Orchestral jazz may sound like a wording error but it’s definitely a thing. A very classy thing in fact; brimming with muscle and finesse. Chicago found itself with a quite nice OJ ensemble when somebody invited Orbert Davis, one of the city’s most respected trumpet players, to think big. That was back in 2004 and …
You’d think the monsters of junior high school couldn’t be as horrible as the ones in senior high, but of course they are. In the wistfully charming production of Trevor the Musical now playing at the Writers Theater in Glencoe, they steadfastly do what monsters do and try to destroy a kid because he’s “weird”. …
The city of Chicago and the state of Wisconsin have a thing; and it’s mostly one way. Every summer the city looks lustfully north. Across the border are quaint and picturesque cottages lolling beside beautiful lakes surging with fish. There’s cheese. There’s excellent beer. And in the evening, there are supper clubs; those legendary havens …
The question underlying Monticello, a play about Thomas Jefferson and his views on the Declaration of Independence fifty years after its signing, is a fascinating one. What did Jefferson actually think about the value and legacy of this keystone document now that it was embedded in the national fabric? Playwright Thomas Geoghegan’s ambitious work now …
Given the number of people who regularly show up at Tuesdays on the Terrace, the Museum of Contemporary Art’s weekly treat of free jazz during summer, you can’t call it an undiscovered treasure. By 6:30pm, it’s usually teeming. Deceptively large and divided into several tiered levels, the space meanders peacefully over an acre of developed …