Chicago Magic Lounge Archives

Harrison Lampert, a white male magician, stands onstage left at the Chicago Magic Lounge. He is holding a length of white rope. There are several audience members seated at cabaret tables on the right.

Absurdist sleight of hand

by Marissa Oberlander January 18, 2023January 18, 2023

For the uninitiated like I was, just entering the Chicago Magic Lounge on a chilly Wednesday evening was a thrill. Via a secret door, the faux-laundromat entry gives way to a luxe theater both steeped in history with posters of illusionists past and very much alive with a small army of close-up magicians working the […]

Agenda

Silent film at the Davis, Sudan Archives, and more

by Kerry Reid, Micco Caporale and Salem Collo-Julin October 5, 2022October 5, 2022

Magician Paige Thompson takes over the artist-in-residence slot at Chicago Magic Lounge (5050 N. Clark) with her show A Paige in Time, opening tonight at 7 PM and running Wednesdays through 12/21. Thompson combines autobiography with sleight-of-hand to illustrate the moments “that have motivated her to pursue her passion and fuel the inspiration for her […]

Two men stand onstage. The man on the left wears jeans and a casual shirt. He appears to be middle-aged. The performer Luis Carreon stands on the right. He is wearing an elegant purple and black tuxedo. There is a red string held in their hands between them. Behind, we see a table covered with a Mexican blanket and a single red rose in a vase.

Theater Review

Fantastic beast

by Catey Sullivan July 15, 2022July 15, 2022

When Luis Carreon takes the stage at the Chicago Magic Lounge, he’s pure old-school vaudeville, an elegant throwback in silver-toed boots and a tuxedo subtly imprinted with crushed velvet roses. He swoops around the stage to the beat of swirling music, spinning gold from fire and pulling rose petals from a fluttering deep-purple handkerchief. It’s […]

Sean Masterson stands next to a green baize-covered tale with cordial glasses on it, while another man sits behind the table. Masterson is holding a playing card.

Theater Review

Magic wars

by Kerry Reid April 27, 2022April 27, 2022

Sean Masterson is cut in the mold of the classic Chicago close-up magician, with a puckish demeanor and a donnish interest in the history of the art form. Those qualities all appear in his new show at Chicago Magic Lounge, Message in a Bottle. The backstory comes from a 1912 memoir by impresario Michael B. […]

City Life

Poetry, radical love, and snacks

by Salem Collo-Julin, Kerry Reid and Micco Caporale March 11, 2022March 11, 2022

Another slate of both online and in-person events for this weekend and beyond. For anything that makes you leave your house, please be smart and check both the weather report (hello late winter and early spring Chicago with your fickle ways!) and the venue’s safety restrictions (to mask or not to mask, tis one of […]

Arts & Culture

Heights of illusion

by Irene Hsiao February 2, 2022February 2, 2022

The sight is already a bit of a tell: steps away from boutiques, antiques, bars, and restaurants, a cramped and dingy laundromat with no hot waft of Breeze or Bounty stands unattended, garments whirling entropically, no clean to be achieved. A pink phone with no dial tone, a bell with no service, and yet an […]

Public Service Announcement

October is golden

by Salem Collo-Julin and Kerry Reid October 1, 2021October 1, 2021

The Reader turns 50 today, and we can’t think of a better way to celebrate our golden anniversary than by checking out some of the events that give our city (and surrounding areas) a cultural glow and make us happy to be here. Cheers! Fri 10/1: Fall is here and Pride has returned! This weekend […]

Public Service Announcement

August abundance

by Kerry Reid and Salem Collo-Julin August 13, 2021

The torpor-inducing temperatures seem to be cooling down, so it’s a good time to get out and about. Here are some mid-August events worth looking into. Fri-Sun 8/13-8/15 (and through 8/29): High school can be fraught, as so many teen dramedies have taught us. School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play, Jocelyn Bioh’s comedy […]