Review: Mozart’s Così Fan Tutte Is Great Fun Set in the 1920s at the Lyric Opera
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is a classical music genius from the 16th century. He was also something of a rock star in the 20th century. Mozart was one of the few […]
Preview: Warm Love Cool Dreams Fest Returns to the Salt Shed in May
Let’s look past the current state of freezing temps and icy roads to a warmer, more inviting season where festivals rule the weekends. It’s never too early to start planning […]
Dispatch: Puppet Theater Festival Ends With Shows Featuring Sexy Puppets, a Hungry Crocodile, a Cat and Two Dogs
The 8th Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival concluded Sunday, after 12 days of puppet theater productions at dozens of venues around the city. Our Third Coast writers are puppetry fans […]
Review: When A Witness Recants Is a Powerful, Evidence-Driven Revisiting of a 1980s Murder and the Resulting Wrongful Convictions
This review is part of our ongoing coverage of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. The latest impactful and emotionally charged documentary from director Dawn Porter (John Lewis: Good Trouble; Luther: […]
Review: John Turturro Stars in The Only Living Pickpocket in New York, an Ode to Small Time Crooks, Character Actors and the City
This review is part of our ongoing coverage of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. One of the festival’s biggest and most welcome surprises comes from actor-turned-writer/director Noah Segan (Blood Relatives), […]
Review: Taylor Thornburg’s Agathe 6:00 p.m. to 7:27 Is an Intriguing Tour Through Memory
In the interest of transparency, I want to disclose I met the author Taylor Thornburg at an open mic and wrote this review after speaking with him. Later I attended […]
Dispatch: As Sundance Film Festival Continues, Established Filmmakers Bring New Works to Audiences
Enjoy our latest dispatch from the 2026 Sundance Film Festival…. Frank & Louis Swiss filmmaker Petra Volpe makes a poignant and impressive English-language debut with Frank & Louis, the story […]
Review: Stereophonic—a Play With a Little Music—Tells the Story of a Not-Yet-Famous Rock Band Producing an Album
Stereophonic is a play about a year in the life of a rock band (never named) and the personal and musical trials and tribulations it goes through during recording sessions […]
Review: Seeing Beauty in the Ordinary, Chicago Homes: A Portrait of the City’s Everyday Architecture
One of the many joys of reading Carla Bruni and Phil Thompson’s Chicago Homes: A Portrait of the City’s Everyday Architecture is the way the book dazzles the reader with […]
Dispatch: International Puppet Theater Festival Launches With Innovative Shows Performed by Puppeteer Teams and Solos
It’s the first week of the 8th Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival and this is our first dispatch with brief reviews of some of the shows we’ve seen so far. […]
Dispatch: Two Horror Films and a Haunting Drama as Sundance Film Festival Continues
Enjoy our latest dispatch from the 2026 Sundance Film Festival… Buddy What begins as a fairly generic but quite authentic kids television show circa 1999 (a la Barney, with a […]
Review: Dame Jane Glover, Demarre McGill, and Music of the Baroque Compare and Contrast Fathers and Sons
Music of the Baroque found a great excuse for bringing Chicago native and flutist extraordinaire Demarre McGill to the Harris Theater on Saturday night. Rather than simply performing a flute […]