I’ve often said that a film retelling will destroy a brilliant literary work and a mediocre book can make a great film. My example [of the latter] is Mario Puzo’s […]
Summer weekends are always an adventure in Chicago. Last weekend was the Air and Water Show, Bud Billiken Parade, White Sox vs the Cubs, and several neighborhood festivals. The best […]
I was not exactly expecting Puck and the other fairies when I sat down to watch the new production by the Joffrey Ballet. This Midsummer Night’s Dream is Sweden’s celebration […]
The 14th annual Winning Works is an evening of fresh work and twists on classic techniques that will thrill dance audiences in the coming performances. The Joffrey Academy of Dance’s […]
Blue is a metaphor for emotions, music, sensuality, and an emotionally wrought period in the life of Pablo Picasso. Like Joni Mitchell’s “Blue,” the Joffrey Ballet’s Studies in Blue held […]
A star is born, and none of them is one of four movies with the same title. A star in the sky comes from dust, gravity, collision, and heat in […]
The basic plot of the famous The Nutcracker ballet is a familiar story. A young girl, Clara, receives the gift of a Nutcracker on Christmas Eve. That night, she has […]
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 […]
My interest in classical music was weaned on Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker ballet. So I leapt at the opportunity to do a Nutcracker relay last Saturday: the matinee opening […]
The Nutcracker is as much a part of me as chocolate, and I don’t think I have made it through a holiday season since I was 4 without seeing a […]
In this brave new normal, ballet premieres come while you’re sitting alone on your couch, instead of in a glittering theater gathered with hundreds of other balletomanes breathlessly awaiting. Perhaps nowadays you […]
Rahm Emanuel himself, a longtime honorary board member, kicked off the Joffrey Ballet’s winter residency at the iconic Auditorium Theatre by congratulating the company on its 25 years as a Chicago […]