That the production values are spectacular goes without saying. Ever since Paramount started producing professional theatre in-house a few years ago, their sets, costumes, and lighting have been of the highest caliber and this production is no different.

To Chicagoland musical theatre aficionados who didn’t already know (and plan accordingly), Meghan Murphy is this production’s Lady of the Lake. Don’t make me repeat that…proceed to the link at the bottom of this review and buy your tickets.

The Band’s Visit is a musical that finds more music in its silences than most others can find in their whole songbooks. Also, like a mirage, it will vanish from Chicago in time, so get in line.

The songs, almost all fast-paced and brief, keep the audience engaged as they watch the actors work their magic in the Marriott’s famous theater in the round. 

She's perfect for the part, dulcetly crooning its signature "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" in a rendition worthy of any cabaret in any major city around the world.

This is a tale of tenderness, and the six actors each embody two men alternatively separated across four decades with a lived-in familiarity and well-forged chemistry. And when they all sing together (under the heartfelt musical guidance of Manning), it’s all the more magical.

Poignant and inventive, "Darling Grenadine" dazzles with its ingenuity, its heart and its candor.

As Hedwig, Will Lidke is a lissome time bomb. Aided and abetted by Robert S. Kuhn (costumes), Keith Ryan (wigs), and, naturallement, Jeremy Ramey (music direction), he can win you over one minute with an anthem as bopping and empowering as “Wig in a Box.”

This gag-a-second, mile-a-minute romp just goes to show that sometimes, the oldest jokes in the book are still in the book for a reason.