Review: Music of the Baroque Wowed on Saturday Night
Leave it to Jane Glover and her fairly small orchestra and chorus to give a gargantuan performance of a classical music leviathan to a sold out crowd on Saturday night. […]
Review: The Boys of Fairytown: Sodomites, Female Impersonators, Third-Sexers, Pansies, Queers, and Sex Morons in Chicago’s First Century
Do you know: The first gay rights advocacy group in the United States was formed in Chicago in 1924? There was a legally recognized same-sex marriage in Chicago in 1923? […]
Review: Immortal: Unchained Goes Big But Still Ends Up Going Home
Immortal: Unchained is an action role-playing game developed and published by Toadman Interactive. Set in the far future on an alien world, you play as a warrior who has been imprisoned for […]
Persuasive Xenophobia Finds Voice in BigMouth at Chicago Shakes
Critics Kimzyn Campbell and Karin McKie jointly review BigMouth, running at Chicago Shakespeare Theater through September 22. Ticket discounts are available when two or more “Big in Belgium” shows are […]
Albee’s The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? Tells a Tragic Tale of Love and Loss at Interrobang Theatre
Edward Albee’s 2002 play, The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia, hasn’t been performed very often in Chicago. I told my plus-one, rather casually, that it’s a play about a man […]
Dispatch: Oscar Buzz Abounds at Toronto International Film Festival
In my first dispatch from Toronto International Film Festival, a selection of six films offered a diverse taste of the hundreds of films screened at the 2018 edition (which officially […]
Preview: Amanda Shires’ Evocative and Electrifying Sound is Set to Fill Thalia Hall
There is a lot of history behind Amanda Shires’ marvelous voice, Shires’ has been honing her art to perfection; starting her career with The Texas Playboys before going out on […]
Let’s Cafe: Biscuits and More at Sweet Maple Cafe on Taylor Street
You haven’t tasted anything until you’ve eaten a flaky sweet milk biscuit at Sweet Maple Café. This delectable breakfast treat lured me and my biscuit-loving cohort to this charming breakfast and […]
Review: Mandy, Soaked in Blood, a Contorted, Awful Version of the World
Chaos bathed in menacing, colorful light, featuring a lead performer who spends much of the film’s two-hour running time soaked in dark red blood, Mandy is that film horror fans have […]
Review: The Area Puts a Face on How Chicago Lets a Neighborhood Die
“Who is willing to try to save a community that’s destined to die?” When I heard long-time Englewood resident Deborah Payne utter these desperate words near the end of the […]
Review: American Chaos, More Like a Bad Memory of 2016 Than a Call to Arms
My issues with the new documentary American Chaos have more to do with the timing of its release than anything else. The film was shot during the six months leading up […]
Review: A Simple Favor, Deceptively Titled, Dark and Thrilling
Although director Paul Feig’s go-to milieu is female-driven comedies (Bridesmaids, The Heat, the recent remake of Ghostbusters), there is something thrillingly bold, dark and eventually thrilling about his latest work, […]