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Chicago
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Music: HOTHOUSE MEETS HAVANA (Cuban Jazz Jan 21-24, 2021)
THE RHYTHM IS HOT HOT HOTHOUSE Chicago-based HotHouse, The Center for International Performance & Exhibition since 1987, is bringing Cuba to you in Jazz Plaza: HotHouse Meets Havana, four nights of incredible music which streams Jan. 21-24, 2021, at 7pm CST. No other music I know of will get you going like Cuban jazz. And…
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Preview: FILMS.DANCE (Jacob Jonas Dance Company with The Soraya, The Wallis, Los Angeles, and The Harris, Chicago)
CONNECTING ALL CORNERS OF THE WORLD Here comes Films.Dance, an extremely ambitious and most promising global project from one of the hottest leaders in dance. This stunningly shot series exists at the intersection of music composition, dance choreography, visual arts, fashion, and film. So while the curtain is down, L.A.-based Jacob Jonas The Company is…
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Theater: COURT THEATRE UNVEILS NEW 2021 SEASON (Chicago)
NEW SEASON TAKES CENTER COURT Chicago’s great Court Theatre has sadly had to postpone its production of August Wilson’s Two Trains Running, but Owen McCafferty’s Titanic (Scenes from the British Wreck Commissioner’s Inquiry, 1912) and Shakespeare’s Othello are still on. If possible, Court will offer limited in-person viewership for Titanic and Othello, with digital access provided for patrons who…
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Film and Zoom Event: THE BOWMAKERS (Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra)
BOWMAKERS, TAKE A BOW Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) is currently hosting the Midwest premiere of the new, feature-length documentary The Bowmakers, through December 6, 2020, only. Ward Serrill’s film has at its center Charles Espey — considered the most important bowmaker of his generation — so we can learn about the bow from start to…
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Theater Review: THE STEADFAST TIN SOLDIER (Lookingglass)
STEADFAST THEATER This “soldier” is well worth saluting: There’s an enchanting Christmas Pantomime streaming from Michigan Avenue in Chicago ’” Lookingglass Theatre Company’s jewel-box of a holiday divertissement. Transformed by music, dance and spectacle more than by words and lyrics, The Steadfast Tin Soldier, Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale from 1838, is the perfect recipient for director…
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Theater: ELEANOR’S VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS WISH – THE MUSICAL (Broadway & Beyond Theatricals in Chicago)
EXTRA! EXTRA! SANTA CAUGHT ON TAPE WITH RAG DOLL! If your little ones are aching for some color and Christmas and you’re looking for a critical and commercial success from Chicago to entertain them, well here it is. Last year, the premiere of Eleanor’s Very Merry Christmas – The Musical was caught and captured so…
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Theater Preview: A CHRISTMAS CAROL (Manual Cinema)
A FEAST FOR THE IMAGINATION I have seen three shows from the Chicago-based performance collective Manual Cinema, and the theatricality is truly awesome. You wouldn’t expect this from a simple description, but you must believe me when I say that this endlessly inventive group of artists uses disarmingly simple tools ’” live music, paper puppets,…
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Dance Feature: THE SKY WAS DIFFERENT (A film by Jonathan Fredrickson; Hubbard Street Dance Chicago)
REACH FOR THE SKY Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, which began its 23rd season with a virtual new work from Rena Butler’s propulsive, truly lovely 25-minute work A Tale of Two (watch here), now presents Jonathan Fredrickson‘s The Sky Was Different, a premiere 50-minute surrealist film debuting on Thursday, December 3. 2020 on HSDC’s site. Hubbard…
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Opera Preview: RIMSKY REBOOTED (Chicago Opera Theater)
RIMSKY TO THE RESCUE As COVID-19 restrictions continue to evolve, Chicago Opera Theater is pivoting its November show digitally in order to honor commitments to artists while protecting the community. Instead of the previously announced Kashchej the Immortal, COT will now offer Rimsky Rebooted on Saturday November 21, at 7:30pm CST. a recital featuring singers from…
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Theater Feature: DECOMPOSED THEATRE, OR THE HUMAN TRASHCAN (Trap Door Theatre in Chicago)
CALLING ALL HUMAN TRASHCANS!! (THAT’S YOU, BY THE WAY) Chicago’s amazing avant-garde company Trap Door Theatre is presenting a series of eight episodes adapted from Matei Vişniec’s Decomposed Theatre, or the Human Trashcan. This Romanian playwright and philosopher saw his plays banned under Romanian Communism in the 70s and 80s (gee with titles like How…
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Theater Preview: WHAT IS LEFT, BURNS (Steppenwolf)
STEPPENWOLF BEGINS 2020-21 SEASON Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre begins its NOW virtual stage season with What Is Left, Burns, which “opens” for streaming on November 11, 2020. This world premiere play has been recorded with a spectacular production design, including stunning video and photography by Lowell Thomas and Joel Moorman and an original soundtrack composed by Justin Ellington….
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Theater Review: THE PROJECT(S) (Stage Left Theater, Chicago)
THIS YEAR MORE THAN EVER, THE PROJECT(S) MUST BE SEEN It’s a continuing crisis seen from the inside out, fleshed out with warmth and truth. In The Project(s), the late, great American Theater Company artistic director PJ Paparelli and documentarian Joshua Jaeger created a crash course and action meditation on Chicago’s infam0us housing projects. Inspired…
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Theater Review: THE SPIN (Interrobang Theatre Project, Chicago)
THE SPIN IS A SPECTACULAR SPARKLING SPUNKY EXPLOIT Satisfying, enriching, entertaining and proof that Chicago contains some of this country’s greatest actors and theater, The Spin is writer/director Spenser Davis’s brilliant blend of theatric sensibilities in a digital format. This offering from Interrobang Theatre Project in Chicago “opened” last night and it is hands down…
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Theater Review: 45 PLAYS FOR AMERICA’S FIRST LADIES (The Neo-Futurists in NYC, Chicago, and San Francisco)
WHO’S ON FIRST, LADIES? The program states: “Rather than presenting a purely biographical story, this project uses the “honorary” office of First Lady as a lens to examine the roles that women and other marginalized individuals have played in the development of America.” That this recorded production is coarse in value only seems to heighten…
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Theater Preview: SUCH SMALL HANDS (Kane Rep Digital Reading)
UPCOMING READING HIGHLY RECOMMENDED Tony Award winner Rondi Reed and Steppenwolf’s Francis Guinan will star in a world premiere virtual reading of Adam Szymkowicz’s Such Small Hands, directed by Artistic Director of Northlight Theatre BJ Jones on October 14, 2020, at 7:30 p.m. CT, as part of Kane Repertory Theatre’s New Play Lab. The Play: Paul is cancer ridden and descending into dementia. He…
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Theater Preview: CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE THEATER ANNOUNCES 35TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON
CHICAGO SHAKES UP ITS SEASON Chicago Shakes’ 35th Anniversary Season offers an amazing array of options, both in’‘person performances and virtual streaming. Look for plays written and inspired by Shakespeare, new musicals, a timely contemporary opera, and engaging digital content for audiences, students, and teachers. Virtual programming and streamed productions will launch the season in September 2020. In’‘person…
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Theater Preview: WRITER THEATRE’S 2020/21 SEASON (Chicago)
WRITERS READY AND RARIN’ TO GO Chicago’s amazing company, Writers Theatre, has announced its 2020/21 Season with a new adaptive producing model, one committed to remaining flexible and responsive to current events and that allows the them to welcome patrons back when the time is right. Productions will be confirmed and dates will be announced…
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Theater Review: PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (Lifeline)
A PRODUCTION TO BE PROUD OF Pride and Prejudice is Austen’s best-known novel, and its rich tapestry of characters and urbane dialogue have made it a natural for the stage, television, and motion pictures — and now, virtual streaming. To kick off its new line of digital programming, Lifeline Theatre presents Pride and Prejudice, adapted…
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Theater Preview: EASTLAND: AN ORIGINAL MUSICAL (Lookingglass Theatre Virtual Watch Party on August 20)
LITTLE-KNOWN CHICAGO DISASTER BECOMES TOWERING MUSICAL; THE BRILLIANT LOOKINGGLASS THEATRE PRODUCTION STREAMS ONE NIGHT ONLY FOR FREE In 2012, Chicago’s Lookingglass Theatre Company presented the hit, Eastland: An Original Musical, a stunning meditation on one of the most terrible disasters in Chicago history: On the morning of July 25, 1915, an excursion boat overloaded with…
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Theater Preview: OF DICE AND MEN (Otherworld Theatre)
GO TO THE OTHERWORLD Chicago’s premier Science Fiction and Fantasy theatre proudly presents Of Dice And Men – A Play about Dungeons and Dragons! This virtual production is a remount of Otherworld’s first full length production from the spring of 2014, and it has been specifically designed for Otherworld’s digital platform. It will premiere on…
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