Review: Alex G and Hatchie Bring Their Best to Thalia Hall
Every year as we make the transition from summer to fall to the dreadful winter there’s a wave of must see shows in Chicago. From Broken Social Scene to Soccer […]
Review: Incredibly Short El Paso, Nightmare Manages to Bring the Scares
There’s something about the low poly aesthetic of the 90’s that make games extra scary. It could be because I was a kid during that era, or because the low […]
Review: Deeply Rooted Dance Theater Brings a Divine Mix of the Spiritual and Sensual in Movement and a Hot Tribute to Quincy Jones
Deeply Rooted Dance Theater gave a powerful performance that elated the audience and took me on an emotional trip down memory lane. The performers were Deeply Rooted members and company […]
Review: The Photography of Maura Z—An Ode to Gray
Over the past 20 years, with advances made in digital and phone cameras, many of us feel the best way to capture a scene is by taking a color photo. […]
Review: Chi Boy: Native Sons and Chicago Reckonings, by Keenan Norris
Chi Boy: Native Sons and Chicago Reckonings by Keenan Norris may be the perfect book for the Halloween season. And not because its stories of racial discrimination and poverty are […]
Review: Puppetry and Movement in Above the Water Bring Strong Emotions to the Surface at the Den Theatre
Above the Water is a devised physical show (with puppets in it) about grief. At various points in my life, puppets had helped me get over several fears–including a childhood […]
Review: A New Generation Tries to Capture the Bittersweet Pain and Transcendent Triumph of Rent in Porchlight’s Season Opener
Attending opening night of Porchlight Music Theatre’s season opener, Rent, was a peculiar proposition for me from the moment I RSVPed, but one I was willing to entertain for the […]
Review: The Quest for Home by Desperate Immigrants Is the Theme of Routes at Remy Bumppo
Home is where the heart is, the proverb says—and home is the heart of the story in Routes, a British play now being staged by Remy Bumppo Theatre Company. The […]
Review: From Space Manages to Make a Neon-Soaked Alien Invasion Boring
I love twin stick shooters. So when I get a chance to play a twin stick shooter with an emphasis on co-op, it’s an easy sell. After all, the original […]
Review: Parody Songs and Plenty of Heart, Laughs (and Cameos) in Weird: The Al Yankovic Story
It should come as a surprise to no one that when approaching his own biopic, song-parody performer “Weird” Al Yankovic would be mostly incapable of telling his story seriously. In […]
Review: James Gray’s Armageddon Time Lacks the Filmmaker’s Visual Style and, Apparently, a Moral Compass
With its misguided heart in the right place, but making all the wrong choices when it comes to executing this story of a young Jewish boy growing up Queens, New […]
Review: Enola Holmes 2 Returns to Familiar, Endearing Characters with Less Mystery, More Social Commentary
Taking it’s core mystery from actual British history, Enola Holmes 2 brings us largely more of the same as the 2020 original that found early pandemic success, both courtesy of […]