Michael Antman

Mrs. Warren’s Profession at Promethean Theatre Review — An Emotional Powerhouse of a Production

March 4, 2020 Michael Antman 0

In retrospect, the artistic worth and emotional impact of George Bernard Shaw’s classic late-Victorian era play, Mrs. Warren’s Profession, has been overshadowed by the controversy and history of censure and suppression that attaches to it. […]

Rickie Lee Jones at Old Town School of Folk Music Review — Still Rickie After All These Years

October 23, 2019 Michael Antman 0

The last time I saw Rickie Lee Jones in concert, sometime in the early 1980s, she performed a mesmerizingly delicate version of the Left Banke’s pop hit, “Walk Away Renee” that I still recall, in […]

Equus Review — A Thoroughbred Production of a Broken-Down Nag of a Play

September 30, 2019 Michael Antman 0

American theatre audiences just love to be lectured about what terrible people they think they are. Or so I surmise, based on many decades of theatre-going and the responses I’ve observed to countless plays on […]

Stephan Crump’s Rosetta Trio at Constellation Review – Refreshing Drum-Free Jazz

September 23, 2019 Michael Antman 0

It wasn’t easy getting to the performance of jazz bassist Stephan Crump’s Rosetta Trio at the Constellation music venue in Chicago; I’d had a thorny array of challenges at work, traffic was atrocious, there was […]

Dana H. Review — Not Like Any Play You’ve Ever Seen

September 18, 2019 Michael Antman 1

Playwright of the Moment (and, perhaps, for a considerable duration after that) Lucas Hnath’s new play, Dana H., now in its world premiere at the Goodman Theatre, co-produced by Los Angeles’ Center Theatre Group, and […]

“Squeeze” at Chicago Theatre review – Still Tuneful After All These Years

September 2, 2019 Michael Antman 0

Once touted as the next Lennon and McCartney, Chris Difford (lyrics) and Glen Tilbrook (music) never came close to reaching those dizzying heights of pop music perfection, but as the leaders of the well-loved British […]

Howards End Review — A Sterling Adaptation of One of the Great Novels of the 20th Century

September 2, 2019 Michael Antman 0

You might think that because E.M. Forster’s Howards End is one of the greatest novels of the 20th Century, and one with a beautifully and most satisfyingly structured plot, that it might be relatively easy […]

Come From Away Review – A Musical Perfectly Suited to Our Era

August 2, 2019 Michael Antman 0

Come From Away, a Broadway in Chicago presentation directed by Christopher Ashley now in its Chicago premiere at Cadillac Palace Theatre, is a musical that’s perfectly suited for this period in American history. This is […]

The River review – A Poetic Playwright Casting in the Shallows

June 16, 2019 Michael Antman 0

Jez Butterworth’s The River, now at Chicago’s BoHo Theatre, is one of the most predetermined plays I have ever seen. By “predetermined,” I don’t mean predictable, exactly, but rather that, in retrospect, after all its […]

American Girl Live at Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place — Girl Power on Stage

May 3, 2019 Michael Antman 0

All things considered, American girls are fortunate to be growing up when and where they are, as cultural barometers such as the new production of American Girl Live, now in a Broadway in Chicago production […]