PARKING SUCKED. The two lots were completely full and there was no open street parking.

We saw a production of the Nutcracker at Pfeiffer Hall. The dancers were surprisingly good in the performance. The production quality itself though was just ok... the first half seemed rushed and it failed to tell the underlying story of the Nutcracker. A group next to us, who had never seen a production of the Nutcracker, said they didn't understand the performance at all until my wife and I explained the story to them. The Pfeiffer Hall venue is an old building with a small lobby area that gets crowded and cramped before the doors open. The theater is modest in size as is the stage which seems to hamper the quality of performances. We came because of the convenience but were disappointed in the overall quality. As I said in the beginning of the review, the dancers in the performance were the bright spot. The rest was lacking.

Took our 4 year old granddaughter to see this play on a Sunday afternoon. The performance was only an hour which is perfect for this age group. She enjoyed it but had a little trouble seeing the fish as a person. Haha.Only thing I would say is the time of the performance was not great. It was a noon. Hard when you are bringing small children as they get hungry and there is no food or drink allowed. A 10:00 or even 11:00 time would have been better. The prices for the performance where very reasonable.

The exceptional aspect to this venue is its convenient location, just north of downtown Naperville. So, for those of us that hate the thought of driving to downtown Chicago to see a performance, this location is a godsend. It is a relatively small venue and I am amazed that it attracted a performance of the Celtic Woman group that we saw in the week just prior to Christmas. The place was packed as one would expect. Now the negatives... The stage is small and after accommodating all of the orchestra, there was little room for the four main performers. Part of the Celtic Woman show that we have seen in other venues is the sheer grandness of it and room for the women to move about as they sing. The tightness of this venue hampered that significantly. Also, the sound mixing was such that the fiddler, who is a key performer of the group, was simply drowned out by the orchestra. So, did we enjoy the show?...absolutely! The Celtic Woman performers are some of the best in the world and I am still amazed that they would come to a small venue like this. But in fairness to other venues, the magnificence of the perfomance could not completely come out at this location. Will we return?...very llikely as the convenience trumps some of the negatives. But I just cant call this venue excellent...making this a mixed bag review. Also, the temperature in the auditorium was very cold on this winter's evening. It seemed like there was just no heat other than what came from the bodies of the audience....many people had their coats on. Even the performers joked, just prior to intermission, that they needed to take a break and have some warm tea.

My first visit to this nearby venue opened my eyes to the possibilities of more visits.The concert hall is beautiful and has very god acoustics. The music selection was geared to a family audience and was therefore fairly simple and familiar. I did regret not taking my 11 year old granddaughter because she plays a bass in her school orchestra. Next time for sure, I will get a ticket for her.