NEW REVIEWS
Blood Brothers
Willy Russell’s only musical tells an unlikely story: twins separated at birth, one raised by a posh mum, the other by lower-class one, still somehow become best friends and then rivals for the affection of the same woman. The book is weakened by thin characters and a dependence on cheap theatrical tricks—a poetry-spouting narrator, unexpected plot twists—to give the shallow show the illusion of depth. Yet director Fred Anzevino’s fine cast of committed, energetic non-Equity triple threats lends a sense of urgency to even Russell’s most cliche-ridden scenes, and Kyrie Anderson gives a virtuoso performance as a long-suffering working-class matriarch. — JACK HELBIG Through 11/15: Thu 7:30 PM, Fri-Sat 8 PM, Sun 7 PM, No Exit Cafe, 6970 N. Glenwood, 773-743-3355, theou.com, $34-$59, $29-$54 students and seniors.
The Cheats
Extol honesty as much as you want, lies are the real wheat paste in the papier-mache pinata of marriage. Hamish Linklater’s wry new play provides a case in point. Anne and John start out looking like your typical married couple: A quietly hilarious opening passage has Anne talking from one room of their LA apartment while John sits out on the terrace, oblivious. (“I thought I heard you answering,” she says.) And then? They get even more typical, trying to maintain as a stressedout neighbor takes swipes at their delicately layered calm. Linklater’s occasional gestures toward Pinteresque opacity tend to backfire in Joanie Schultz’s naturalistic production, expository irrelevancies yielding mystification rather than mystery. But The Cheats is squirmingly astute overall—a commonplace sort of tragedy.
—TONY ADLER Through 11/7: Thu-Sat 8 PM, Sun 3 PM, Steep Theatre, 1115 W. Berwyn, 312-458-0722, steeptheatre.com, $10-$35.
Feathers and Teeth
A program note touts this 90-minute world premiere as part of Goodman Theatre’s “substantial shift” to presenting “an abundance” of writing by Latino/a writers. But if there’s cultural progress to be discerned in Charise Castro Smith’s new play, it lies in the fact that she rejects specifically Latino subject matter in favor of gross-out comedy-horror. An oddball mashup of Hamlet and Gremlins, set in 1978, Feathers and Teeth gives us 13-year-old Chris, who suspects foul play when her dad shacks up with comely home-care nurse Carol just two months after Chris’s sick mom shuffled off this mortal coil. Smith hasn’t figured out the rules of her little cosmos and fails to supply a real ending. Still, a crack cast and Henry Godinez’s thump-in-the-night direction make for amusing mayhem. —TONY ADLER Through 10/18: Thu 7:30 PM, Fri 8 PM, Sat 2 and 8 PM, Sun 2 PM, Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn, 312443-3800, goodmantheatre.org, $10-$40.
Fog Island
f you haven’t heard of the impressive young company Filament Theatre, this new show is a great introduction. Adapted from a picture book by the brilliant Tomi Ungerer, Fog Island features original Irish
folk music by Tim McNulty, lively elegies of loss and longing. The story follows a brother-sister pair who travel to the island of the title in hopes of saving their fishing village from starvation, brave despite the villagers having long warned them of the “banshees” and “ballybogs” there. Not everyone in the otherwise talented cast nails the brogue, but it’s a timeless tribute to the magic of childhood. — SUZANNE SCANLON Through 11/1: Fri 7:30 PM, Sat 3 and 7 PM, Sun 3 PM, Filament Theatre, 4041 N. Milwaukee, filamenttheatre.org, $14-$20.
A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder
Anybody familiar with the 1949 Alec Guinness film comedy Kind Hearts and Coronets will get a strong whiff of deja vu from this stage musical about a poor lad who murders his way to the top of Edwardian society. Not only are both based on the same novel but both partake of the same gimmick: The victims are all played by a single actor. There’s nothing derivative, though, about the wit, energy, and fun of Robert L. Freedman’s book and Steven Lutvak’s score as embodied in this touring production. Part of the pleasure is that everything is just so darned comme il faut. Kevin Massey is perfectly charming as the fatally ambitious lad, John Rapson perfectly ridiculous as the fatalities. The supporting cast is strong, the design elements are sharp, and— most important—the homicides are droll. —TONY ADLER Through 10/11: Wed-Fri 7:30 PM, Sat 2 and 8 PM, Sun 2 PM, Tue 7:30 PM; also Sun 10/4 and Wed 10/7, 7:30 PM; Sat 10/10, 8 PM, Bank of America Theatre, 18 W. Monroe, 312-902-1400, broadwayinchicago.com, $27-$120.
Handsome Animals
Teagan Walsh-Davis, one of six articu- late, passionate writer-performers in Chicago Slam Works’ engaging new spoken-word show, tells the story of six high school girls skinny-dipping late one night in a public pool. It’s a silly yet liberating experience until they spy a man watching from the shadows. The piece, one of about two dozen in this exploration of contemporary gender politics, typifies everything wonderful and worrisome about the show. It’s carefully observed, open-hearted, and provocative. Yet it displays a disquieting eagerness to find victimization around every corner. In this world, an imagined monolithic heterosexual male gaze permanently threatens women, gay men, and anyone slightly non-gender-conforming. — JUSTIN HAYFORD 10/2-11/6: Fri 8:15 PM, Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont, 773-3275252, chicagoslamworks.com, $20.
Love and Information
Being stuck without WiFi can be frustrating. Traumatic memories intrude despite our desperate need to forget them. No one likes being on an elevator with a guy who sneezes. These are a few of the 40-plus brief, vague, unmoored vignettes in Caryl Churchill’s 2012 play meant, it seems, to examine the myriad ways information—amorous and otherwise—gets transmitted, intercepted, misconstrued, and corrupted. Perhaps if Churchill had winnowed her examples by half and let a few develop beyond punchy pop-up demonstrations, the 80-minute evening might have some impact. But especially in director Shawn Douglass’s trajectory-free staging for Remy Bumppo, the lifechanging and the quotidian receive equivalent weight until nothing much matters. — JUSTIN HAYFORD Through 11/1: Thu-Sat 7:30 PM, Sun 2 :30 PM; also Wed 10/7, 7:30 PM, Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln, 773-404-7336, remybumppo.org, $47.50-$52.
Marvin’s Room
Director Sandy Shinner worked as a dramaturg on the original production of Scott McPherson’s play, which premiered at the Goodman Studio Theatre in 1990. Maybe that experience helps account for the deep understanding of the script evident in this funny and moving revival from Shattered Globe Theatre. Seeing as how we’re talking about a comedy concerning estranged sisters thrown together by life-threatening illness, there’s a threat of succumbing to sentimental gloop, grating quirks, or ice-cold gallows humor. But Shinner’s tonally perfect staging manages to be both warmhearted and dry-eyed. Much credit goes to the cast, particularly Linda Reiter, who brings a brash edge to the self-sacrificing, cancerstruck heroine, and Deanna Dunagan, who brings dignity to the role of a dotty aunt. — ZAC THOMPSON Through 11/14: Thu-Sat 8 PM, Sun 3 PM, Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont, 773-975-8150, sgtheatre.org, $15-$33.