Mercury Theater Chicago — Attraction in Lake View Township

My first visit to the Mercury Theater was on a blustery, gray February weekend evening. It wasn't snowing, but the sky was threatening to. I mention the season, because, well, it can mean of course, that Chicago Theater Week is upon us! The Mercury Theater is a classic structure, with an updated feel, especially considering the connection to the Deleece space. A true advantage, as drinks are welcomed in the theater, so grab yourself a rum & coke or a Jack & Ginger and enjoy the show! Back to that February weather - I was fortunate enough to be sitting in the front row with my boyfriend, but that also put us directly in the path of the theater venting system. Was this grate connected directly outside to these sub-freezing temperatures? It was a blast of arctic air, that kept us from being entirely comfortable, but gave an excuse to hug tight and keep each other warm. Pretty smooth, Mercury Theater, making my moves for me. I look forward to going back to the Mercury Theater, and it looks like I will be if The Hypocrites theater company will be using the space for their next two shows this year: Avenue Q and The Addams Family - two shows that I'm sure will be using this space to its utmost capabilities and I look forward to being...

I was part of an organization that rented the Venus cabaret space and if you are looking to rent a performance space, do yourself a favor and go anywhere else in Chicago. The staff were unprofessional, unresponsive to communication, rude to our staff and performers, often late and unprepared, and there was clearly some internal communicate issues. We were told last minute that we would not be able to use the space for time that we had already paid for at the last minute literally 2 hours before we were supposed to be in the space and on top of that they told us that the already poorly trained and unprepared staff that had been running boards for us would not be there and we would instead have a different person running our boards, that person showed up late to the point where we had to open the house 15 minutes late for our last performance because she was unprepared. I believe the Venus space is managed by different people then run the Mercury space but the level of incompetence my team and I saw was astonishing for such a...

I have to say Barnum was one of the worst productions I have seen in a long time. I love the show and we walked out during intermission. The show had no energy, the ensemble no acting ability and the designers seemed like they never met. Being greeted by a guy on stilts and another giving popcorn did not set a "mood" if that's what they were meant to do. The highlights were the woman playing Barnum's wife and the woman playing his Mistress. As far as Barnum himself, Gene Weygant seemed like he could have cared less if he was cast or not. He had no presence onstage and had not built any kind of a character. The woman who sang "Thank God I'm Old" couldn't keep an old character but could defininetly belt out the last note - off key. It felt more like a community theater productions than "Chicago's Professional Debut" as I've read in the press releases. I wish the Mercury Theater had a refund policy. The show was not worth my time, much less my money. Sorry for the poor revue but the...