ARTS
& CULTURE

Promises, Promises gets a rare revival with Blank Theatre

The musical version of The Apartment shines in a small but spirited staging.

by Kerry Reid December 7, 2023December 7, 2023

Latest storY

The Other Cinderella still has soul and sparkle to spare

Black Ensemble Theater’s musical returns at 47 years young.

It’s been a minute since I’ve visited the Kingdom of Other: 13 years, to be precise. The last time I saw Jackie Taylor’s The Other Cinderella was in 2010, before Black Ensemble Theater moved to their spacious Clark Street home. (And it was certainly long before BET planned an expansion across the street that will include artist housing, an education…

by Kerry Reid December 7, 2023December 7, 2023

kerry reid

Islander loops together a minimalist but enchanting Celtic tale

Chicago Shakespeare’s WorldStage production offers warmth and charm.

December 7, 2023December 7, 2023

Remembering Marc Silvia, Debra Rodkin, and Ernest Perry Jr.

The three actors were all important and beloved players in Chicago theater.

December 1, 2023December 1, 2023

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Desire lines

At the Arts Club of Chicago, Rathin Barman investigates the migrant experience through sculpture.

by Pia Singh November 29, 2023November 29, 2023

Arts & Culture

Discover Chicago’s layered history

The fifth Chicago Architecture Biennial shows what the city could become.

Theater Review

Manual Cinema’s Christmas Carol returns to Writers Theatre

This inventive take on Dickens finds sympathy for the Scrooge in all of us.

Theater Preview

Noor Inayat Khan: The Forgotten Spy brings a footnote of World War II center stage

Almanya Narula’s award-winning solo show comes to Chicago.

Theater Review

Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas has charm and heart galore

Puppets (and some human friends) take over the Studebaker for this Jim Henson-inspired musical.

Theater Review

Cinderella emphasizes the magic of kindness

Drury Lane Theatre’s production of the Rodgers and Hammerstein chestnut gets it right all across the board.

Theater Preview

Sleeping With Beauty brings an irreverent take to a British holiday tradition

PrideArts finds holiday cheer again with a bawdy panto.

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theater previews

John Michael teaches us how to time travel with the Neo-Futurists

The solo artist brings a mankini and hundreds of boxes of Narcan to Spank Bank Time Machine.

by Dilpreet Raju October 30, 2023November 3, 2023

Nyra’s Dreams uses Indian dance to explore contemporary women’s experiences

Prop Thtr and SurTaal Dance collaborate on the world premiere.

by JT Newman October 24, 2023October 24, 2023

theater REVIEWS

POTUS is painfully funny

The women behind the man in the Oval Office have a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

by Kerry Reid November 17, 2023November 17, 2023

The Lifespan of a Fact tackles truthiness

It’s storytelling vs. fact-checking in TimeLine’s local premiere of the 2018 Broadway play.

by Kerry Reid November 16, 2023November 28, 2023

Chicago community calendar: Arts & Culture event listings

Wise Guys: The First Christmas Story turns the journey of the Magi into a buddy adventure

Factory’s holiday show is both smart-assed and sincere.

by Kerry Reid November 15, 2023November 29, 2023

Court’s The Lion in Winter slices through the surface

Ron OJ Parson’s staging focuses on the lost love of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitane.

by Kelly Kleiman November 15, 2023November 15, 2023

books

Writing as an act, not an artifact

An interview with Francesca Kritikos, the editor-in-chief of SARKA Publishing and author of Sweet Bloody Salty Clean.

by Maxwell Rabb October 24, 2023October 31, 2023

Finding poetry in flyover country

Author Sonya Huber pays tribute to the midwest that shaped her in Love and Industry.

by Kerry Cardoza September 8, 2023September 8, 2023

The couple at the center of Wellness are in love with an illusion

Author Nathan Hill reflects the changes in Wicker Park in his latest novel.

by Atavia Reed September 7, 2023September 7, 2023

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Chicago Reader print newspaper cover art for volume 52 number 25 featuring an illustration of the fine arts building in chicago surrounded by other buildings on michigan avenue — Volume 52, Number 25 Credit: Illustration by Joe Mills

‘125 is feeling very good’

Celebrating Chicago’s cultural past and present at the Fine Arts Building

by Albert Williams

The Fall theater & Arts preview Issue

Collective power

Jane: Abortion and the Underground reminds us to find strength in organizing.

by Katie Powers

Biennial as experimentation

At the helm of this year’s Chicago Architecture Biennial, the Floating Museum invites us all to be participants.

by Anjulie Rao

From Le Perroquet to STREET

Reeling: The Chicago LGBTQ+ International Film Festival premiers an intimate documentary of a former Chicago chef’s rise.

by Xiao daCunha

High Fidelity gets the oral history treatment

An interview with Andrew Buss, author of Top Five: How High Fidelity Found Its Rhythm and Became a Cult Movie Classic

by Donald Liebenson

visual arts

Seduced, abandoned, and excellent

Lyric Opera audiences have the luxury of expecting great performances from everyone on the Opera House stage. It’s par for the course; we’re spoiled that way. But once in a while, someone comes along who knocks our socks off. Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen, in a stunning Lyric Opera debut as the title character in Jenůfa,…

by Deanna Isaacs November 17, 2023November 17, 2023

Commedia Divina: It’s Worse Than That is Dante for the age of MAGA

Editor’s Note: Due to illness in the cast, the remainder of performances for this show have been canceled. Please contact the company for information on refunds. Feel like you’ve been living in hell the past several years? The Conspirators understand. In their latest offering, Commedia Divina: It’s Worse Than That, writer Sid Feldman concocts a…

by Kerry Reid November 15, 2023November 16, 2023

Beetlejuice is a demonic good time

Thirty-five years after its film debut, the classic Tim Burton Halloween comedy Beetlejuice has been reimagined, first set loose like a demon as a 2019 Broadway musical (score by Eddie Perfect, book by Scott Brown and Anthony King, and directed by Alex Timbers), and now playing at Chicago’s Auditorium Theatre. My inner goth jumped at…

by Kimzyn Campbell November 15, 2023November 15, 2023

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