A receptionist is taking calls at an office. Most of the staff isn’t in yet, so sends them all to voicemail. One of her coworkers arrives and they are very friendly with each other as they talk about their lives. A man from the central office arrives and asks to speak to the boss. The whole scene seems like a normal office environment, until their business is slowly revealed.

Adam Bock has written a very funny play about office life with a twist. At just 75 minutes, it leaves the audience wanting more.

The receptionist is played fantastically by dado (The Moors), who is so friendly and talkative with everyone. Jessica Ervin is excellent as the first coworker, who is so funny while flirting with the man from the central office. Jacob Alexander is great as this man, who also plays quite the flirt. Dano Duran is solid as the boss, who has many secrets.

Get tickets now for The Receptionist through June 2^nd!

Quinn Delaney

Tei Shi grew up between Colombia and Canada. On stage alone, she dances and sings in both English and Spanish along to her preproduced tracks. Her last headlining show in Chicago was last year on April 16^th.

Midway into the set, she sings “BAD PREMONITION” from this year’s new album, Valerie. “ It’s a bad premonition and it’s coming true / What to do? Can you just give me a sign? “ And for once can I be in the right place at the right time?” It’s a great pop song with a great groove and gets the audience dancing.

She ends the set with “When He’s Done”. “Cause when he’s done / He’ll have taken every little bit of my heart / That’s how it starts / And when he’s gone / He’ll take the words I wrote and throw them away / That’s what they say.” This track is such a great slow groove that truly showcases her excellent vocals.

https://open.spotifycom/intl-es/track/5Vsge67Bs4prEX0NbUSy6q?si=cffb043e29f44b5f

In the encore, she sings “OK crazy” from her 2020 album, Die 4 Ur Love. “All I ever wanted was to make u happy /All I ever really wanted was you under me / Though your feeling like your living in a nightmare / It might be a daydream.” She really belts this one out in a truly emotional performance.

Tei Shi ends the night with her biggest hit, “Bassically”, from her 2015 debut, Verde. It has over 21 million streams on Spotify. She dances all over the stage in this great finale.

See the full setlist here.

Cost of a ticket: $25

PlaylistHQ Economic Rating: Worth It +

Rating Scale: Exceptional Value > Worth It > Half Price > Go for Free > Don’t Bother

Quinn Delaney

An elementary school director is putting together a 45-minute Thanksgiving play. She first hires her boyfriend, a street performer who will work for free. Next, she hires a local teacher to be the history expert. Lastly, with the money from a Native American grant, she hires a professional actress from Los Angeles. All together they plan to devise the perfectly politically correct and racially appropriate play that won’t offend anyone. It all goes comically wrong.

Larissa Fasthorse has written a very funny play poking fun at woke culture. The characters truly take it to the extreme and the audience loves it.

Paloma Nozicka is so funny as the LA actress, who plays up her simplicity and beauty. Audrey Francis is great as the director, who is incredibly ambitious in her goals for this school play. Nate Santana is superb as the boyfriend who is equally ambitious and socially conscious to the extreme. Tim Hopper is solid as the teacher overjoyed to be contributing to this work of art.

Cost of a ticket: $62

PlaylistHQ Economic Rating: Worth It +

Rating Scale: Exceptional Value > Worth It > Discounted > Go for Free > Don’t Bother

Get tickets now for The Thanksgiving Play through June 2^nd!  

Quinn Delaney

Early in the set, Alice Merton sings “Vertigo” from her 2022 album, S.I.D.E.S. This song truly rocks and showcases her powerful leading vocals. It’s immediately clear this is going to be a great show.

Later on she talks about how she was in a toxic professional relationship. This person made her feel like the smallest person in the room. She broke contact with this person and wrote “Same Team” about them. “We’re not two sides of the same team anymore / No, I just can’t, I just can’t”. It’s a powerful song about breaking free.

Alice says she moved around a lot as a kid. At 13, she moved from Canada to Germany. She found it very difficult to learn the language. “There are six words for the!” She starts to go into further detail but then stops herself saying she is talking too much. The audience responds that they like it. So, she continues to say that with all this moving around that she never feels “Homesick”, which is the title of the next song. “No, I don’t get homesick / But I’m sick when I’m without you.”

This theme continues on her biggest hit, “No Roots”. “Ask me where I come from, I’ll say a different land”. This song has over 366 million streams on Spotify.

It has been 5 years since her last show in Chicago. The pandemic and some issues with visas caused this long delay. See our review of the opener, Parker Bossley, at this show in April of 2019, here.

Merton ends the set with “Why So Serious” from her 2019 album, Mint. “I stole the phrase from The Joker. Please don’t sue me!” “I wanna live in the now / I’m not gonna live in the past / Don’t wanna care about what-ifs / ‘Cause what if those things don’t last? / And I wanna live with no regrets”. What a great song to end with!

See the full setlist here.

Cost of a ticket: $32

PlaylistHQ Economic Rating: Worth It +

Rating Scale: Exceptional Value > Worth It > Discounted > Go for Free > Don’t Bother

Quinn Delaney

A middle-aged man is training a young soldier. They are underground in a protected bunker because it’s not safe above ground. They are only in contact with one other survivor. Why isn’t it safe above ground? What is he training the soldier to do?

Levi Halloway (Haven Place, Grey House) has written a fantastic dystopian science-fiction thriller that has the audience on the edge of their seats for the full experience. The audience is searching for clues and answers to this future world he has created. It’s in the same genre and of equally high quality as Silo and Fallout. The set designed by Grant Sabin is absolutely amazing. It looks like it was created for a multi-million dollar movie.

Michael Shannon (Oscar Nominations for Nocturnal Animals and Revolutionary Road) is outstanding as the man determined to succeed past his many failures. Travis A. Knight (Toni Stone) is very impressive as the young soldier trying to figure out his identity and his purpose. Lawrence Grimm (3C) is superb as the other survivor, doing his best to stay alive.

At the end, everyone was in awe. It’s a world class production worthy a great future on Broadway and beyond. It would also make for a great movie that could win Oscars. Do not miss this show!

Cost of a ticket: $75

PlaylistHQ Economic Rating: Worth It +

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Get tickets now for Turret through June 9^th!

Quinn Delaney

Fay and her sister meet at their childhood home. Their mother passed away recently and their father has invited them there to tell them he is selling the house. While Fay is in town, she likes to walk on the nearby bridge to clear her mind and see the views. She meets Hopkins up there. After running into each other a few times, he reveals that he was planning to jump off the bridge but meeting her prevented him from doing so. This causes Fay to worry that he’ll want to jump again.

Charly Evon Simpson has written a play that handles a very heavy topic with grace. It’s well balanced as it combines moments of joy with moments of great sadness.

Jazzma Pryor (STEW) is outstanding as Fay, who is onstage the entire show going through times of human connection, heavy emotions, and shedding tears. Jennifer Glasse (The Locusts) is great as the sister, who handles things seemingly smoother. Darren Jones (Wellesley Girl) is excellent as the father, who is a bit lost after losing his wife. Jeff Kurysz is superb as Hopkins, the new friend that Fay didn’t know she needed.

See the program here.

Cost of a ticket: $45

PlaylistHQ Economic Rating: Worth It

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Get tickets now for Jump through June 2^nd!

Quinn Delaney

At the age of 23, James Arthur started thinking that maybe a music career wouldn’t work out for him. His mother bribed him to audition for The X Factor. He went on to win which kickstarted his career.

He is currently touring in support of his latest album, 2024’s Bitter Sweet Love. He kicks off his set with the title track It gets the crowd singing along: “I need just a bit of sweet love / And not your bittersweet love”.

Later on he says the next song is from the soundtrack for “The Greatest Showman”. It’s “Rewrite The Stars”, which he recorded with Anne-Marie. “And she’s here tonight… Just kidding!” he jokes. “What if we rewrite the stars? / Say you were made to be mine / Nothing could keep us apart / You’ll be the one I was meant to find”.

Midway into the set, Arthur says the next song he sang with Kelly Clarkson. He says many people like to propose during this song. “Does anyone have a ring on them?” he asks the crowd. “Wherever we go, whatever we do / I just wanna spend forever with you” he sings. After the song, he asks if anyone got engaged. “No? Well, maybe next time”.

For the penultimate song in his set, he plays the cover of Christina Perri’s “a thousand years”. This song has a mind boggling 1.6 billion streams on Spotify. It’s part of the soundtrack of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn. “I have loved you for a thousand years / I’d love you for a thousand more”.

He ends the set with his first major hit, the cover of Shontelle’s “Impossible”. He has created a unique version of the song that sounds amazing and is a great choice to end the set with.

See the full setlist here.

Cost of a ticket: $60
PlaylistHQ Economic Rating: Worth It
Rating Scale: Exceptional Value > Worth It > Discounted > Go for Free > Don’t Bother

Quinn Delaney

Sammy is a morally bankrupt lawyer who only cares about himself. One day he drops to the floor and begins to die. He is visited by an angel who tells him is going to hell after he passes. He points out that she should have waited until after he died to tell him. He threatens to report her and is then granted a second chance. Sammy decides to do good deeds to go to heaven.

Rob Ulin has written a fantastically funny play. It pokes a lot of fun at religion and morality like The Good Place. It poses many interesting moral questions along with having many huge laughs. It’s a truly great ensemble piece with so many great roles.

Jason Alexander (Seinfeld, Orville)  is outstanding as Sammy, a lawyer doing good for selfish reasons. The character has a touch of George Constanza in him. Daniel Breaker (The Good Fight, Mozart in the Jungle) is stellar as his priest, who is very conflicted about the moral gray zones that he finds himself in. Michael Kostroff (Whistleblower, The Wire)  is stellar as the monsignor, who is very frank and funny about Catholicism. Candy Buckley (The Americans) is exceptional as the angel who jumps the gun on condemning Sammy to hell.

Olivia D. Dawson (Cobra Kai) is great as Sammy’s assistant, who knows him better than anyone else. Joe Dempsey is superb as the equally morally corrupt insurance agent. Ellis Myers is impressive as Sammy’s son, who enjoys pretending to be ethical. Meg Thalken (Four Places, A Funny Thing…) is excellent as the elderly lady in need of a lawyer.  Maggie Bofill (Smash) is solid as Sammy’s ex-wife, who is very hesitant to let him back into her life.

This is an incredibly well done professional production. This world premiere will surely have great success here in Chicago, on Broadway, and beyond. It is Tony Award Worthy!

Cost of a ticket: $74 (Middle Gallery)

PlaylistHQ Economic Rating: Worth It +

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Get tickets now for Judgement Day through May 26^th!

Quinn Delaney

Theatre Pick: The Artistic Home Presents Cut to the Chase at The Den Theatre (Through May 5, 2024)

Cut to the Chase is a short play festival presented by The Artistic Home. This year it features seven short plays that fall into different genres including drama, sci-fi, and dark comedy. It’s a showcase of playwrights (Will Dunne, Siah Berlatsky, Lydia Moss, Drew Carnwath and Peter Snoad, Michael Hagins and Erin Osgood) and actors. The festival has been specifically programmed with plays that have similar themes, structure, and style that helps tie them together into one show.

Check out our review of The Artistic Home’s production of Witch here.

Cost of a ticket: $26

Get tickets now for Cut to the Chase through May 5^th.

Concert Pick: Tei Shi with Amira Jazeera at Sleeping Village (May 6, 2024)

Tei Shi is touring this year in support of the new album, Valerie, which was just released on April 19^th. Tickets are $25.   

Check out our review of Tei Shi from April 2023 here.

Comedy Pick: The Lincoln Lodge

The Lincoln Lodge features great stand up every night of the week except Monday. Check out their calendar here. Most of their shows are around $10.

Quinn Delaney

Barefoot in the Park was written by Neil Simon. It first premiered on Broadway in 1963 starring Robert Redford and Elizabeth Ashley. The film version was released in 1967 starring Robert Redford and Jane Fona. A revival opened on Broadway in 2006 starring Amanda Peet and Patrick Wilson. And now, in April 2024, the Saint Sebastian Players production opens at St. Bonaventure.

Paul and Corie are a newly married couple. They have just moved into their apartment. It’s a 5^th floor walkup. The heat isn’t working, there’s no tub, and there is a hole in the ceiling. Corie wants to celebrate the new place, but Paul insists he needs to work on an important case for tomorrow. She is quick to bring up divorce over this small disagreement. Will the marriage survive this apartment?

This is a light and fun play that gives a glimpse into life in the 1960s. There are some funny moments, but a lot of the comedy didn’t age very well. However, the fault is not with the cast.

Joshua Paul Wright (It’s Only A Play, Boeing-Boeing) is fantastic as Paul, who is very frustrated by his wife. Alexandra T. Cross is great as his wife, who really gets a kick out of life. Jill Chukerman is good as the mother, who really wants to be a grandmother. Donaldson Cardenas is expertly bizarre as the upstairs neighbor who flirts with all the women. Lastly, Christian Davis Aldrige and Maddie Hillock are solid in their supporting roles.

Cost of a ticket: $30

PlaylistHQ Economic Rating: Discounted

Rating Scale: Exceptional Value > Worth It > Discounted > Go for Free > Don’t Bother

Quinn Delaney