Top Rated Plays In Chicago - Theatre In Chicago

HAMILTON is a revolutionary piece of theatre, with a score that blends hip-hop, jazz, R&B and Broadway. Written by Lin-Manuel Miranda and directed by Thomas Kail, with choreography by Andy Blankenbuehler and musical supervision and orchestrations from Alex Lacamoire, it tells the story of America's founding father Alexander Hamilton. It has received numerous awards and accolades, including Tony, Grammy and Olivier Awards, the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, as well as a special citation from the Kennedy Center Honors. Drawing from Ron Chernow's acclaimed biography, HAMILTON is now seen by audiences around the world as an essential representation of America then, told by America now.

Chicago Tribune- Highly Recommended
Chicago Sun Times- Highly Recommended
Daily Herald- Highly Recommended
Chicago Reader- Highly Recommended
Let's Play Theatrical Reviews- Highly Recommended
Around The Town Chicago- Highly Recommended
WTTW- Highly Recommended
Chicago Theatre Review- Highly Recommended
Buzz Center Stage- Highly Recommended
The Fourth Walsh- Highly Recommended
Chicagoland Musical Theatre- Highly Recommended
Third Coast Review- Highly Recommended
Chicago On Stage- Highly Recommended
PicksInSix- Highly Recommended
Chicago Culture Authority- Highly Recommended
Splash Magazine- Highly Recommended
NewCity Chicago- Highly Recommended

Birds Of North America

A Red Orchid Theatre

John and his daughter Caitlyn are birders. As they scan the skies over their backyard in suburban Maryland looking for elusive birds, years go by. Relationships begin and end. Children grow up and parents age. The climate and the world change in small and vast ways. BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA takes a close look at the relationship of a father and daughter over the course of a decade as they struggle to understand the parts of one another that defy understanding.

Chicago Tribune- Highly Recommended
Chicago Sun Times- Highly Recommended
Chicago Reader- Highly Recommended
Stage and Cinema- Highly Recommended
Chicago Theatre Review- Highly Recommended
PicksInSix- Highly Recommended
MaraTapp.org- Highly Recommended
Splash Magazine- Highly Recommended
Allie and the After Party- Highly Recommended
Werner's Theatre Reviews- Highly Recommended
NewCity Chicago- Highly Recommended

Admissions

Citadel Theatre Company

At an elite prep school, Sherri Rosen-Mason is leading the charge for change—until her own son’s Ivy League dreams put her ideals to the test. This sharp, compelling drama digs into the lengths we’ll go to protect our children, and the complicated truths that surface when personal stakes get too close to home.

Around The Town Chicago- Highly Recommended
Chicago Theatre Review- Highly Recommended
Buzz Center Stage- Highly Recommended
Chicago Theater and Arts- Highly Recommended
Chicago On Stage- Highly Recommended
Spotlight On Lake- Highly Recommended
Splash Magazine- Highly Recommended

Million Dollar Quartet

Paramount Theatre

Four Legends. One Night. Music History Made. You may have loved Million Dollar Quartet in 2017 at Paramount Theatre - now imagine it set in Sun Studio itself. The new Stolp Island Theatre will be designed to immerse you in the experience so you can say "I was there!" On December 4, 1956, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins had a chance encounter at Sun Studio in Memphis. What transpired ?was one of the greatest impromptu jam sessions in music history.

Daily Herald- Highly Recommended
Around The Town Chicago- Highly Recommended
Chicago Theatre Review- Highly Recommended
Chicago Culture Authority- Highly Recommended
Broadway World- Highly Recommended
NewCity Chicago- Highly Recommended

Black and Highly Flavored

UP Comedy Club

The Black Excellence Revue brings the heat with a high-energy celebration of Black joy, featuring new songs, bold sketches, and The Second City’s iconic improv. With a hilarious, brilliant cast leading the charge, it’s a can’t-miss night of laughter – and a perfect break from the Chicago cold.

Chicago Theatre Review- Highly Recommended
Buzz Center Stage- Highly Recommended
The Fourth Walsh- Highly Recommended
Third Coast Review- Highly Recommended
Splash Magazine- Highly Recommended

Little Shop of Horrors

Marriott Theatre

The deviously delicious smash hit musical Little Shop of Horrors has devoured audience’s hearts for decades. The charming, quirky, tongue-in-cheek comedy from Howard Ashman and Alan Menken (Disney’s Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, and Beauty and the Beast) follows meek plant store attendant Seymour, his co-worker crush Audrey, her sadistic dentist of a boyfriend and the man-eating plant that threatens them and the world as we know it.

Chicago Tribune- Recommended
Daily Herald- Highly Recommended
Chicago Reader- Highly Recommended
Chicago Stage and Screen- Highly Recommended
Around The Town Chicago- Highly Recommended
Chicago Theatre Review- Highly Recommended
Buzz Center Stage- Highly Recommended
Entertaining Chicago- Highly Recommended
Chicago On Stage- Highly Recommended
Splash Magazine- Highly Recommended
Broadway World- Recommended
NewCity Chicago- Highly Recommended

Dear Evan Hansen

Paramount Theatre

"Dear Evan Hansen: Today is going to be a good day and here's why..." That's how Evan starts every day, writing himself a letter about why it's going to be a good day. It's a coping mechanism for this lonely, anxious high schooler looking to fit in. It's because of these letters that Evan finds himself telling a well-meaning, little white lie that snowballs into a blizzard of untruths. In the end, his unforgettable journey demonstrates there is a place for everyone to feel love, acceptance and to be seen-even when you make mistakes.

Chicago Tribune- Highly Recommended
Daily Herald- Highly Recommended
Around The Town Chicago- Highly Recommended
Chicago Theatre Review- Highly Recommended
Buzz Center Stage- Highly Recommended
Chicago On Stage- Highly Recommended
PicksInSix- Recommended
Splash Magazine- Highly Recommended
Broadway World- Highly Recommended
NewCity Chicago- Recommended

On Your Feet! The Story of Emilio & Gloria Estefan

Drury Lane- Oakbrook

Filled with the exhilarating music of the Miami Sound Machine, this celebration of Gloria Estefan's greatest hits will have you dancing in the aisles.

Chicago Tribune- Highly Recommended
Daily Herald- Recommended
Let's Play Theatrical Reviews- Highly Recommended
Around The Town Chicago- Highly Recommended
Chicago Theatre Review- Highly Recommended
Buzz Center Stage- Highly Recommended
Splash Magazine- Highly Recommended
Broadway World- Highly Recommended
NewCity Chicago- Recommended

The Seagull

Red Theater at The Edge Off-Broadway

Chekhov’s classic story of love, ambition, family, and art gets a brand new adaption featuring a cast of Chicago’s sharpest storefront actors.

Chicago Reader- Highly Recommended
Stage and Cinema- Highly Recommended
Around The Town Chicago- Highly Recommended
Chicago Theatre Review- Recommended
Buzz Center Stage- Highly Recommended
Third Coast Review- Highly Recommended
Splash Magazine- Highly Recommended
Werner's Theatre Reviews- Recommended

Trial In The Delta: The Murder Of Emmett Till

Collaboraction at Kimball Arts Center

Trial in the Delta: The Murder of Emmett Till, the company’s award-winning live docudrama, will return in its most fully realized form yet. Featuring a powerhouse ensemble of returning artists and new voices, this urgent, unforgettable theatrical event invites audiences to confront the truth, honor a legacy, and experience history as if it were happening today.

Chicago Tribune- Highly Recommended
Chicago Reader- Recommended
Buzz Center Stage- Highly Recommended
Allie and the After Party- Highly Recommended

Charges (The Supplicants)

Theatre Y

Nobel Prize winner Elfriede Jelinek’s Charges (The Supplicants) is a cry for the displaced. Theatre Y transforms the act of seeking a home into a surrealist tightrope walk teetering between gallows humor and tragedy. Originally written to address the global refugee crisis, co-directors Melissa Lorraine and Héctor Álvarez mine Jelinek’s text for truths about a world of closed borders and violent deportations.

Chicago Reader- Highly Recommended
Stage and Cinema- Recommended
Third Coast Review- Highly Recommended
Werner's Theatre Reviews- Highly Recommended

Holiday

Goodman Theatre

From Tony Award winner Richard Greenberg comes a sparkling contemporary adaptation of Philip Barry's classic play that inspired the beloved 1930s film starring Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn. In the wealthy world of the Upper East Side Setons, matters of the heart are a family affair. Enter a romantic prospect from a decidedly different background-and privilege, class and personal fulfillment are thrown into sharp relief. Robert Falls directs this fresh new take on the eternal question: work to live or live to work?

Chicago Tribune- Highly Recommended
Chicago Sun Times- Highly Recommended
Windy City Times- Highly Recommended
Talkin Broadway- Recommended
Stage and Cinema- Highly Recommended
Let's Play Theatrical Reviews- Highly Recommended
Around The Town Chicago- Highly Recommended
Chicago Theatre Review- Recommended
Buzz Center Stage- Highly Recommended
The Fourth Walsh- Recommended
Third Coast Review- Somewhat Recommended
Entertaining Chicago- Highly Recommended
Chicago Theater and Arts- Highly Recommended
Chicago On Stage- Highly Recommended
PicksInSix- Highly Recommended
Allie and the After Party- Highly Recommended
Broadway World- Highly Recommended
NewCity Chicago- Recommended

Black Cypress Bayou

Definition Theatre

On a sweltering Texas night, Vernita Manifold summons her daughters back to the family bayou after the richest man in East Texas turns up dead—his severed head delivered to her back porch. As buried truths rise from the swamp and ancestors hover in the mist, the Manifold women must decide whether this moment is finally theirs. Wickedly funny and razor-sharp, Black Cypress Bayou is a haunting reckoning where justice, legacy, and survival collide.

Chicago Sun Times- Highly Recommended
Chicago Reader- Highly Recommended
Let's Play Theatrical Reviews- Highly Recommended
Buzz Center Stage- Highly Recommended
Chicago On Stage- Recommended
Allie and the After Party- Recommended

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Marriott Theatre

Based on the beloved novel by Roald Dahl, enjoy this delightfully scrumptious musical adaptation that brings to life all of your favourite characters, songs, and confections. A gobstoppingly good time for the whole family! Grab your golden ticket and join Charlie Bucket on this delectable adventure into Willy Wonka’s world famous chocolate factory!

Around The Town Chicago- Highly Recommended
Chicago Theatre Review- Highly Recommended
Buzz Center Stage- Highly Recommended
Chicago On Stage- Recommended
Chicago Culture Authority- Recommended
Splash Magazine- Highly Recommended

Come Back, Little Sheba

American Blues Theater

Midwest town. Forced into marriage due to an unexpected pregnancy, former beauty queen Lola and recovering alcoholic Doc live a quiet life of heartbreak and regret until Marie, a young college student, becomes their boarder. Must see intimate and explosive immersive experience.

Chicago Tribune- Highly Recommended
Chicago Reader- Highly Recommended
Stage and Cinema- Highly Recommended
Around The Town Chicago- Highly Recommended
Chicago Theatre Review- Recommended
Buzz Center Stage- Highly Recommended
Third Coast Review- Highly Recommended
PicksInSix- Recommended
Allie and the After Party- Recommended
NewCity Chicago- Recommended

Your Source For What's on Stage in the Chicago Area

The Highest Rated Shows In Chicago

Explore More

Other Sites