Your Chicago Curated Weekend: 11/17 and Beyond
The holiday season is in full effect! Get ready for all the markets and late fall/early winter events popping up! So whether you’re looking from a winter-themed experience or want […]
On the Road: Stoppard’s Leopoldstadt on Broadway—a Brilliant and Intense Saga of a Viennese Jewish Family Over Six Decades
Leopoldstadt is a place, a Jewish section of old Vienna. It’s also an imagined history of how two intermarried Jewish families lived (or didn’t live) through six decades of the […]
Review: The Backseat Lovers Are Barely Old Enough To Drive, But Are Talented Well Beyond Their Years
The Backseat Lovers‘ Major label debut Waiting To Spill dropped into my inbox a few months ago and I was immediately struck by two things: a) how had I never […]
Last Minute Plans: Dan Ozzi Is A “Sellout” At Gman Tavern
Music critic Dan Ozzi is well known for his sharp insight and even sharper wit in his writing. So I was excited about his decision to tackle a topic largely […]
On the Road: Legendary Actor Gabriel Byrne Walks With His Ghosts in Autobiographical Broadway Show
“I’m an immigrant and an exile,” Gabriel Byrne begins his autobiographical solo show at the century-old Music Box Theatre on Broadway. For two hours-plus, the legendary Irish actor tells stories […]
Review: A Soldier in the Struggle: Daring to Struggle, Daring to Win, by Helen Shiller
Helen Shiller—a longtime radical activist and the new alderman in Chicago’s 46th ward—turned 40 on November 24, 1987. Two days later, she went to City Hall for an 11am meeting with […]
Review: Timeline Theatre Company Gives New Life to Trouble in Mind, a Classic in Our Racist History
I always look forward to Timeline Theatre productions because the company provides the background and history of the play in a lobby display and in the playbill. Ron OJ Parson […]
Review: What Farce Is This? The Artistic Home Lands a Slam Dunk with Malapert Love
I do not amuse easily and when something is touted as farcical, I expect it to be on point. The Artistic Home presents a sidesplitting farce with playwright Siah Berlatsky’s […]
Review: In Aftersun, First Time Filmmaker Charlotte Wells Captures Human Emotion, Experience on Film
There comes a time in everyone’s life when, sometimes out of the blue and sometimes through hard work from a therapist’s couch, each of us realizes that our parents are, […]
Review: Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams Warmly Chronicles the Life, Work and Long-Term Impact of Salvatore Ferragamo
Carrie Bradshaw loved her Manolos. Anyone can spot a Louboutin a mile away what with that flashy red sole. And Ferragamos? Ferragamos, as one learns in Luca Guadagnino’s elucidating new […]
Review: Filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu Goes Surreal, Contemplative in Sort-of Biopic Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths
Having won five Academy Awards, filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu (Babel, Biutiful, Birdman, The Revenant) has made his first film to be shot in his native Mexico since 2000’s Amores Perros. […]
Review: Is That Black Enough For You?!? Explores the Influence and Impact of Black Cinema Throughout History
The deeply knowledgeable and respected film critic and historian Elvis Mitchell takes his first crack at directing with the clearly personal and penetrating essay Is That Black Enough for You?!?. […]