Review: Goodman Theatre Continues a Fine Holiday Tradition with A Christmas Carol
The Goodman Theatre’s 46th annual production of A Christmas Carol is the kickoff to the holiday season in Chicago. The last time I saw it was over 12 years ago […]
Kathy D. Hey writes creative non-fiction essays. A lifelong Chicagoan, she is enjoying life with her husband, daughter and three dogs in the wilds of Edgewater. When she isn’t at her computer, she is in her garden growing vegetables and herbs for kitchen witchery.
Preview: Deeply Rooted Dance Theater Kicks Off Made in Chicago Series November 3 at the Auditorium Theatre
Chicago is an arts town and home to some of the finest dance companies in the world. Deeply Rooted Dance Theater was co-founded by Kevin Iega Jeff and Gary Abbott […]
Review: Saint Sebastian Players Presents a Pleasant and Trippy Catholic Flashback with Nunsense
The moment I made my way down the stairs of the St. Bonaventure Church community hall, it was 1968 in my head. Was it a coincidence that my earliest Catholic […]
Review: Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein Is a Bawdy and Hilarious Hit at Mercury Theater
Mel Brooks is one of the great comic geniuses of our time and he has said that Young Frankenstein was his favorite film. From that comic lunacy came the musical […]
Review: Theater Wit’s Mordant Dramedy Household Spirits Mixes Good Acting With a Convoluted Story
A ghost story requires that one suspends belief. Having grown up Catholic, I know all about suspending belief just from memorizing the Baltimore Catechism when purgatory was a real threat. […]
Review: The Chicago Philharmonic Blends Classical Overtures with Exquisite Arias from Met Star Ryan Speedo Green
October is Chicago Artist Month, and our city is so fortunate to have what I call treasures with our arts institutions. One of our finest treasures is the Chicago Philharmonic, […]
Review: Kurt Elling & Charlie Hunter Bring the Jams at Space Evanston
What a pleasure to spend a misty autumn night grooving to Kurt Elling with Charlie Hunter at Space in Evanston. I saw him at the Chicago Jazz Festival when he […]
Review: The Joffrey Ballet Flawlessly Dances the Frankenstein Story
I am still in awe from watching the Joffrey Ballet’s Frankenstein at the Lyric Opera House. Choreographer Liam Scarlett stayed closer to Mary Shelley’s book Frankenstein or Modern Prometheus than […]
Review: Subtext Studio Presents a Harrowing Tale of Human Smuggling in The American Dream
Playwright Juan Ramirez’s The American Dream seems to be taken from the stories that are kept out of the headlines. It is the story of a “coyote,” Efren (Jorge Aguilar), […]
Review: Chicago Opera Theater Opens Season With a Compelling Timeline of War and Its Aftermath with Soldier Songs
Soldier Songs is a solo operatic performance that blends the genres of classical and heavy metal. I thought that I had never heard anything like it, however, the parallels between […]
Review: Tank and the Bangas Are an Aural Delight with the Chicago Philharmonic
Tank and the Bangas are a genre of music unto themselves, so playing with the venerable Chicago Philharmonic was a further illumination of their poetry and music. The group is […]
Review: Joffrey Ballet Celebrates Life in Dance with the Arpino Chicago Centennial Celebration
The Joffrey Ballet took up residence in Chicago in 1996. After nearly four decades in New York and the death of Robert Joffrey, Gerald Arpino, his partner in life and […]