As You Like It My favorite Shakespeare comedies always have a touch of the melancholy in them. You need both the bitter and the sweet to raise the stakes and deepen the poetry. Some of the performers in Skyler Schrempp’s brash, uneven production for First Folio get this, most notably Kevin McKillip (superb as that most likable depressive, Jacques). McKillip isn’t afraid to show us there are tears behind laughter. Others seem utterly unaware there are dark undercurrents in the play, or that the Bard’s lines can have second and third meanings; too many are just bellowed, most of the comedy lost amid the histrionics. All of these missed opportunities contribute to the show’s lackluster ending—amusing, just not moving. —Jack Helbig
Little Fish This 2003 off-Broadway musical by composer-librettist Michael John LaChiusa (Hello Again, The Wild Party) is a complex work on a simple theme: learning to trust your imperfect self and to appreciate your friends in a stressful, competitive world. The 90-minute one-act concerns Charlotte, a New York writer in her early 30s, whose decision to quit smoking prompts her to confront—and share with the audience—the anxieties and insecurities she realizes she’s been suppressing with nicotine. In lesser hands this premise could result in a whiny Facebook-style rant. But LaChiusa’s inventive, bebop-flavored score and an expertly performed, imaginatively staged production keep the show from turning into a preachy pity party. As Charlotte, Chicago newcomer Nicole Laurenzi captures her character’s vulnerability, intelligence, humor, and grit, charting Charlotte’s emotional arc empathetically and authentically with the support of a superb eight-person ensemble playing multiple roles. The skillfulness of every aspect of this Kokandy Productions Chicago premiere—directed by Allison Hendrix, with choreography by Kasey Alfonso and musical direction by Kory Danielson—make this show a standout. —Albert Williams
Something Rotten Sure, it’s an English major’s paradise, filled with wordplay and Elizabethan references. And yes, your enjoyment will definitely be enhanced by an encyclopedic knowledge of musical theater. But even cultural illiterates can love this touring production of a 2015 Broadway hit. The puns are mostly dirty, after all, the dancing omelets unforgettable, and a sharp Equity cast puts the whole thing over with an energy approaching joy. Karey Kirkpatrick and John O’Farrell’s book follows the tribulations of the playwriting Bottom brothers, Nigel and Nick, as they vie for success in a theater scene dominated by rock-star glamorous Will Shakespeare. When Nick Bottom (first quiz question: Where’ve you heard that name before?) decides to even the odds by hiring a soothsayer, high jinks—honest-to-God delightful high jinks—ensue. —Tony Adler
