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.
Blue Man Group is best known for its award-winning theatrical productions which critics have described as "ground-breaking," "hilarious," "visually stunning" and "musically powerful." These performances feature three enigmatic bald and blue characters who take the audience through a multi-sensory experience that combines theatre, percussive music, art, science and vaudeville into a form of entertainment that is like nothing else.
Chicago Tribune-
Highly Recommended
Chicago Sun Times-
Recommended
Chicago Reader-
Highly Recommended
Windy City Times-
Highly Recommended
Centerstage-
Highly Recommended
Chicago Stage Review-
Highly Recommended
Chicago Theater Beat-
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.
As famed escape artist Harry Houdini circles the globe performing one incredible stunt after another, Victor, a young devotee goes through his own rigorous magician’s training – locking himself in closets, holding his breath under water and walking into walls. After a chance encounter with his hero, Victor receives a special box that just might contain the secrets of Houdini’s great success.
Chicago Sun Times-
Highly Recommended
Chicago Reader-
Highly Recommended
Centerstage-
Recommended
Chicago Theater Beat-
Highly Recommended
Around The Town Chicago-
Highly Recommended
Doyle Mayfield, an old-guard country star with a handful of hits back in the 70s and 80s, is reviving his career thirty years, four wives, and three Debbies later. The new Debbie, a single mother with three children, sees this lovable lothario as her last chance to make it big in Nashville – but she also questions hitching her star to this loose cannon.
Chicago Tribune-
Highly Recommended
Chicago Sun Times-
Highly Recommended
Time Out Chicago-
Highly Recommended
Chicago Reader-
Highly Recommended
NewCity Chicago-
Highly Recommended
Windy City Times-
Recommended
Chicago Theatre Addict-
Highly Recommended
Chicago On the Aisle-
Highly Recommended
ChicagoCritic-
Recommended
Chicago Theater Beat-
Highly Recommended
Chicago Now-
Highly Recommended
Around The Town Chicago-
Recommended
Aston brings Davies, a fast talking tramp, to his cramped home full of odds and ends—best characterized as junk—offering him a bed and a much needed place to get on his feet. Davies quickly realizes that Aston and his brother Mick have a different take on the world around them. From Aston’s constant puttering and half finished fix-it jobs to Mick’s grand plans for the future, the three become an unlikely trio desperately trying to connect to one another but always missing the mark.
Chicago Tribune-
Somewhat Recommended
Chicago Sun Times-
Highly Recommended
Daily Herald-
Highly Recommended
Time Out Chicago-
Recommended
Chicago Reader-
Highly Recommended
Windy City Times-
Highly Recommended
Chicago On the Aisle-
Highly Recommended
ChicagoCritic-
Highly Recommended
Chicago Now-
Highly Recommended
Around The Town Chicago-
Highly Recommended
The Jackie Wilson Story having been a huge success first opening in 2000 and with a national tour in 2002 which culminated at the famous Apollo Theater in New York, is the perfect production to open this legendary season. Written & Directed by Jackie Taylor, this promises to be a bigger and better production with a few star studded surprises.
Time Out Chicago-
Recommended
NewCity Chicago-
Highly Recommended
Windy City Times-
Highly Recommended
Centerstage-
Recommended
ChicagoCritic-
Recommended
Chicago Theater Beat-
Highly Recommended
Chicago Stage Style-
Highly Recommended
Around The Town Chicago-
Highly Recommended
Jon Stienhagen’s Blizzard ’67 takes us to the fast-paced, high-pressured, glamorous Loop of the late 1960s when ambitious, arrogant businessmen fought ruthlessly for power and respect. Lanfield, Henkin, Emery, and Bell spend their work days competing mercilessly with each other but when they find themselves trapped in the most fearsome blizzard Chicago has ever known, it is their survival, rather than promotion, on the line. If they don’t work together and overcome their corporate rivalries, they’ll be left out in the cold. For the 45th anniversary of the infamous blizzard that shut down Chicago for days, an ensemble of four actors will recreate that chilling Chicago memory and the surrounding frenzy.
Chicago Tribune-
Somewhat Recommended
Time Out Chicago-
Recommended
Chicago Reader-
Highly Recommended
NewCity Chicago-
Highly Recommended
Windy City Times-
Highly Recommended
ChicagoCritic-
Highly Recommended
Chicago Theater Beat-
Highly Recommended
Chicago Stage Style-
Highly Recommended
April 9, 1947- Baseball’s Opening Day is one week away, and Branch Rickey, General Manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, will call up Jackie Robinson to break the color-barrier and play as the Major League’s first black ballplayer. If he does, Robinson will face loud and heated opposition from virtually every owner, manager, and player in baseball – and it won’t be a cakewalk with the fans, either. Who will be his allies if he makes the most daring and important play of his life?
Chicago Tribune-
Highly Recommended
Time Out Chicago-
Recommended
NewCity Chicago-
Highly Recommended
Windy City Times-
Highly Recommended
Centerstage-
Highly Recommended
Chicago On the Aisle-
Recommended
ChicagoCritic-
Highly Recommended
Chicago Theater Beat-
Somewhat Recommended
Chicago Now-
Highly Recommended
Chicago Stage Style-
Recommended
Around The Town Chicago-
Highly Recommended
Anne Kelly needs help. She's pushing 40 and still lives with her mother. Her deadbeat brother won't even return her calls and the ancient family home seems to be falling down around her. When Levi, a sweet but dim-witted younger man, comes into her life, Anne begins to see the upside of not always being the grown up.
Chicago Tribune-
Highly Recommended
Chicago Sun Times-
Highly Recommended
Time Out Chicago-
Recommended
Chicago Reader-
Somewhat Recommended
NewCity Chicago-
Highly Recommended
Windy City Times-
Highly Recommended
Copley News Service-
Highly Recommended
Chicago Theatre Addict-
Recommended
ChicagoCritic-
Highly Recommended
Chicago Theater Beat-
Recommended
Chicago Stage Style-
Recommended
Around The Town Chicago-
Highly Recommended
“I am an invisible man.” In this world premiere stage production, the first authorized by The Ralph and Fanny Ellison Charitable Trust, a landmark American novel comes to life. Ralph Ellison’s classic story of a young African American’s search for his identity blazes with luminous theatricality and truth. Adapted by Oscar-nominated writer Oren Jacoby, Invisible Man marks the first Chicago appearance by award-winning New York City director Christopher McElroen, a founding artistic director of the Classical Theatre of Harlem.
Chicago Tribune-
Highly Recommended
Chicago Sun Times-
Highly Recommended
Time Out Chicago-
Highly Recommended
NewCity Chicago-
Highly Recommended
Centerstage-
Highly Recommended
ChicagoCritic-
Recommended
Chicago Theater Beat-
Highly Recommended
Chicago Now-
Recommended
Chicago Stage Style-
Somewhat Recommended
Around The Town Chicago-
Recommended
When Pinkalicious Pinkerton eats one too many pink cupcakes, she catches a serious case of “Pinkititis” and turns pink from head to toe! Will her broccoli-eating brother be able to help cure her before it’s too late? Find out in the colorful musical adventure, remounted from Emerald City Theatre’s sold out production at their Chicago home at The Apollo Theater. This heartwarming musical’s Gateway Theme of healthy eating is sure to strike a chord among parents and picky eaters alike. Emerald City’s Gateway Themes are a topic of conversation adults can have with their early-learner. Education and Artistic staff create materials in the playbill to provide support for adults. All performances will include an age appropriate pre-show activity in the lobby and an autograph session with the cast after the performance.
Chicago Tribune-
Recommended
Chicago Sun Times-
Recommended
Chicago Reader-
Recommended
Centerstage-
Highly Recommended
Chicago Stage Style-
Highly Recommended
Around The Town Chicago-
Highly Recommended
Even though his dad is a frog and his mom claims to be a princess, Jack grew up in a house without fairy tales. So when he is thrust into a mysterious forest, threatened by bears and witches and trolls, he must find a way to survive on his own without any knowledge of the “rules” of traditional folktales. Travel with Jack on a madcap quest to rescue a trio of pigs, escape from some extremely gruff billy goats, and help his parents find their Happily Ever After, in a world premiere fractured fairy tale. Based on popular fairy tales and nursery rhymes, from the Brothers Grimm and beyond.
Featuring beautiful, a cappella renditions of rare American folk songs, this play with music tells the Depression-era story of two extraordinary women dependant on one another to gain acceptance in a divided society. When Susannah, a WPA song collector for the Library of Congress, overhears Pearl singing in a Texas prison, she will pull every string possible to introduce the woman with the silky voice and steely spirit to the world.
Chicago Tribune-
Somewhat Recommended
Time Out Chicago-
Recommended
ChicagoCritic-
Highly Recommended
Chicago Theater Beat-
Highly Recommended
Chicago Now-
Highly Recommended
Chicago Stage Style-
Highly Recommended
The Hunchback Variations takes the form of a panel discussion between Quasimodo, hunchback of Notre Dame, and Ludwig van Beethoven, composer, on their attempt to create a mysterious sound effect called for in Anton Chekov’s The Cherry Orchard. Playing out over 11 scenes, or “variations,” the story details the duo's collaboration -- one doomed by their mutual deafness, their unpleasant working conditions, and the fact that Beethoven has not yet finished reading the The Cherry Orchard.
Chicago Tribune-
Somewhat Recommended
Time Out Chicago-
Highly Recommended
Centerstage-
Highly Recommended
Chicago Theater Beat-
Highly Recommended
Filament Theatre Ensemble and The Den Ensemble at The Den
The Drawer Boy is a story about the healing power of art and the true bonds of friendship. The Drawer Boy examines the relationship between two WWII veterans whose lives are turned upside down when a young actor visits their farm to gather research for a play. What starts off quite innocently unfolds into a powerful journey as the two older men rebuild the story of their lives, the truth of which had long been left unspoken.
Chicago Tribune-
Recommended
Time Out Chicago-
Recommended
Chicago Reader-
Highly Recommended
ChicagoCritic-
Highly Recommended
Chicago Theater Beat-
Recommended
Chicago Stage Style-
Recommended
Around The Town Chicago-
Highly Recommended
