Chicago Lifestyle Podcast & Video Blog
On the heels of the success of The Beatles and Rolling Stones, another group of four working-class lads from the outskirts of London called The Kinks made their mark on the history of Rock and Roll. This energetic jukebox musical, “Sunny Afternoon,” enjoying its North …
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 …
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
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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
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 …
Chicago was a major influence during the silent film era producing movies with huge stars like Charlie Chaplin, Edna Mayo, and Max Linder, and the Uptown and Edgewater neighborhoods were the very epicenters. Essanay Studios was located at 1333-45 W. Argyle Street (just east of Clark Street) …
This film hits all the right notes. Physically debilitated due to a childhood injury inflicted by his mentally impaired father, an aspiring pianist is virtually paralyzed on one side of his body and unable to use his right hand.
In spite of his challenges, Norman Malone, followed his passion to teach music in a Chicago High School and in retirement fulfills a lifelong dream to master Ravel’s “Concerto for left hand” then play it in front of an audience with a full orchestra for the first time at age 79.
[Originally reviewed as part of the 2021 Chicago International Film Festival].
“For the Left Hand,” an inspiring documentary is available for rent or purchase at Amazon.
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.
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 …
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 whose mother Camille has brought the family to Italy to get in touch with her Veronese roots. Camille is a descendent of Juliet’s family and Bernadette the very image of Romeo’s lost love.
In a desperate attempt to be reunited with her, Romeo follows the family back to Brooklyn finding himself embroiled in a mob family feud.
Romeo and Bernadette presented by MadKap Productions is at the Skokie Theatre, 7924 Lincoln Ave., Skokie through Mar 2, 2025. Runtime is a little over two hours with one intermission. Tickets can be purchased online at SkokieTheatre.org or by calling 847-677-7761.
CAST
Usher / Enzo Aliria …………………………………Devon Desmond
Brooklyn Guy / Dino Del Canto…………………. Elijah McTiernan
Brooklyn Girl / Donna Dubacek………………………… Jamie Todd
Romeo ……………………………………………………….Tyler Lord
Bernadette Penza ……………………………..Megan Mariko Boggs
Sal Penza ……………………………………………… Alex Iacobucci
Camille Penza ……………………………Gretchen Wood Kimmeth
Lips …………………………………………………Dominique Ruffalo
Tito Titone…………………………………………….Denis Vorobyev
Multiple Character Man ……………………………… Luis Del Valle
Don Del Canto ………………………………………Devon Desmond
Links:
Paul Minnihan painting services www.minnihanpainting.com
Iris Waichler author of the award winning book, Role Reversal – How to Take Care of Yourself and Your Aging Parents available wherever you like to buy books. Marketing and video services available at RenoWeb.net
Julie Lovison, Director of The Lake Shore Music Studio plays Mattineta by Ruggero Leoncavallo.
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