Review: Men of Steel/Theater Wit

Superheroes are appearing all over Chicago stages this year and soaring; however, the protectors of justice in Theater Wit’s production of Qui Nguyen’s Men of Steel are caught in webs of blah. Nguyen’s tale centers on Captain Justice (Robert McLean), a proverbial everyhero, and Maelstrom, a batman-esque playboy. These best friends take different paths in their hero careers, the former a celebrity, the latter existing in shadows. Much hostility ensues. Good, old-fashioned, cliché comic-book hostility, which is fine if the actors committed as much to the dark moments as the absurd and fantastic. Some of the script is on point with its homage to graphic novel vernacular but the only moments that felt particularly fresh were a badass opening fight sequence choreographed by Kevin Murphy and Tony Sancho with stellar sound design by Joseph Fosco and a stop motion Lego cartoon by Jessica Ross ready for Cartoon Network. (William Scott)

At the Theatre Building, 1225 W. Belmont, (773)327-5252. This production is now closed.

Loveless Truths: A Review of "The Whistleblower" at Theater Wit Eli is a TV writer who has become sick of writing fictional stories about fantasy heroes, and instead decides to speak only hard, personal truths designed to free himself and others from the grip of life-limiting self-deceptions. Honesty will be his superpower.
Dreary But Not Scary: A Review of The Gift Theatre's “The Locusts” at Theater Wit As depicted in “The Locusts,” life in Vero Beach, Florida is so nasty and brutish that it almost seems a not-totally-bad thing that it’s short, too, at least for the victims of the serial killer stalking the town’s young girls.
Déjà Vu, I Think We’ve Seen This All Before: A Review of Mr. Burns a Post-Electric Play at Theater Wit Playwright Anne Washburn succinctly crafted a show that demonstrated the cyclical nature of human storytelling, theater and life itself all in the span of three hours.
The Winds of Change Are Here: Hurricane Diane at Theater Wit madeleine george’s modern-day Greek comedy “Hurricane Diane” could not have come at a better time.
Men Need Not Apply: A Review of Wife of a Salesman at Writers Theatre “Wife of a Salesman” is full of cogent points about being a woman that are just as relevant now as they were in the show’s 1950s setting.
When Mad Men Ruled the Airwaves: A Review of "Good Night, Oscar" at the Goodman Theatre Doug Wright's brilliant new play, "Good Night, Oscar," in its hilarious and heartbreaking world-premiere production at the Goodman Theatre, is set in 1958. It's more than twenty years since Gershwin's tragic death at the age of thirty-seven, but his ghost still haunts Levant.

Related Stories