Midway through the first act of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, there’s an unforgettable duet between the bonkers, titular villain and Penny, the woman he’s loved ever since spotting her at the laundromat while his socks and such tumbled and spun. As their voices twine together in “My Eyes,” Dr. Horrible sings of a world as […]
Category: Arts & Culture
Posted inPerforming Arts Feature
The Saints are marching in to fall performances
Tearing Lady Gaga’s ticket. Seeing a tenor dropped in Tosca. Grooving to Mavis Staples from the rafters. These are the magical moments that happen with live performance. They are also just another Tuesday night for The Saints, the quiet backbone of Chicago theater that’s never stopped working, lockdown be damned. The Saints is the only […]
Posted inTheater Review
Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 retains its power
It’s been 30 years since four LA cops pulled Rodney King from his truck and savagely beat him while he lay prone on the street. It’s been 29 years since riots burned across LA after all four police officers were acquitted on charges related to the beating. And it’s been 27 years since Anna Deveare […]
Posted inBook Review
From World’s Fair to living rooms
To cover Chicago theater is to carry a ghost map in one’s head of all the lost spaces. Some buildings are gone (or nearly gone) altogether, like the original Goodman Theatre at the Art Institute, or the Jane Addams Hull House Center on Broadway at Belmont, which at various points housed Steppenwolf, Bailiwick Repertory, Famous […]
Posted inTheater Preview
Not a drag: The Golden Girls find a new home
When we talk about The Golden Girls, we need to talk about sex. According to Buzzfeed, the four women had over 260 lovers over the course of seven seasons, with Blanche Devereaux clocking in at 165. (Get it, girl.) In a truly stupid culture that often treats women over 40 as untouchables, the sitcom’s depictions […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Cultural Asset Mapping Project creates a ‘braided web’
The city’s Cultural Asset Mapping Project (C.A.M.P.) uses creative storytelling, data visualization, and many other collaborative tools to build arts engagement on the south and west sides.
Posted inPerforming Arts Feature
Jump back into the cultural stream
Theaters, comedy clubs, museums, galleries, and other venues are blowing off the COVID-19 shutdown dust and preparing to welcome you back this fall. Many companies are picking up with productions that were cut short in March 2020, while others have world premieres up their sleeves. We suggest calling venues ahead of time or checking their […]
Posted inDance
Breathing life into Red Clay Dance Company
“When you realize there’s inequities, and there’s not as many performance opportunities or presentation opportunities for certain artists, you have to begin to make those spaces for yourself,” said founding artistic director and CEO of Red Clay Dance Company Vershawn Sanders-Ward in 2019. Now Red Clay, a company with a mission of teaching and performing […]
Posted inGhost Light
Humboldt Park theaters on the move
Two Humboldt Park theaters take steps to secure new venues.
Posted inArts & Culture
Race, fate, and sisterhood on the south side
“My earliest memory of myself is of my sister. My earliest understanding of my world comes from three women—my mother, grandmother, and aunt.” In her new memoir Three Girls From Bronzeville: A Uniquely American Story of Race, Fate, and Sisterhood, Dawn Turner turns her journalistic eye toward her own story, one she weaves as inextricable […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Lit this month
September brings us a bevy of book-related, word-inspired, and otherwise literary events. Here’s a few to pencil into your calendar. The Paper Machete has returned to its performance home in Uptown at the Green Mill, to the delight of fans. The organizers describe it as a “weekly live magazine,” and while comedians are regularly featured, […]
Posted inTheater Review
Back to the future with Mr. Burns
Midway through the first act of Anne Washburn’s Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play, one of the characters observes, “People are not competent. Can I just say that? People are not competent.” Given that the character is one of a handful of survivors of a massive string of nuclear meltdowns that have completely shut down America’s […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Forever Ed Asner
“Do you prefer I use Ed or Edward in my book about you? People always call you Ed, but when I see your name on the screen, it’s always Edward.” “The reason I use Edward in credits is because Ed is over too fast. It doesn’t maintain the screen or the page. So, I prefer […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Kinky Boots kicks open the Paramount doors again
Once upon a time I reviewed shows every week. Can you believe that? Every week. But that was a long time ago. Back then there were new shows to review every week, a steady stream of them, some amazing, some awful, most somewhere in between. And more than one or two at a time, but […]
Posted inArts & Culture
A Black art renaissance in Lawndale
There’s a painting hanging on the wall at Art West, an art space on the west side. The painting depicts a woman with an afro, while fake plants and ivies hang from the walls to help bring the exhibit alive. Inside her hair, butterflies point their wings toward the sky as they take flight within […]