Chicago Lifestyle Podcast & Video Blog
What are you willing to sacrifice to be the light in someone else’s life? This story by Chicago-based playwright Reina Hardy is partly about getting in touch with our better nature, rejecting a poor self-image, overcoming your own self-doubts and negative inner dialog and indeed …
Be sure to enjoy the podcast and the accompanying photos at the bottom of the page. You don’t need to be an architectural expert to simply look around and enjoy the various styles and building materials that combine to make up Chicago’s diverse urban landscape. …
Holidays have a unique way of punctuating our lives. Through this activity we assess alliances, trade information, and mark the passage of time.
In The Long Christmas Dinner written by Thorton Wilder, presented by TUTA Theatre in Chicago we join an affluent Midwestern family, sometime in the not-too-distant past, at their Christmas table.
What is unusual is that, this is not just one dinner, it is a sequence of similar dinners seamlessly stitched together in a linear fashion, showing a progression of events that affect this family over multiple generations.
This production features an excellent ensemble, expertly directed by Jacqueline Stone.
The Long Christmas Dinner is presented by TUTA Theatre at the Bramble Arts Loft, 5545 N. Clark Street, Chicago through December 26, 2024. Running time is 75 minutes with no intermission. For tickets and information visit www.tutatheatre.org.
The relatively new Bramble Arts Loft in Andersonville is a refreshing light and airy facility with two performance spaces. This production takes place in the Beatrice Theatre configured as a half round (thrust) of about 100 stadium style seats with good sightlines for all. Located on the second floor with an elevator available.
Mike Royko was an outspoken Chicago journalist, who in the 1960s through 1990s railed against the political machine and championed the cause of the underdog with the same zeal he displayed toward his beloved Chicago Cubbies. Mitchell Bisschop’s roughly two-hour performance as Royko serves as …
Reno Lovison, Executive Producer comments on the documentary Time Passages by Chicago filmmaker Kyle Henry who tenderly reviews his relationship between himself and his mother, whose memory is slowly slipping away due to dementia. Looking at other people’s lives is always interesting. We can’t help but to …
An aspiring African American actress, Vera Stark (Ashayla Calvin) works as a personal maid to fading 1930s movie star Gloria Mitchell (Caitlin Jemison), once known as “America’s Little Sweetie-Pie.” The two have a close relationship and have a shared struggle to find success. However, due to race barriers and prejudices it is clearly more difficult for Stark than it is for Mitchell. Playing at the Den Theatre in Chicago through November 17, 2024. Review by Reno Lovison
This is a film review of “The Light of Truth: Richard Hunt’s Monument to Ida B. Wells following the Chicago artist’s creation of a monument to the civil right champion and woman’s suffrage leader. The film premiered at the 60th Annual Chicago International Film Festival …
Letter writing is more akin to internal dialogue and can have a kind of naked intimacy that is difficult to achieve in the flesh. This is a smart biographical drama providing us a glimpse into the lives and thoughts of two interesting, actual people, who …
Kicking off this popular Chicago ensemble theater company’s 49th season a rather incompetent troupe of actors are expertly portrayed by a considerably expert cast, in Steppenwolf’s revival of Michael Frayn’s classic comedy “Noises Off,” directed by Anna D. Shapiro.
A co-production with Geffen Playhouse. Featuring ensemble members Audrey Francis, Francis Guinan, Ora Jones and James Vincent Meredith with Vaneh Assadourian, Amanda Fink, Rick Holmes, Andrew Leeds and Max Stewart. Now Extended Through November 3, 2024 in Steppenwolf’s Downstairs Theater, 1650 N. Halsted St. in Chicago.
The Goodman Theatre reminds us that the more things change the more they remain the same in this production of the classic courtroom drama, “Inherit the Wind.”
Small town school teacher Bertram Cates is on trial for breaking a state law that prohibits the teaching of evolution.
The prosecution is aided by the bombastic self-important fundamentalist bible thumping Matthew Harrison Brady while Cates is represented by famed Chicago lawyer Henry Drummond, a clever defense attorney known for taking on difficult and controversial cases.
Lyric Opera of Chicago presents Beethoven’s message of freedom of expression in this captivating, new to Chicago, contemporary production of Fidelio. It’s interesting to see how easily this 18th Century music transforms to modern times. It’s and story of good triumphing over evil but most …
This timeless classic amounts to an enchanting evening that deserves to be seen and heard. Whether you are experiencing it the first time or you are coming from a place of nostalgia, the musical South Pacific includes some of the best and most recognizable tunes by the composing team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II.
Based on a novel by James Michener and adapted by Hammerstein and Josh Logan, the 1949 play boldly addressed the notion of learned prejudices, and confronted changing post-war attitudes about interracial marriage and mixed raced children.
Directed by Pat Henderson
Musical Direction by Jeremy Ramey
Costume Design by Patty Halajian
Conductor/Keyboard ………………………………… Jeremy Ramey
2nd Keyboard ……………………………………….Andrew Milliken
CAST:
Ngana………………………………………………….. Molly Hamada
Jerome ………………………………………………Connor Saavedra
Nellie Forbush ……………………………………..Willow Schneider
Emile De Becque …………………………………….Tony Calzaretta
Luther Billis ………………………………………………Andrew Buel
Stewpot, Henri …………………………………………Luis Del Valle
Professor……………………………………………..Erol Ibrahimović
McCaffrey…………………………………………..Liam K. Schlosser
Lt. Joseph Cable…………………………………………. Max Perkel
Bloody Mary ………………………………………… Mariel Saavedra
Liat, Nurse………………………………………Megan Mariko Boggs
Nurse MacRae ………………………….. Carolyn Sundlof Boudreau
Nurse MacGregor ……………………………………….Kristin Weed
Nurse Murphy …………………………………. Catherine Athenson
Capt. Brackett ………………………………………….. Jacob Cohen
Cmdr. Harbison …………………………………………….Tyler Lord
Set Design by Brian Wasserman
Music by Richard Rodgers Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
Book by Oscar Hammerstein II and Joshua Logan
Adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Tales of the South Pacific by James Michener
Choreography by Brenda Good
Sound Design by Brian Bedoya