Double Michaels! Triple threats! Joe Jackson’s aggression! MJ the Musical titillates in a new touring production of the Broadway hit navigating the chaotic life of King of Pop Michael Jackson, highlighting the challenges public and private during his 1992-93 Dangerous world tour. The Pepsi-Cola-sponsored global event went on to gross $140 million for Jackson’s Heal […]
Tag: Christopher Wheeldon
Posted inDance
Joffrey’s Nutcracker gets a new home
Year after year the critic comes, that unkind aunt who wasn’t quite invited to the house spoiling Christmas for the children by pointing out that The Nutcracker is, like most American traditions, not as old and established as it purports to be and problematic where it comes to gender and race to boot. This year, […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The Times Are Racing has urgency, but lacks vision
Electric performances heat up a Joffrey program that could use more coherence.
Posted inArts & Culture
Joffrey’s The Nutcracker puts the emphasis on mother love
Christopher Wheeldon’s World’s Fair magic makes its last appearance at the Auditorium.
Posted inArts & Culture
Of shoes and sugarplums
The company’s shoe manager tells us what it takes to keep the company on its toes.
Posted inArts & Culture
The CSO and the Joffrey, together at last!
But a program of Stravinsky, Ravel, and Rossini at Symphony Center shows neither to its best advantage.
Posted inArts & Culture
The Joffrey’s Nutcracker abandons plot, pathos, and palatable choreography in favor of special effects
The most memorable dances, unfortunately, are the most offensive.
Posted inArts & Culture
In the Joffrey’s Swan Lake, there’s no lake and no love, but there’s plenty of self-reflection
Victoria Jaiani’s performance as Odette and Odile deserves better.
Posted inDance
Joffrey’s lavish but ‘overpressured’ Nutcracker returns
The Joffrey’s 2016, $4 million commissioned production of Christopher Wheeldon’s Nutcracker returns to the Auditorium for another season. As spectacle, there is surely no more lavish rendition of the holiday classic. Set in Chicago around the time of the Columbian Exposition, the production includes Polish folk dances to a thinned-out, brassier arrangement of Tchaikovsky’s score in Act […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Can Ashley Wheater sustain the Joffrey’s success?
The choreographer celebrates ten years as artistic director of the dance company. What might the next decade have in store?
Posted inArts & Culture
Brave Like Them, The Bricklayers of Oz, and ten more new stage shows for the dog days
A “queer as f**k riot grrrl musical” and Chicago Dance Crash’s latest story-length hip-hop showcase are among this week’s best bets.
Posted inBlogs
Boy wonder Justin Peck’s Year of the Rabbit makes the Joffrey’s “Game Changers” soar
The program also includes exquisite works by Christopher Wheeldon (Fool’s Paradise) and Wayne McGregor (Infra).
Posted inArts & Culture
Boy wonder Justin Peck makes the Joffrey’s ‘Game Changers’ soar
Set to Sufjan Stevens, the dancer-choreographer’s Year of the Rabbit lives up to the program’s title.
Posted inArts & Culture
The Joffrey’s new Nutcracker spellbinds amid the snow
Christopher Wheeldon’s update of the classic puts class consciousness at the forefront, to illuminating effect.
Posted inBlogs
The Joffrey’s new Nutcracker is set in Chicago on the grounds of the 1893 World’s Fair
Christopher Wheeldon’s $4 million production grounds the fantasy in working-class life.