Barbara Vitello
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Brilliant 'Osage County' uncomfortably realMay 12, 2008 11:00 pm - Originally published Friday, July 13, 2007. "All happy families are alike," wrote Leo Tolstoy in his introduction to "Anna Karenina." "Each unhappy family is unhapp...
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Groovy ode to '60sMay 09, 2008 11:00 pm - And the award for hardest working ensemble goes to … the women of "Shout! The Mod Musical," off-Broadway's musical salute to swingin' '60s London and the gals who made i...
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'Ballad of Emmett Till' tough to watchMay 08, 2008 11:00 pm - Playwright Ifa Bayeza doesn't make things easy for an audience. Not that she should, not when she's based her play on the brief life and brutal death of Emmett Till, a b...
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Relationship sendup 'I Love You' still sparklesMay 08, 2008 11:00 pm - "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change" hasn't been absent from Chicago-area stages for long. And before we even had time to miss it, the pop-infused musical revue by ...
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Fine acting makes 'Stones in His Pockets' a delightMay 08, 2008 11:00 pm - The words "physical theater" conjure images of acrobatic and athletic displays produced by Lookingglass Theatre, The Actors Gymnasium and 500 Clown, companies where acto...
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Arlington Heights singer, actress in Broadway production of 'Hairspray'May 05, 2008 11:00 pm - Spring began on a sour note for singer/actress Karen Mason after a fire damaged the New York home she shares with her producer husband Paul Rolnick. The tune turned swee...
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'Speech & Debate' makes a winning argumentMay 05, 2008 11:00 pm - The synopsis of Stephen Karam's "Speech & Debate" reads like a plot outline from a John Hughes film. Misfit teens form a high-school forensics team and, in the process, ...
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Strong acting can't boost so-so political musicalMay 01, 2008 11:00 pm - The best moments in the new musical "Old Town" don't involve singing or dancing. The acting prowess of the Strawdog Theatre cast surpasses their singing in the company'...
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Rogé finds his language with French composersMay 01, 2008 11:00 pm - Most youngsters consider practicing the piano a chore. French pianist Pascal Rogé saw it as a reward. His mother, and first piano teacher, took to locking the door of t...
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'Neverwhere' drops the ballMay 01, 2008 11:00 pm - One gets a sense that somewhere in "Neverwhere: A Circus Underground," a weighty message lies buried. Watching this show, adapted from Neil Gaiman's novelization of his ...