Despite the brittle and bitter reality of America’s political divide, the US still attracts throngs around the world in need of refuge. Whether it be from economic instability or stiffling autocracy, people migrate to this and other democracies in search of a future. Always tucked within that search is also a wish for personal autonomy. …
Music swirls through the fabric of every age. In 1776 ballads, dance tunes, arias and sonatas were just a few of the styles of music Americans were listening to. Almost 250 years later and not much has changed. Some musical styles faded and new ones took root and flourished, just as they do today. The …
Earth, Wind and Fire Tribute a Celebration of Music and the Man Behind It Read More »
Alvin Ailey, the famed founder of one of America’s most revered dance companies, believed “dance is for everybody”. That it’s an art that comes from the people and a gift that should be delivered back to them. So stated Robert Battle, Artistic Director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in his remarks at the …
It’s hard to imagine a world without music. We run to it for too many reasons not to recognize its influence in and on our lives. No matter how it’s arranged or played, whether its new, old, classical, contemporary or comes to us in any of its myriad iterations, the legions around the world who …
No matter how universal a story is, place can be as important as the story’s people. Caryl Churchill’s Fen takes us to a part of the United Kingdom whose existence is virtually unknown beyond the British Isles. On England’s eastern coast, the Fenlands, before being developed, were over 1000 square miles of wetlands. Soaked by …
Play Discloses the Cost of Surviving at the Bottom Read More »
Orchids. When did they capture our attention and eventually take their place as one of the most desired flowers in the world? Questions like that are nearly impossible to answer but there’s no question that this ancient flower still captures our unwavering fascination. This year’s orchid show at the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe goes …
In the 1920s, there wasn’t a lot of “if you can dream it, you can be it” going around. Boxes defining what people could do with their lives were much more rigid a hundred years ago, making it very difficult for some children to even dream of dreaming. Little girls and kids who didn’t have …
It’s not unusual for it to take a pretty massive overhaul to make something old new again. In the world of opera, a recent reinterpretation of the Barber of Seville stands as one of the most resounding redo successes you can imagine. The Factotum, a glitteringly fresh take on Rossini’s classic lifts the original 19th …
Not familiar with step? Don’t despair. Even people who’ve seen it performed may not have realized it had a name. A dance form that took root on college campuses in the early 1900’s, it’s profile in recent decades has risen well above the cloistered walls of higher learning. High spirited, intense, exciting and incorporating lots …
There are worse ways to spend a cold January night in Chicago than catching a hot little musical bubbling with sex. The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas first captivated Broadway with its humorously sympathetic saga about a bordello called the Chicken Ranch in the late 70s. The musical then went on to become a highly …
The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas Turns Up the Heat and the Laughter Read More »