Dispatch: Chicago Jazz Festival #46 Lights Up the Last Days of Summer at Millennium Park
As the summer days begin to cool, there is still the heat from jazz bubbling in Millennium Park. The Chicago Jazz Festival is in its 46th year and is still […]
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.
Review: Incandescent Performances Highlight How to Transcend a Happy Marriage at Redtwist Theatre
Redtwist Theatre is high-kicking and playing on the edge for Season 21, themed “Defiant Femmes.” It is a timely theme and, in my opinion, needed to bolster the energy and […]
Review: A Magical Night with Rodgers and Hammerstein in Millennium Park
The duo of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein has left an indelible legacy in American music. Indeed, they created the golden age of Broadway musicals and a canon of songs […]
Review: Secret Byrd Is an Adventure into the Sacred and Forbidden of the Renaissance
Concert Theatre Works presented Secret Byrd, an immersive performance of the Mass for Five Voices, a Catholic Mass by William Byrd, a Renaissance-era English composer. Vocals were provided by the […]
Review: At Northlight Theatre, Kelvin Roston Inhabits Donny Hathaway’s Joy and Agony in Twisted Melodies
Donny Hathaway is a name tattooed in my mind since childhood. His singing style was otherworldly, blending traditional gospel with R&B and funk. He could bend a note like no […]
Review: Theatre L’Acadie Gets Big Time Laughs With Big Time Toppers
Theatre L’Acadie is known for edgy satire while bringing deeply human themes to the absurd situations of life. The first production I saw from L’Acadie was called The Swan, which […]
Review: Steppenwolf’s You Will Get Sick Is a Comic and Poignant Portrayal of Life and How People Endure
Playwright Noah Diaz wrote You Will Get Sick in 2018, but its first production was delayed until 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ironically, the wisdom or conspiracy was that […]
Review: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Is a Gorgeous and Trippy Journey by Joffrey Ballet
The Joffrey Ballet is known for its full-scale productions, which are cinematic in their staging. Atonement combined film noir with period piece drama. Studies in Blue was filled with dreamy […]
Dispatch: Rain Delay and a Musical Icon Welcomed Home for a Sweet Finale to the Chicago Blues Festival 2025
Day four of the Chicago Blues Festival ended on a high note despite a rain delay and a highly anticipated act being cut. The reality is that Mavis Staples was […]
Dispatch: The Mississippi Delta, Juke Joints, Tributes, and a Prodigy at Millennium Park—It’s Day 3 of the Blues Festival
Chicago Blues Festival #41 is shaping up to be one of the best I’ve seen in years. The day three lineup was mainly out of the Mississippi Delta. The park […]
Dispatch: Neighbors from the North, Guitars,and Memories of Street Corner Concerts in Day 2 of Blues Festival
Day two of the Chicago Blues Festival was a trip down memory lane—the days of big production concerts, tailored clothes, and memories of summers in Louisiana. The mainstage performers on […]
Review: Nova Linea Inaugural Season Closes With Buoyant and Original Compositions
June 4 marked the close of Nova Linea Musica’s inaugural season with a flourish of whimsy and music that, for me, evokes stories and visions of Chicago. NLM is the […]