For those hoping to catch up on their theatergoing during the holiday fortnight, Reader critics offer their recommendations on shows running into the new year (most have special New Year’s Eve performance-party packages). Check listings for addresses, phone numbers, schedules, and prices.
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Expertly directed and perfectly cast by Michael Halberstam, George Bernard Shaw’s Candida at Writers’ Theatre Chicago is one of the most sophisticated, intelligent, and entertaining romantic comedies in recent memory. Littered with witticisms and astute observations on political and sexual behavior, Shaw’s 1897 critique of Victorian notions of domestic and romantic love is a consistent delight. Scott Parkinson shines as the petulant teenage poet trying to win the title character away from her clergyman husband.
–Adam Langer
–Carol Burbank
Who says everything has to be about sugar plums? Mary-Arrchie Theatre’s recently extended production of The Freedom of the City–Brian Friel’s taut, tense story of poverty and privilege in Northern Ireland–will add political spice to your celebrations.
–Mary Shen Barnidge
When the stories that put the mental in sentimental send you over the edge, check out the SweetCorn Playhouse’s daring camp parodies Rudolph the Red-Hosed Reindeer and of The Madonna in Spite of Herself (a Common Nativity Story), which give two classic Christmas tales–of Santa Claus and of the Immaculate Conception–irreverent queer twists. God bless
