Joffrey Ballet’s Cinderella Sparkles and Stuns at the Auditorium Theatre
We all know the story; Cinderella, bound to cleaning the house and being excluded from all the privileges her family has access to, falls in love with the handsome […]
An Interview with Jessa Crispin, the Bookslut
Jessa Crispin, world traveler and occasional Chicago resident recently shuttered her website Bookslut, a review and interview publication that’s been running hot since 2002 (full disclosure: I wrote for Bookslut […]
This Great Nation, Much Enduring by Chicago Slam Works: Speaking Politics
With the election season finally heading into an actual election after months and months of primary contests, director J.W. Basilo and head writer Shelley Elaine Geiszler’s hybrid production put on […]
iO’s Improvised Shakespeare Company Makes Magic; Art Institute’s Supernatural Shakespeare Manifests Mystery
The Bard’s magic and mystery manifests itself in three and two dimensions as part of the ongoing Shakespeare 400 Chicago celebration: a talented ensemble harnesses the power of Will’s theatrical conventions to frame and […]
Sangria and Meryl Streep Close Relocating Techniques at Corner
Puerto Rican artist, Edra Soto’s recent exhibition at Corner, an experimental gallery space located in Avondale, has filled the windows of the space and referenced post-war architecture and the cultural […]
Chicago Critics Film Festival Opens Friday With 26 Features, 2 Shorts Programs
I’ve been very fortunate in the 18 years I’ve been a film critic to be a part of some truly great events. But never in my time as a critic […]
Music Institute of Chicago Academy Displays Student Talent, Training in Concert
The students from the Music Institute of Chicago’s Academy showed off their talent on Saturday night in a performance celebrating the academy’s 10 years of training in musical excellence. The […]
Northlight Offers Up Intellectual Delights with The Gospel According to Thomas Jefferson, Charles Dickens and Count Leo Tolstoy: Discord
There’s just a rectangular metal table, two chairs—and intelligent discussion. An electronic screen high up on the back wall blinks us through the 13 scenes. One door. No color, no […]
Writers Theatre and Second City Skewer American Classics in Death of a Streetcar Named Virginia Woolf: A Parody.
This is the funniest play ever written. For anyone in any aspect of theater, for anyone who has a season subscription anywhere, for all American high school drama students. This is […]
Chance The Rapper Mixtape Review: A Jackson Pollock-Style Coloring Book
Carefree and optimistic despite the odds is 23-year-old Chance the Rapper. That’s been his message since his first appearances around Chicago only a few years ago, and he continues to […]
Stuart Dybek Reads Poetry Amongst the Art
If Rahm Emanuel solved all his critical problems and had time to think about something really important, he might decide Chicago needs a poet laureate. If so, there would […]
Money Monster, A Bigger Splash, High-Rise, Last Days in the Desert, Viktoria, Here Come the Videofreex
MONEY MONSTER There’s a brief set of shots near the end of director Jodie Foster’s Money Monster that are chilling. They almost seem like an afterthought, and one might assume […]