. Lewis (Burying the Bones, Fellow Travellers) that asks what comes of the choices we make, and what happens when we run out of choices.
Time Out Chicago-
Recommended
Chicago Reader-
Somewhat Recommended
Examiner-
Highly Recommended
NewCity Chicago-
Highly Recommended
Steadstyle Chicago-
Recommended
