Chicago Shakes does it again with another world premiere that is powerful and impactful. Chilina Kennedy embodies the legendary Billie Jean King in a way that truly gives us the sense that we are hearing the story from King herself.

You can get tickets at www.ChicagoShakes.com and learn more about the show by reading the review that follows:

Billie Jean nets a WIN for Chicago Shakes!

REVIEW BY:

Paul Lisnek, Behind the Curtain, WGN+ and WGNRadio.com

****/4

One might think that a play called Billie Jean will be little more than a biography of the legendary tennis player who turned the tennis world on its head to achieve equal pay and equal respect for women in the sport. You’d be wrong. The story goes well beyond weaving the moments of King’s life that helped shape her to what almost amounts as a self-help course designed to help everyone find their inner strength, one step at a time.

The word Love of course is the term used to reference that moment in tennis before anything has been scored or earned. But in this play, Love is far more than a tennis scoring term. It is the emotion that propels Billie Jean King through her relationships with others, but most significantly with tennis.

Chilina Kennedy truly embodies the spirit of King and with wig and costuming that helps create a powerful illusion that you are watching Ms. King herself move thru her life. It connects…it works.

The supporting cast is all strong and fill a variety of roles (including I might add, a score board which almost takes on the role of a character in and of itself for the information conveyed and the emotional videos that empower the play’s final moments which reminds us that even in the  face of victory, the battle goes on.

For members of the LGBTQ+ community, the impact of the show is especially powerful. From unaccepting parents who must choose to love… or not…. their child for who they are, from complex professional pressures, to the pull of an orientation at a time when society was less accepting. Indeed, it’s hard to watch this play and not think of the struggles of the trans community which is the latest target of inexplicable bigotry.

The play is powerful…the performances are all way above the net and hitting their marks….and the message of acceptance and personal strength resonates as powerful today as it did thru the decades in which King pursued her goal to be the absolute best.

Billie Jean is not to be missed…..you’ll leave the theater feeling uplifted and empowered to be the best you can be….and most importantly, to live the life you are meant to live.

It’s Game…. Set … and Match for Billie Jean…and us!