Review: Epic ‘Berlin’ at Court Theatre pictures the end of a cultural paradise

Review: Epic ‘Berlin’ at Court Theatre pictures the end of a cultural paradise

Anyone who has seen the musical “Cabaret” knows of the free liberality of pre-war Berlin, a nirvana equal parts sexual, artistic and intellectual. The kind of place that would attract a Sally Bowles, looking to sing and to live, or a Christopher Isherwood, seeking characters about whom to write. But Isherwood’s novel “Goodbye to Berlin” was written as the Nazis were already taking up space at the Kit Kat Club and alarms bells were ringing. The n…

Weimar Germany's fate unfolds amid interwoven narratives in extraordinary 'Berlin' at Court Theatre

A homegrown Chicago project of jaw-dropping ambition and exhilarating theatricality, playwright Mickle Maher and director Charles Newell’s adaptation of the graphic novel “Berlin” at the Court Theatre brings to dynamic life an artistically daring, sexually decadent, politically divided city as it descends into fascism.It’s a thrillingly staged piece of theater, uncannily appropriate to the moment.Jason Lutes wrote (in large part, meaning drew) t…

Babylon Berlin: Season 4

Babylon Berlin offers a vivid, detailed portrayal of Weimar-era Germany at the dawn of the Nazi rise to power.