Chicago Lifestyle Podcast & Video Blog
The Winter’s Tale at Invictus Theatre is a story of reproach, remorse and reconciliation. This Shakespeare play directed by Charles Askenaizer has something for everyone. It is both tragedy and romantic comedy with sorrow, absurdity, mirth and fantasy. The adept Invictus Theatre Company demonstrates that …
Goodman Theatre’s GeNarrations program is a FREE storytelling program that engages adults aged 55 and over in writing and performance workshops that nurture the creative spirit. This cohort was invited to attend Goodman’s current production of Betrayal starring Helen Hunt after which participants were then encouraged …
Puccini’s popular opera La Bohème at Lyric Opera of Chicago is a story of youth, passion, love and loss where idealism comes face-to-face with life’s realities such as poverty, illness and death.
Yes, this is the opera where the young lady with the bad cough dies at the end. Puccini’s classic has often been spoofed, and is the inspiration for the popular rock musical RENT.
In this production of La Bohème directed by Chicago native Melanie Bacaling at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Maestro Jordan de Souza conducts tenor Pene Pati (Rodolfo) in his Lyric debut, with Ailyn Perez, soprano (Mimì), Gabriella Reyes, soprano (Musetta), Will Liverman (Marcello), Peixin Chen (Colline), Ian Rucker (Schaunard), Levi Hernandez (Benoit & Alcindoro), Travon D. Walker (Parpignol), Uniting Voices Chicago, and the Lyric Opera Orchestra and Chorus.
“La Bohème” at the Lyric Opera House, 20 N. Wacker Drive, Chicago, through April 12, 2025. Sung in Italian with easy-to-follow English translation projected above the stage. Running time is 2 ½ hours with one intermission. For tickets and other information call (312) 827-5600 or visit LyricOpera.org/boheme
+++
New podcast subscriber. Graphic designer and illustrator, Lisa Danielson works digitally and manually including hand lettering with paint markers on chalkboard.You can learn more about her work at www.behance.net/lisa-danielson
Looking to make music of your own? Visit LakeShoreMusicStudio.com
Music Theater Works’ 45th Season Begins with the Frank Loesser Classic, GUYS and DOLLS directed by Sasha Gerritson, Choreographed by Clayton Cross and Music Directed by Linda Madonia This season kicks off with what many believe is the “perfect musical” with every song in its …
March is National Reading Month and National Women’s History Month. Let’s investigate some Chicago Women who have left a mark on our local history and on the world stage. ChicagoBroadcastingNetwork.com encourages you to investigate the lives and works of many notable Chicago women especially a …
On a macro level the primary themes of Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler are morality and propriety. On an individual level we find manipulation and despair.
Hedda Gabler is the self-absorbed, only daughter of a military officer who has an overblown grandiose sense of her own importance, and a lack of empathy for others. She feels trapped in a world of bourgeois values full of expectations she cannot control. It is her perception that the men around her seem to enjoy much more freedom to pursue their own public and private interests with less scrutiny and fewer consequences.
Henrik Ibsen’s “Hedda Gabler” directed by Monica Payne is presented by Artistic Home at The Den Theater 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago through March 30, 2025. Tickets are available at thedentheatre.com or by phone at 773-697-3830. More information at www.theartistichome.org
Cast:
Hedda Gabler – Brookelyn Hebert
Ejlert Lovborg – Dan Evashevsi
Jorge Tesman – Todd Wojcik
Thea Elvsted – Ariana Lopez
Judge Brack – John Mossman
Aunt Julie – Lynne Baker
Berte – Laura Coleman
Thanks to new subscribers Dan Roe; Brian Kille, BK Creative, thebkcreative.com and D.M. Pirrone author of Chicago based historical mysteries.
Edvard Grieg “Cradle Song” played by Julie Lovison, The Lake Shore Music Studio – Chicago.
I had an opportunity to “bond” with spy movie expert Tom Pizzato at the press opening for the new 007 Science: Inventing the World of James running through April 2025. The museum has partnered with Eon Productions who own the rights to all things Bond …
A sparsely furnished motel room dominates the stage. Along the perimeter an empty swimming pool, an imposing neon MOTEL sign, a massive telephone pole and bits of scrub grass suggest this is essentially the bottom of the barrel in the middle of nowhere somewhere at …
What do you know about Richard Hunt and his Monument to Ida B. Wells? How about Madison Hemings the son of Thomas Jefferson? Do you know much about the practice of “redlining” and how it kept people segregated and denied Black Americans the ability to buy homes?
Go beyond the obvious and celebrate Black History Month by checking out or revisiting some of our previous posts that deal with the African American experience with a Chicago spin as it pertains to lesser known contributors in the fields of music, theater, film and history.
What do you know about Oscar Micheaux an early black filmmaker or the first Rainbow Coalition that was born in Uptown and unified the needs of poor whites with those of poor blacks.
Previous reviews of course speak of the performance but can also provide valuable and interesting insight into the subject matter as well. Take a few minutes to revisit some of these interesting subjects.
Film review of “The Light of Truth: Richard Hunt’s Monument to Ida B. Wells.”
Meet Vera Stark – Theater Review
Reclamation of Madison Hemings – Podcast Theater Review
Regina Harris Baiocchi at the Chicago Jazz Festival.
Video profile of Chicago Musician Stann Champion.
Recalling Chicago Blues Legends.
Connie Wilson talks with Linda Garz about her book “Redlined.”
“Passing” on the Red Carpet with Rebecca Hall.
Oscar Micheaux Documentary Film Review and Commentary.
Mayor Harold and Mayor Peter Documentary Film Reviews.
For the Left Hand Documentary Film Review.
The Road Up Documentary Film Review
Something About You Reggae Music Video.
Interview with Steve Bellinger Author of Sci-Fi novel “The Cronocar.”
“Mother Wit” Interview with Venice Johnson.
Mash-up of Opera and Hip-Hop music video.
“First Rainbow Coalition” Documentary Review.
“The Torch A Continuing Blues Legacy” Documentary Review featuring Buddy Guy.
Racial Tensions Explode on Chicago Beach.
“Famine” Chicago Reggae Music Video
Review of “Caroline or Change”
Review of August Wilson’s “Radio Golf”
“Dream Come True” Reggae Music Video
“Liberation” Music Video at The Wild Hare.
Also take a listen to this podcast from University of Chicago “Big Brains” podcast about Black Cinema.
In this hilarious musical riff on Romeo and Juliet by Mark Saltzman directed by Bernard Rice at the Skokie Theatre, Romeo has awakened from a 400-year slumber to find his beloved Juliet long turned to dust. Instead, he finds a teenaged American tourist Bernadette Penza …
Across from Millennium Park on Michigan Avenue between Washington and Randolph Streets on land donated by Civil War Veterans in 1893 stands what used to be Chicago’s Main Public Library. Re-imagined in 1977 as the Chicago Cultural Center it is host to more than 1,000 …
You’ve probably seen ’em. Signs like Throop, Goethe, Paulina and Devon but how do we say them in Chicago and why?
Here is a short video from WBEZ that at least tries to tackle the “why” as well as some of the “how.”
My friends from India who have a British background will pronounce Devon as DEV-in while Chicagoans seem to prefer Dee-VON. It’s not included in this video but How do you say Honore?
You must be logged in to post a comment.