Review: Lea Salonga Shines at the Athenaeum
The Athenaeum Center Theatre was packed last Wednesday night with a near-capacity crowd eager to welcome Broadway legend Lea Salonga to Chicago in her show Stage, Screen and Everything in […]
Interview: Bar Pendry Finds the Fun with High-Low Dining with Caviar and Sticks
Bar Pendry, in the lobby of luxury boutique hotel Pendry Chicago housed in the iconic champagne bottle-pop of a building, the Carbide and Carbon, is having a bit of fun […]
Review: How Did the Plays of Shakespeare Survive for Four Centuries? The Book of Will by Promethean Theatre Tells the Story
Lauren Gunderson’s 2017 play, The Book of Will, is a Shakespearean tale that takes place after the Bard dies. It would have been a tragedy if the King’s Men had […]
Fantastic Fest Review: A Struggling Family Faces Wild Animals and Their Own Demons in Coyotes
The latest from director Colin Minihan (Grave Encounters, What Keeps You Alive) is the brisk, sometimes truly scary Coyotes, which finds ways to be funny and gross, as well as […]
Fantastic Fest Review: Dakota Fanning Navigates a Torturous Gift in Thriller Vicious
In one of the best opening sequences of the year, a clearly broken young woman named Polly (Dakota Fanning) listens to series of voice messages from people who are all […]
Fantastic Fest Review: Night Patrol Draws and Redraws Battle Lines in a Supernatural Gang Battle
Every once in a while, I’m reminded how fun it is to walk into a movie knowing absolutely nothing about it. Specifically, I walked into my first 2025 Fantastic Fest […]
Review: The Boromeo Quartet Demonstrate Beethoven’s Immortality at Guarneri Hall
On Thursday and Friday evenings, the Boromeo Quartet brought to Guarneri Hall an innovative performance of the music that, in my humble opinion, is the greatest ever written: the late […]
Photos: The Party Got Wild for Day Two of Riot Fest
A little rain never hurt anyone and it certainly didn’t put a damper of the atmosphere at Riot Fest. The skies started off nice and clear before turning cloudy and […]
Review: Burning Passion and Untamed Hearts in New Production of Carmen by Joffrey Ballet
There are not many names that bring such vivid memories as Carmen. Georges Bizet’s scandalous and groundbreaking opera marked the beginning of a movement in opera that emphasized realism. The […]
Photos: Riot Fest Celebrates 20 Years with a Worthy Kickoff
Riot Fest turns 20 this year, reminding us that we’re all getting a little older. But no matter how many years pass, Riot Fest keeps putting on a fantastic festival. […]
Review: Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor Star in Closeted Love Story of Two Men United by Music in The History of Sound
Too often in love stories, we are told two people are in love but we’re not shown whatever that inherent thing is that pulls them together. As in real life, […]
Review: Produced by Jordan Peele, Him Fumbles So Badly It Besmirches the Filmmaker’s Name
Produced by Oscar-winner Jordan Peele (so much so that some people thought he directed this one) and directed/co-written by up-and-comer Justin Tipping (Kicks), Him is either the extreme version of […]