Year in Review–2022’s Best Non-musicals

Here are my choices for the top 10 non-musical productions of the year.

#1 Good Night, Oscar (Goodman)

Sean Hayes brought in sell-out audiences for his portrayal of Oscar Levant – a man that manages to earn a laugh with every sardonic, controversial, self-deprecating statement that escapes his mouth. Doug Wright’s script, which focuses on a night when Levant took temporary leave from a mental asylum to appear on Jack Paar’s The Tonight Show, climaxes with Hayes’ jaw-dropping performance of Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.” Hayes won the Jeff Award for his performance, and I suspect he will be a frontrunner for the Tony Award when Good Night, Oscar premiers on Broadway in April.

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Relentless—Goodman Theater (4/12/22)

April 19, 2022May 2, 2022 theaterinchicagoreviewsAyanna Bria Bakari, Demetra Dee, Goodman Theater, Jaye Ladymore, Rebecca Hurd, Relentless, Timeline Theater, Travis Delgado, Tyla Ambercrumbie, Xavier Edward KingLeave a comment

Relentless was the first hot ticket of 2022 for Chicago theaters. The Timeline production sold out in its January-February run and even offered streaming options in its later weeks. The show has since transferred to the Goodman Theater, where it is playing next to Good Night, Oscar—a production combo of this quality arrives maybe two or three times in a decade. Tyla Abercrumbie’s script is particularly praiseworthy for developing intricate connections between its six main characters with the predominant action taking place in 1919 at the dawn of “Red Summer,” a period marked by nationwide racial violence against African Americans.

Ayanna Bria Bakari (Annelle) & Jaye Ladymore (Janet)

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