Our top five picks for things to do this week: President’s Day! Mardi Gras! Valentine’s! We’ve got you covered—except for the roses. You’ll have to swing those yourself. Inside: Lincoln comes to life on film … Philip Seymour Hoffman makes his Goodman directorial debut … Ladysmith Black Mambazo plays real world music … plus, three freebies for V-Day
Back in Chicago, backstage
Our top five picks for things to do this week: The Building Stage does rock ’n’ roll Wagner… Keaton does Sherlock … art does a disappearing act … plus, stand-up tryouts at the Lakeshore and ice dancing to the King of Pop in Millennium Park
The Darker Side of Light: Arts of Privacy, 1850-1900 at the Smart Museum of Art. Ranked from highest profile to biggest surprise AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY 2/2-14 If you spent the last two-plus years faking your way through small talk about Tracy Letts’s Pulitzer winner, rectify the situation with tickets to this touring production, starring Estelle … Read more
A budding young playwright gets a second chance in New York
Chicago blues may be known the world over, but not many musicians have logged the miles to see just how far it has traveled. The exception is Sugar Blue, 60, the famed harmonica innovator and Grammy winner who honed his craft on the South Side from the masters James Cotton, Big Walter Horton, and Junior … Read more
Our top five picks for things to do this week: The original Bastards screens at the MCA … Dennehy gets chatty at the Goodman … a Louvre curator asks the big question … plus, what you get when you team a Sex Pistol and a Stray Cat with a rockabilly rebel
Jim Gaffigan considers his January 29th through 31st standup comedy stint at the Chicago Theatre a very, very big deal. “It’s like playing at Wrigley Field,” says the Chesterton, Indiana, native. For the uninitiated, Gaffigan’s humor falls midway between sweet and sarcastic, wholesome and devious, self-effacing and strange. And he’s better than ever: Last year’s … Read more
Our top five picks for things to do this week: Chicagoan Michael Shannon onscreen … Joffrey’s Cinderfellas on dancing in drag … Joan Didion’s Magical Thinking at the Court … plus freebies and more
SCREEN GEM: With a new book out and a seemingly endless reservoir of ideas, the artist and screen printer Jay Ryan draws worldwide acclaim from his Skokie studio
