Top Rated Plays In Chicago - Theatre In Chicago

Welcome to the greatest rock 'n' roll show not on Earth! LOKI arrives at Asgard, bringing chaos, comedy, and three monstrous (maybe) children. LOKI tangles with Odin, Thor, and the mysterious Freya; each with their own agenda; their own secrets-but all paths lead to one eternal question: In an us vs. them world, can we envision a new mythology? Ensemble member Heather Currie directs this epic musical world premiere from the Jeff award-winning team of Howe and Calvit.

Chicago Reader- Highly Recommended
Talkin Broadway- Highly Recommended
Stage and Cinema- Highly Recommended
Chicago Stage and Screen- Highly Recommended
Chicago Theatre Review- Highly Recommended
Buzz Center Stage- Highly Recommended
Third Coast Review- Highly Recommended
Chicago On Stage- Highly Recommended
Broadway World- Highly Recommended

Pandemonium, Please Hold

Second City

The Second City's 114th Mainstage Revue delivers a high-energy night of sketch and improv, led by a fearless ensemble who bring outrageous characters, show-stopping musical numbers, and audience-driven moments to life - making every performance feel alive and ever-changing. Smart, sharp, and ridiculously funny, the show transforms the chaos of everyday life into something shared, cathartic, and unapologetically hilarious.

Chicago Tribune- Highly Recommended
Chicago Reader- Highly Recommended
Curtain Call Chicago- Highly Recommended
Splash Magazine- Highly Recommended
Allie and the After Party- Highly Recommended

An Enemy of the People

TimeLine Theatre Company

When a respected doctor in small-town Norway makes a deadly discovery that threatens the health of the entire village, he raises the alarm. But as local leaders—including his own brother, the mayor—scramble to protect their own interests, the truth becomes inconvenient, and the doctor finds himself the target of the very community he’s trying to protect. Winner of the 2024 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Adaptation, this vibrant new version of Ibsen’s thunderous masterwork asks: what happens when doing the right thing means losing everything?

Chicago Tribune- Highly Recommended
Chicago Sun Times- Recommended
Daily Herald- Highly Recommended
Chicago Reader- Highly Recommended
Stage and Cinema- Highly Recommended
Let's Play Theatrical Reviews- Highly Recommended
Chicago Stage and Screen- Highly Recommended
Around The Town Chicago- Highly Recommended
Chicago Theatre Review- Highly Recommended
Buzz Center Stage- Highly Recommended
The Fourth Walsh- Highly Recommended
Third Coast Review- Highly Recommended
Chicago On Stage- Highly Recommended
PicksInSix- Highly Recommended
Curtain Call Chicago- Highly Recommended
Allie and the After Party- Highly Recommended
Werner's Theatre Reviews- Highly Recommended
Broadway World- Highly Recommended
NewCity Chicago- Highly Recommended

Job

Writers Theatre

Jane, an employee at a big tech company, has been placed on leave after video of her screaming breakdown at work went viral. Her employers tell Jane she must be evaluated by crisis therapist Loyd before she can be reinstated to the job that gives her life meaning. Their first session together, however, quickly escalates into an epic showdown with a shocking and disturbing twist. A Broadway and Off-Broadway sensation, this intense psychological thriller skewers the insidiousness of the internet, the meaning of work and the ramifications of a secret revealed.

Chicago Tribune- Highly Recommended
Chicago Sun Times- Highly Recommended
Chicago Reader- Highly Recommended
Let's Play Theatrical Reviews- Highly Recommended
Around The Town Chicago- Highly Recommended
Buzz Center Stage- Recommended
MaraTapp.org- Highly Recommended
Evanston Roundtable- Highly Recommended
NewCity Chicago- Highly Recommended

Crime and Punishment

TUTA Theatre

Dostoyevsky’s epic novel distilled into a 90-minute play for three-actors and performed in TUTA’s hyper-intimate 24-seat theater. CRIME AND PUNISHMENT focuses on the plight of an intellectual young man whose moral struggle with his belief system compels him to commit a horrendous crime. A psychological game of cat and mouse ensues with the investigator who hunts him down. Dreams, waking visions, even ghosts paint this psychological portrait of crime, guilt, and retribution.

Chicago Reader- Highly Recommended
EpochTimes- Highly Recommended
Stage and Cinema- Highly Recommended
Chicago Theatre Review- Recommended
Buzz Center Stage- Highly Recommended
Splash Magazine- Highly Recommended
Broadway World- Highly Recommended
NewCity Chicago- Highly Recommended

Goodnight Moon

Chicago Children's Theatre at The Station

This musical based on Margaret Wise Brown’s beloved children’s book is drenched in primary colors that pay homage to Clement Hurd’s vivid illustrations in an all-new, immersive setting. Catchy songs, delightful dancing, a technicolor set, the quiet poetry of the original tale, and the humorous antics of one very nocturnal bunny all play a part in this fun, family-friendly celebration of one of the most iconic children’s books of all time.

Chicago Tribune- Recommended
Chicago Reader- Highly Recommended
Stage and Cinema- Highly Recommended
Around The Town Chicago- Highly Recommended
Third Coast Review- Highly Recommended
Chicago On Stage- Highly Recommended
Broadway World- Highly Recommended

Octet

Raven Theatre

In a church basement meeting room, a group of people -always eight-gather to sing. Told via chamber-inspired, a cappella music, OCTET investigates the total impact of internet and technology addiction on modern society, from Dave Malloy, writer of Tony-winning NATASHA, PIERRE AND THE GREAT COMET OF 1812.

Chicago Tribune- Highly Recommended
Chicago Sun Times- Somewhat Recommended
Chicago Reader- Highly Recommended
Chicago Stage and Screen- Highly Recommended
Chicago Theatre Review- Highly Recommended
Buzz Center Stage- Highly Recommended
Third Coast Review- Highly Recommended
Curtain Call Chicago- Highly Recommended
Werner's Theatre Reviews- Highly Recommended
Broadway World- Highly Recommended
NewCity Chicago- Highly Recommended

Covenant

Goodman Theatre

Expect one devilish twist after another in Covenant, a mythic and suspenseful new play hailed as "blackout-and-blood-curdling-scream deliciousness" (New York Magazine),"undeniably spooky (and) absolutely enjoyable" (TheaterMania). He left the small Georgia town a struggling guitarist-and returned a blues star. As rumors of a darker deal abound, it becomes clear that he's not the only one with a secret...or seeking salvation. This "striking Southern gothic work" (New York Times) explores the power of belief and the thin line between rumor and truth.

Chicago Tribune- Highly Recommended
Chicago Sun Times- Highly Recommended
Daily Herald- Highly Recommended
Talkin Broadway- Highly Recommended
Stage and Cinema- Highly Recommended
Let's Play Theatrical Reviews- Highly Recommended
Around The Town Chicago- Highly Recommended
Chicago Theatre Review- Highly Recommended
Buzz Center Stage- Highly Recommended
The Fourth Walsh- Highly Recommended
Third Coast Review- Highly Recommended
Chicago On Stage- Recommended
PicksInSix- Recommended
Curtain Call Chicago- Highly Recommended
Splash Magazine- Highly Recommended
Allie and the After Party- Recommended
Broadway World- Recommended
NewCity Chicago- Recommended

Theater of the Mind

Reid Murdoch Building

Inspired by both historical and current neuroscience research, the show takes you on an intimate and immersive journey inside how we see and create our worlds. Peer behind the curtain of the physical realm as you move through a series of rooms with your guide, where you’ll participate in thought-provoking experiences—and marvel at the wonders of your mind.

Chicago Sun Times- Recommended
Daily Herald- Highly Recommended
Chicago Reader- Recommended
Stage and Cinema- Recommended
Let's Play Theatrical Reviews- Recommended
Around The Town Chicago- Highly Recommended
The Fourth Walsh- Recommended
Third Coast Review- Highly Recommended
Chicago On Stage- Highly Recommended
PicksInSix- Highly Recommended
Curtain Call Chicago- Highly Recommended
Broadway World- Highly Recommended
NewCity Chicago- Recommended

Always...Patsy Cline

American Blues Theater

This musical play, complete with down home country humor and big-hearted emotion, includes hits "Crazy", "I Fall to Pieces", "Sweet Dreams", "Walkin' After Midnight" and more!

Chicago Tribune- Recommended
Chicago Reader- Highly Recommended
Around The Town Chicago- Highly Recommended
Chicago Theatre Review- Highly Recommended
Buzz Center Stage- Highly Recommended
Chicago On Stage- Recommended
People and Places- Highly Recommended
NewCity Chicago- Somewhat Recommended

Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament

Medieval Times Schaumburg Castle

Medieval Times is an exciting, family-friendly dinner attraction inspired by an 11th century feast and tournament. Guests are served a four-course banquet and cheer for one of six knights as they compete in the joust and other tests of skill. Expect lots of jousting, swordsmanship, thrilling hand-to-hand combat, and displays of extraordinary horsemanship as part of an exciting story set in Medieval Spain.

Chicago Tribune- Highly Recommended
Chicago Sun Times- Highly Recommended
Chicago Stage Review- Recommended
Chicagoland Theater Reviews- Recommended

The Targeted

A Red Orchid Theatre at Chopin Theatre

Welcome to the Solidarity and Truth Summit. A gathering of the most persecuted, tortured, and misunderstood people in the entire world. They call themselves Targeted Individuals, and they are victims of a vast and covert program of systematic torture, surveillance, and harassment by global intergovernmental powers. Over the course of this weekend in the woods they will discuss strategies to take down the deep state, bring awareness to their plight, and despite their suffering, stay human.

Chicago Tribune- Somewhat Recommended
Chicago Sun Times- Highly Recommended
Chicago Reader- Highly Recommended
Around The Town Chicago- Recommended
Chicago Theatre Review- Highly Recommended
Buzz Center Stage- Highly Recommended
The Fourth Walsh- Recommended
Third Coast Review- Somewhat Recommended
PicksInSix- Highly Recommended
Broadway World- Highly Recommended

The Golden Girls: The Cheese Pyramid

Hell In A Handbag Productions at The Clutch

In this hilarious new adventure, Rose (Ed Jones) finds herself in need of extra income and stumbles upon a unique business opportunity - the first multi-level marketing company in St. Olaf, introducing local households to the cheeses of her hometown. What could be more perfect?

Chicago Reader- Highly Recommended
Around The Town Chicago- Highly Recommended
Chicago Theatre Review- Recommended
Third Coast Review- Somewhat Recommended
Allie and the After Party- Highly Recommended

Le Bal

Trap Door Theatre

Le Bal is a newly commissioned adaptation of Ettore Scola's iconic film-a sweeping, dialogue-free production that tells the story of political and personal transformation through dance, music, and fashion. Set to a score composed and curated by Danny Rockett, Le Bal uses movement and sound to capture the emotional pulse of a changing world. From intimate moments to global shifts, this immersive theatrical experience brings decades of U.S. and world history vividly to life.

Chicago Reader- Recommended
Stage and Cinema- Recommended
Around The Town Chicago- Highly Recommended
Buzz Center Stage- Highly Recommended
Third Coast Review- Recommended
Broadway World- Recommended

Do Something Pretty

Rivendell Theatre

On a hot August night in a small Massachusetts town the last few weeks before school starts. Three teens try to navigate their way through the murky path to adulthood. Phoebe wants to grow up. Jason wants Evie. And Evie just wants to get as far away from everyone as she possibly can.

Chicago Tribune- Somewhat Recommended
Chicago Sun Times- Highly Recommended
Around The Town Chicago- Highly Recommended
Chicago Theatre Review- Recommended
MaraTapp.org- Highly Recommended
Curtain Call Chicago- Recommended
Allie and the After Party- Recommended

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