Karin McKie is a Chicago freelance writer, cultural factotum and activism concierge. She jams econo.
To get to the bottom of the boisterous mélange that is the multi-Tony-nominated Something Rotten!, audiences need an appreciation–and perhaps a thick lexicon–of all things musical (and probably also Elizabethan), […]
I’ve been jumping into the musical Wayback Machine to disappear into my post-college groove and deflect this post-apocalyptic shit storm. Since the 11/9 election terrorism attack, I’ve already taken a […]
Arlene Malinowski has written and performs in A Little Bit Not Normal, her solo show about struggles with depression, personified here, peppered with humor as well as sign language, since […]
Photo by Ebru Yildiz Glen Ellyn native and iconoclast Laurie Anderson returns home for a lovely, lyrical and melancholy meditation on the current state of affairs in her ongoing exploration, “The […]
Dearly beloved We are gathered here today To get through this thing called “life” Electric word, life It means forever and that’s a mighty long time But I’m here to […]
Adrian Belew and his signature Parker Fly guitar (photo courtesy All About Jazz) Toiling in the Trumpocalypse trenches, I needed an infusion of hope. At Chicago’s Old Town School of […]
Transgendered individuals deserve extra attention during these dark days, so Chicago’s remount of Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a balm, a glorious, rock-star, kick-ass celebration of the ultimate joy […]
Chicago’s own Wilco is touring in support of their tenth studio album “Schmilco,” the 2016 follow up to “Star Wars,” performing shows and joining festivals in the US and Canada, […]
The Police drummer Stewart Copeland has turned the 1940 Argentine novel into his fifth opera that’s a mix of island dwellers like Dr. Moreau and Gilligan’s Professor, while extending Bill […]
Cathy Schenkelberg adds her own narrative to the recent repudiations of Scientology in the remount of her rapid-fire, intimate, informative, mind-boggling and poignant solo exploration Squeeze My Cans. In […]
Populated with the Italian stock characters of the braggart (Allen Gilmore as Don Adriano de Armado), sassy servant (James Newcombe as Boyet) and dumbass (Steve Pringle as dullard Constable Dull), […]
Oh, if only one could jump into the Wayback Machine into the simpler times of Nick Hornby’s 1995 novel and Stephen Frears’ 2000 movie to escape 2017’s dystopia. You can, just […]