An icon and legend, the late Princess Diana, first wife to King Charles III, lends herself to many different interpretations. Jillann Gabrielle has established herself as a creator and performer of one-woman musicals about such iconic women as Greta Garbo, Hedda Hopper, Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Now Gabrielle presents her interpretation […]
Author Archives: Bridgette M. Redman
Posted inArts & Culture
Breaking barriers onstage
What would A Midsummer Night’s Dream look like if presented in a way that made it accessible for all storytellers? If it were updated for today’s social media-saturated world? If it were told by people of all different abilities? It’s possible to find out June 10 or 11 at Upstairs at Chicago Shakespeare when Artists […]
Posted inTheater Review
Unleashed moms
Mother’s Day weekend provided the perfect time to open this irreverent, boisterous look at three women’s journey from two blue lines on a pee stick to graduation day. Running at Mercury Theater Chicago’s Venus Cabaret, the musical by Julie Dunlap and Sara Stotts features first-time mom Rachel (Tafadzwa Diener), second-time mom Angie (Jacquelyne Jones), and […]
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best place to grab a midday nap
Even high-powered executives sometimes need a midday siesta to power through the day. Yet, dropping one’s head on a desk can leave one cramped and even more tired, while companies that provide cots can find themselves in PR trouble (think Twitter and Elon Musk). So what is a person to do when in need of […]
Posted inTheater Review
Disability takes center stage with Babes With Blades
A man who murders children, abuses his wife, and usurps the throne, Shakespeare’s Richard III is the epitome of villainy—and usually shown as a limping hunchback othered because of his disability. Babes With Blades, in collaboration with University of Illinois Chicago’s Disability Cultural Center, challenges that portrayal in a current production at the Edge Theater. […]
Posted inFilm
Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song
By focusing on the song rather than the man, the filmmakers create an arc that keeps viewers engaged.
Posted inArts & Culture
A Black perspective on the French Revolution
Sometimes to understand the present, we must look at the past. In 2017, playwright Terry Guest grappled with how America could elect someone so outwardly racist as Donald Trump. It shocked him into questioning what could be done about the rise of fascism in the U.S. “Do we protest? Does that work?” Guest asked himself. […]
Posted inArts & Culture
All in the Gayme
This June, queer youth are challenging audiences on what it means to be active in environmental justice and to participate in mutual aid activism. About Face Youth Theatre, founded in 1999, offers annual workshop sessions where LGBTQ+ youth and their allies ages 13 to 24 can participate in activist theater that supports learning in safe […]
Posted inTheater Review
Some favorite things
Banish all thoughts of Julie Andrews and the classic film The Sound of Music and take in the stage version at Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire. From top to bottom, from eldest to first-grader Reese Bella, the voices are stunning. Whether standards such as “My Favorite Things” or the lesser-known “How Can Love Survive,” the songs […]
Posted inArts & Culture
‘Creating accessibility programming benefits everyone’
Everything is different as the performing arts world feels its way back into being together and breathing the same air, but in a way that won’t infect and kill each other. As everyone hopes to be headed toward a post-pandemic world, the question of accessibility, of finding a way to bring everyone—and not just select […]
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best local conservationist rocking it out on YouTube
Julian Baumgartner may be the sole owner of Chicago’s oldest conservation studio, but that doesn’t keep him from being simultaneously the master of old masters and social media. He’s a man with a fan base in the millions—many of whom claim they know or care nothing about art but are faithful viewers of his videos. […]
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best tour of non-sentient architecture in Chicago
When Will Quam was asked if all bricks want to be arches, he insisted that bricks have neither feelings nor desires, that as wonderful as they are, they simply aren’t sentient. Quam, Chicago’s resident “brick whisperer,” gives walking tours of Chicago where he shares his infectious passion for—yes—bricks. The tours last 90 minutes, cover 1.5 […]
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best place to read a play
Perceptions Theatre If you’ve had your fill of dead white male playwrights, or even if you just want to add some variety to your dramatic play reading list, Perceptions Theatre has the prescription for you. The company, founded by artistic director Myesha-Tiara, has been hosting a play reading club that features BIPOC playwrights. During the […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Occupying the moment
Dr. Maura Reilly is a curator who understands feminist art. It is one of the reasons she was chosen to curate a historic exhibition at Bridgeport Art Center as a part of the 50th anniversary celebration of the Women’s Caucus for Art (WCA). The organization put out a call for self-identified women artists based in […]
Posted inTheater Review
A fresh Evita
Marcia Milgrom Dodge demonstrates in Drury Lane’s Evita what great casting in 2022 looks like. The director and choreographer gathered a cast diverse in race, age, and body type, creating what feels like an authentic picture of Argentina from 1934 to 1952. There is no color line among the military, upper-class, or poor. Her diverse […]