Gapers Block published from April 22, 2003 to Jan. 1, 2016. The site will remain up in archive form. Please visit Third Coast Review, a new site by several GB alumni. ✶ Thank you for your readership and contributions. ✶
If you haven't been to "The Blackout Diaries" yet, you really have no excuses, unless you were blackout drunk. In that case, you should probably get on stage at the next show and tell us about it. "The Blackout Diaries" is a weekly comedy show on Saturdays at The Lincoln Lodge hosted by the show's founder, Sean Flannery, who was voted the best stand-up in Chicago by the Chicago Reader in 2010 and has a critically-acclaimed one-man show called "Never Been to Paris" at The Comedy Bar.
"The Blackout Diaries" kicks off with a fascinating and fun lecture on a drinking-related topic from Flannery, complete with PowerPoint photos, and continues with drinking stories from some of Chicago's best comics, as well as members of the general public. During the stories, audience members can text questions for the performers to Flannery's phone if they prefer to be anonymous, or they can raise their hands and ask it themselves if they are feeling brave. Questions range from clarifying story details to "Are you single?" Flannery assures us throughout the show that there are no dumb questions, at least not at "The Blackout Diaries."
Diversity is something that is often hard to find in a lineup at a comedy club. It happens easily though, at UP Comedy Club, especially on second Sundays of the month when Brian Babylon of WBEZ's Vocalo Radio hosts an incredible new monthly showcase called "R.E.A.C.H."--and acronym for "Risky Eclectic Artists Comedy Hour"--and it is exactly that..
Every month, R.E.A.C.H. features different performers who express themselves on a given theme in a variety of ways, from spoken word to stand-up to song. The rotating themes include history, women, sex and violence, race and LGBTQ. In March, I had the pleasure of seeing the R.E.A.C.H. show on women, during which performers of all races, gender expressions, sexual orientations and experiences, taking the stage to sing their uniquely feminist praises.
Hey, everyone. First a quick note about a couple of films that won't be reviewed this week. First off is G.I. Joe: Retaliation, a film that I think looks completely badass but unfortunately screened for press in Chicago while I was out of town. The other films I missed due to a scheduling conflict was the Japanese animated work From Up on Poppy Hill, written by the great Hayao Miyazaki and directed by his son Goro. It comes from the great Studio Ghibli and opens this week at the Landmark Century Center Cinema, so it's a good bet you should go see it immediately. And just so I'm fair to all the films that I was unable to review this week, Tyler Perry's Temptation was not screened for press at all, but I'm sure it's wonderful. Alright, onto the stuff I did get to see.
The Host
Simply reading or hearing the statement "from Stephenie Meyer, worldwide bestselling author and creator of The Twilight Saga" may send many of you running for he hills, but I'll admit I was more than a little curious about The Host, based on Meyer's most recent novel of the same name. I wanted to know if this woman who seems to have tapped into something in the teen psyche could transfer that "gift" to a science fiction story in which alien beings are injected into human hosts and take over their minds in the hope of creating a better society. (I know it sounds like Invasion of the Body Snatchers, but it's not exactly since the human bodies aren't destroyed in the process.)
Coming of age during the Great Recession presents all kinds of problems for Millennials/Gen Y-ers/twentysomethings. A lack of full-time employment. Useless college degrees. Growing a beard.
"Funemployed," an independent web series returning for its third season on March 31, is both a product of and a funny take on the "new normal" facing new adults today.
Set and filmed in Chicago, the series follows a group of friends as they graduate from college and begin their search for fame, love and glory. What they find is a series of temp jobs and complications.
You might know comedic actor Lucus Neff from his primetime role playing Jimmy Chance on FOX's "Raising Hope." Raised only a few miles from Improv Olympic himself, this Chicago-born star is back in town for a night of wacky skits and laughs this Saturday, March 30 as a guest in iO's sketch comedy show, The Late Live Show.
The Late Live Show will host Neff as well as the musical guest for the night, Brighton MA. Their indie stylings have been featured on shows such as "Gossip Girl," "Community," "Castle" and "One Tree Hill."
Along with Neff and Brighton MA, the Late Live Show's Players will also perform, so get ready for a night of weird jokes, sketches, and characters, all crafted by the iO staff writers, whose credits include The Onion News Network and Funny or Die.
See The Late Live Show Saturday, March 30 at 11:59 pm at iO Theater, 3541 N. Clark St. Tickets are $5; for more information, call 773-880-0199.
In the constant hustle and bustle of today's society,
artists Stacy Peterson, Pei San Ng, and Amie Sell have decided to tackle the intricate web of human connections in their Art on Armitage installation: Nebulous Connections.
From April 5-30, Art on Armitage, 4125 W. Armitage, will be featuring an eco-friendly window art exhibit in celebration of the modern era of unity, harmony, and prosperity.
Inspired by a trip to Creative Reuse Warehouse with the goal to use "up-cycled" materials, these artists created a nebulous cloud of recycled industrial hardware and metal wires. The piece plays on modern communication and acts as a visual representation of how people work together to create communities, social networks, and how molecular structures build. Using the individual recycled pieces, a wholeness or oneness is created.
An artist's reception from 6am-8pm on April 6th will welcome Artists Stacy Peterson, Pei San Ng, Amie Sell, and you! Meet these artists and better understand their installation.
A reception featuring the installation's artists will be held on Saturday, April 6, from 6pm-8pm; for more information, be sure to check out Art on Armitage.
(L to R) Kasey Alfonso, Justin Adair & Robin DaSilva in SJCChicago's Smokey Joe's Café.
Photo: Anthony Robert La Penna.
Ever heard an old tune you knew, but later realized you didn't actually know you knew it? That's the effect of music and its ability to transcend generations--to take you back to a time when lyrics had sentimental value--when a song knowingly, or unknowingly, invaded your memory, whether or not you even wanted it to.
This is exactly the feeling you get from Smokey Joe's Café: The Songs of Leiber & Stoller, the musical based on the popular catalog of the famed songwriting duo, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, now playing at the Royal George's Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre.
This movie is so crazy it just might work. Whether you enjoy this White House-takeover film from director Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, Tears of the Sun, Shooter) or don't is going to depend on how much the absurd appeals to you. The premise is certainly intriguing, so much so that two movies about terrorists storming the White House are coming out this year (White House Down is scheduled for a June release). But Olympus Has Fallen is the first out of the gate and features some action sequences that range from completely effective to moments worthy of grand fits of groaning and eye rolling.
The film opens with a solid set up. Gerard Butler plays Secret Service Agent Mike Banning, the man in charge of security for President Asher (Aaron Eckhart) and his family, which includes the first lady (Ashley Judd), who is killed in a nasty car accident. Banning blames himself for her death since his focus was on saving the president, but that's his job. Skip ahead two years, Banning now works a desk job for the Treasury Department, enjoys time with his wife (Radha Mitchell) and is still tortured by the first lady's death.
Gjenganger--a word I can't pronounce, no matter how hard I try; a word that is an adaptation of another difficult word: Gengangare--most often translated as "ghosts", but more exactly meaning "those who walk again." Gjenganger is a word that is the title of three unique plays by Jon Fosse, each of which is familiar to the other in the way that it seems they are different repetitions, again, walkers of each other, hence the title.
The plays are brought to the Chicago theater scene by Akvavit Theater Company, whose mission is to produce contemporary Nordic plays to encourage a discussion about how the culture is perceived and how it exists on a more global scale. Akvavit Theater's production of Gjenganger, composed respectively of William Bullion's A Summer's Day , Breahan Eve Pautsch's Autumn Dream, and Paul S. Holmquist's Winter, gives Chicago theatergoers a breath of fresh air and an opportunity to experience a type of theater quite different from anything else in the city.
Monique Madrid's show Bitch, I'll Cut You, which appeared earlier this month at Mary's Attic in Andersonville, was like a rum and Coke buzz in this frigid, hopeless March. In the show, Madrid plays her alter ego, Monica Barcelona, a hairdresser and cosmetologist who is as sassy as she is sensuously dressed. Watching Bitch, I'll Cut You, which has appeared at the Chicago Women's Funny Festival, The Compass Improv Festival and at The Annoyance Theater, is like watching the reality TV show "Jerseylicious" live, except it is funny and smart.
Where can you find a duke cleverly disguised as a priest, a cunning nun out to save her condemned brother by whatever means necessary, a handful of satirical plays-on-words, and enough whorehouses to be disreputable even by the lenient standards of the 1970s? Only in Robert Falls' production of William Shakespeare's Measure for Measure at the Albert Theater at the Goodman.
After the final curtain and a standing ovation, the man sitting behind me, whose commentary I had been tuned into throughout the entire production, said that he felt as if he'd been assaulted by the theater. The smile on his face told me he meant this in the best way possible. In my own way, I felt the same. The on-stage events were a loud, blaring, spray-painted, bell-bottom-wearing, nothing-barred strike to the audience's sense of morality and righteousness, but we couldn't stop laughing.
If I had stars to give, I'd throw five to this production. From the set to the acting, the lighting design to the interpretation of the script, the play was nothing short of what I would expect from the Goodman.
Tommy Wiseau is returning to Chicago to promote the Blu-ray release of his 2003 cult favorite The Room at the Music Box Theatre on Friday, March 22, through Sunday, March 24. All three shows are at 10:30pm, and tickets are $15 in advance or $17 the day of the show. Wiseau, along with actor Greg Sestero, who plays Mark, will introduce the movie and take questions after the film.
For the uninitiated, The Room is a 2003 movie written and directed by Wiseau. The Internet Movie Database classifies it as a drama, but most people who've seen it would definitely call it a comedy. It's ostensibly the story of San Francisco couple Johnny and Lisa, whose relationship is beset by betrayal and infidelity. Add in their conniving friends and a creepy neighbor named Denny, and the movie quickly becomes a surreal comedy with understated irony, overacted emotion and abandoned subplots.
To step into The Room is to step into a parallel universe — a universe with sex scenes that defy the normal pattern of genital alignment, a universe where men routinely pass football underhanded mere feet away from each other while conversing, a universe where teenage neighbors walk uninvited into bedrooms to have pillow fights with older couples. Netflix describes the movie as "uninhibited by cinematic convention." Well put. If you haven't seen The Room, you need to.
The "Windy City" meets the "Motor City" at The Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University this April. Roosevelt University welcomes Detroit's Eisenhower Dance Ensemble for the Chicago premiere of "Motown in Motion." This upbeat dance performance guarantees to get you into the Motown mood at the Auditorium's Landmark Stage Sunday, April 14th at 3pm.
This Motor City premier dance company celebrates the songs that made Motown famous in an evening chock full of soulful dance and music. Playful, humorous, and wonderfully theatrical, Eisenhower's performers give a visual salute to the tunes that made Berry Gordy's Motown Records famous.
"Motown in Motion" uses the music of top Motown recording artists including The Temptations, Marvin Gaye, Gladys Knight, Smokey Robinson, Michael Jackson, The Supremes, and Stevie Wonder, among others. The music is set to dance vignettes choreographed by nationally and internationally renowned choreographers including Joel Hall, Ginger Thatcher, Stephanie Pizzo, Lindsey Thomas, Gregory Patterson, and acclaimed Eisenhower Dance Ensemble Artistic Director Laurie Eisenhower.
Tickets ($25 - $35) are on sale online and by calling 800-982-ARTS (2787) or stop into the Auditorium Theatre box office,50 E. Congress Pkwy., to purchase.
(left to right) Julian Parker and Kristin E. Ellis is Theater Seven of Chicago's production of BlackTop Sky by Christina Anderson, directed by Cassy Sanders, as part of Steppenwolf's Garage Rep 2013. Photo by Michael Brosilow.
Theater Seven's BlackTop Sky has all the charm of "Good Times" and none of the one-liners. The minimal set includes little more than a couple benches and scattered litter to give it an authentic "Chicago Housing Projects" feel. On one of the benches lives Klass, aka "Pigeon," (endearingly performed by Julian Parker) because of the feathers molting from the down jacket that he wears 12 months a year. Our protagonist, 18-year-old Ida (Kristin E. Ellis), opens the play, standing on a bench, by telling us about her witnessing the cops rough up a street vendor and feeling helpless about it. In the process of telling the story she drops her keys and Klass picks them up, and after a few tense interactions between the two over the next few days they eventually become friends, to the dismay of Ida's boyfriend.
Queer Comedy at Zanies, now in its third season, is a comedy show that brings Chicago's best queer comedians to the stage at Zanies, the famous Chicago comedy club at the corner of North and Wells. Presented by OutLoud Chicago, which was created by Adam Guerino to bring queer entertainment to mainstream Chicago venues, each show strives to prove that queer comedy belongs with mainstream comedy. By getting the best and brightest queer comics onto one of the most historic comedy stages, packing the house night after night and making it erupt with laughter, Guerino is showing that being funny has nothing to do with your sexuality. This month, Guerino is especially proud to present James Adomian, who was a finalist on "Last Comic Standing," has headlined SXSW and opened for the great Joan Rivers, and made appearances on everything from "Comedy Bang Bang" to "Conan." The March 26th show will be opened by Guerino and hosted by one of Chicago's favorites, Candy Lawrence. Guerino and Lawrence talk about why Queer Comedy at Zanies is important, whether or not they actually like each other (they do), and why they are so excited to work with James Adomian.
Queer Comedy at Zanies is now in its third season. How has it evolved since you started in 2011?
Guerino: I think I originally wanted to have queer comedy next to mainstream comedy. It was important to me that there wasn't a difference between the two so to have a show at a historic comedy club was the only original goal. Then it grew. The queer community in Chicago grew and Queer Comedy at Zanies became a place for queer comedians all across the country to perform.
Miles Davis Tribute 2012; Photo by John Broughton.
On its own, jazz music naturally evokes poetic, visual imagery; from sultry saxophones to tuneful trumpets, for many, this musical genre is an integral part of the arts, and perhaps holds an even more special place in the world of photography.
Through its new exhibit, "The Power of Music," iRock Jazz recognizes the photographers who have helped shape and advance its mission of honoring past and present legendary jazz musicians and their contributions to the art form. The exhibit features the work of Chicago-based photographers including John Broughton, Foster Garvin, Farrad Ali, and more.
"The Power of Music" opens Thursday, March 21 at eta Square, 7558 S. Cottage Grove; photographers featured in the exhibit will greet jazz fans from 6pm-8pm. The exhibit runs through May 12; for more information, call 773-752-3955.
It may be PG-13 and the trailers might not inspire you to go see it, but I'll be damned if The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, set in the Vegas magic act scene, isn't remarkably funny in most places. Much of this is thanks to going-for-broke performances by Steve Carell and Jim Carrey, who seems to have rediscovered the physical comedy that put him on the map, while still creating a real character with dark secrets and an even darker ability to come up and go through with nasty, often self-mutilating stunts. Carrey gives the movie an edge it simply wouldn't be capable of with him.
Burt Wonderstone is about a young boy who discovers his love of magic by getting a magic set said to be put out by his favorite television magician, Rance Holloway (Alan Arkin). The kid becomes pretty good with the tricks in the box and even manages to find an even dorkier friend to become his partner in illusions. The two grow up to become Burt Wonderstone (Carell) and Anton Marvelton (Steve Buscemi), would-class magicians with a top-billing, sold-out act on the Vegas strip. The only thing more awesome than their act is Burt's ego and the creepy way he seduces women (complete with a souvenir, after-sex photo). Burt manages to chase away on-stage assistants (who all seem to be named Nicole) at an alarming rate, so he grabs one of the show's backstage techs, Jane (Olivia Wilde), to be the new assistant (still calling her Nicole).
Ever Mainard and Rasa Gierstikas are two Chicago comics and producers who are as similar as they are opposite. Both sassy, loud, and unapologetic, but in totally different ways, they are a unique and dynamic duo when they take the stage to co-host The Shit Show, a free comedy showcase on the last Friday of every month at The Shambles. While Mainard, a cast member at Chicago Underground Comedy, packs her schedule with stand-up, sketch and film, the more focused Gierstikas pours herself entirely into the project that she and Mainard are currently co-producing: The Shit Show. Mainard and Gierstikas have devoted many more hours of planning and decorating to the show than their audience, buzzed from The Shit Show's free Fireball Whiskey shots and delirious from laughing too hard, might ever know. But now they can! Here, the co-producers confess that their "shit show" is much more work than the title suggests, and that their relationship is a bizarre, but functional, business and drinking partnership.
The Shit Show started as an open mic that was a comedian-favorite on Monday nights, but, since August, you've transformed it into a showcase on the last Friday of every month. What was that transition like?
Mainard: We knew it would be a little different to run it as a showcase. There's a lot of organizing and a crazy number of press releases to send. We were a little nervous about turnout, but it's been fun watching the show grow more and more.
Gierstikas: I think since it was an open mic before, we know what we want from the showcase and it transitioned smoothly. I haven't experienced the worst of it yet (except for Ever Mainard).
How did you two decide to do a show together? What is it like being co-producers?
Mainard: I met Rasa when I used to go to The Shambles open mic. I thought she hated me and was the meanest person I had ever met. We started working together and the open mic grew from just 7 comics stepping up to the mic to the now 100 people in attendance for the show. [As co-producers], we try and fail at GoogleDocs and then we text a lot. We also meet at The Shambles to talk and plan and drink. We have fun, and then we stay out of each other's lives.
Gierstikas: [When I met Ever], I thought she was really fun and talented, so it seemed like the logical choice to have her help take over co-hosting The Shambles open mic every week. We're on the same page with what we want from this show and I think we trust each other's judgment.
There is a reason why Hubbard Street Dance Chicago continues to be revered as one of Chicago's most uniquely gifted and interesting contemporary dance companies. For one, they are never afraid to shy away from more experimental works, such as their yearly danc(e)volve: New Works Festival at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, described here as featuring works that are "sharp, sleek, and physically-demanding." In their latest effort, the company has collaborated with the San Francisco-based Alonzo King LINES Ballet company for their spring series. The spring series premieres tonight at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance at Millenium Park and runs through March 17.
(left to right) Harter Clingman and Danni Smith in Bailiwick Chicago's production of See What I Wanna See with words and music by Michael John LaChiusa, directed by Lili-Anne Brown and music direction by James Morehead, presented as part of Steppenwolf Theatre Company's Garage Rep 2013. Performance through April 21, 2013. Photo by Michael Brosilow
If I had done any research at all, I wouldn't have gone to See What I Wanna See. I jumped at the opportunity to review it because it's part of Steppenwolf's Garage Rep series, which I am a big fan of, but I am not a big fan of musicals, so if I'd actually read the press release before RSVPing, I wouldn't have gone. That said, I'm glad I went. Theater has come a long way since Oklahoma, thank God.
Last Thursday, I trekked through early-March slush to watch local standups perform in Congrats On Your Success, a BYOB showcase held every first Thursday of the month at Uncharted Books in Logan Square. At first read, standup in a used bookstore might seem strange -- wait, aren't standups confined to dark dive bars, you say -- but that's the great thing about Chicago comedy right now, it's happening all over the city, anywhere people can get a microphone and a crowd.
With its mismatched chairs and exposed brick, Uncharted Books feels like the basement of your friend's cool parents. The unconventional comedy space is a little more accessible for people who might not see many shows and conversely a change of pace for people who see comedy/perform every night.
Hosted by Bill Bullock, the CoYS lineup featured five smart comics who gave us a mix of storytelling, observations, and solid jokes. All the performers seemed really relaxed, which was nice because we got to hear jokes that felt natural -- anything from Rebecca O'Neal talking about a Venn diagram of her love life to Nicholas Rouley's feelings on having children.
Oh, St. Patrick's Day in Chicago. It can't be beat. This year, why not celebrate with an age-old Chicago tradition: Improv Comedy.
In celebration of St. Patrick's Day weekend, ComedySportz will be hosting six comedy shows beginning Thursday, March 14th and running through Saturday, March 16th dedicated to the two great Irish traditions- drinking and joking around. Shows will build off Irish themed suggestions from the audience, so come ready with your Irish trivia! ComedySportz's ususal games, scenes, and songs will be altered for the special occasion. Make sure to show your Irish spirit and wear green to the show for the chance to compete on stage to win a St. Patty's Day prize, and as an added bonus, guests will get a souvenir picture of themselves in the clubroom.
Finally, Irish drinks won't be left out! ComedySportz's bar will be stocked with green beer, of course, and St. Patrick's Day staples -- shots of Jameson and cans of Guinness -- will also be on special for $5 each.
My friend recently told me that I'm "known for talking about celebrities." This caught me off-guard because I imagine myself as a much more interesting person who, I don't know, likes art or something. Admittedly, I do spend a great deal of time talking about Rihanna conspiracy theories (there is no way she smokes as much pot as she Instagrams) and I'm a Lindsay Lohan apologist (she has real problems!) but the thing is: I don't actually care about celebrities.
Celebrities are metaphors. We extrapolate on our own lives based off their constructed narratives. The beautiful people in movies and on TV let us explore our most base inclinations toward voyeurism. They are figures for clichés. We are allowed to openly talk about them because their lives are on display, and we rationalize our obsession by saying that they "knew what they were signing up for" or they like the attention.
It could be argued that in the US, one of the most important (if not extremely damaging) forms of storytelling is played out in the live-action celebrity sagas we proliferate and dissect. This celebrity worship is what The TomKat Project -- Wednesdays in March at 8PM, Playground Theater -- understands and capitalizes on, making it one of the most interesting and funny comedies I've seen in Chicago.
Bar nights are meant to be fun, and this one doesn't disappoint. There are always drink deals and some kind of food provided. It seems one of the sponsors does a prize-draw every time, and a business card is all that's required to enter. Yet, with events like this, I always wonder if professionals are actually forming connections, or if this is just a chance to party on someone else's tab.
When I asked Brian Eaves, "photographer first," and "digital tech. second to pay the bills," he said that it is a very important event that offers a multitude of opportunities that may not immediately meet the eye. "It's great for networking," he said, "'cause every now and then you do find some good people here that you've never met before." Eaves told me how a whole community of photo-related professionals ranging from makeup artists to printers surface at the allure of a more informal setting.
This informal setting also offers the opportunity for up and coming artists to rub elbows with the more established folks in order to make the connections that may eventually lead to the coveted photography assistant job.
The bar night has a long history, beginning before ASMP and APA took the event on, maintained by devoted artists until the present day. "There was always like ten of us that would do this," said Eaves, "Everyone that pretty much worked off of Grand Avenue, between Foster and Damen and south to Lake St. -- we would page each other... everyone would come and just talk."
The event still sustains that important human element and cultivates the spirit of creation. The next bar night will be Wednesday, Mar. 13 at DeLux Bar and Grill, 669 N. Milwaukee Ave. It's free to go -- bring a business card to enter the drawing.
Tommy Ford is famously known to television audiences for his role as one-fifth of the ensemble cast of the hit 90s FOX sitcom, "Martin"; he later moved on to major roles on shows including "New York Undercover" and "The Parkers," and can be seen in the upcoming TV movie, In the Meantime. While this actor, director and producer has enjoyed a solid career on the small screen--and the big screen--he also puts in work on the stage. Ford, who was in town last fall for the premiere of Dreams, (directed and produced by Chicago's own, Joel Kapity), returns to the Windy City for the stage play Standing in the Shadows of Love (written and produced by Chicago's Tracie Armour-Adetunji), which also stars Tony Award-winning actress and singer Jennifer Holliday (Dreamgirls). Here, he talks about the play, which tells the story about one family's struggle through a life-changing event.
Standing in the Shadows of Love is a story about how a family's troubles while dealing with one of its members wrongful imprisonment. Tell us about it.
It's a whole lot of drama. But it's a wonderful story; it almost reminds me of the Prodigal Son. People get caught up in their own world and their own issues and forget that family is so amazingly important to have--that you have someone to lean on and to love you in spite of yourself. It's a story about family, loyalty and honesty.
There's nothing like an impossible task to get Sam Raimi's creative juices flowing. He gave us two great Spider-Man movies (and one not-so-great one) before superhero movies were back in fashion. And now he has made a film about the land of Oz that honors 1939's The Wizard of Oz (which he clearly worships) but doesn't simply drop visual and dialog winks to that family classic, based on the novel by L. Frank Baum. Raimi and writers Mitchell Kapner and Pulitzer Prize-winning playright David Lindsay-Abaire use the known universe of Oz as a starting out point, but then take us back to the beginnings, when a second-rate magician/con-man named Oscar Diggs (James Franco, employing equal parts playfully sleazy and charming) found himself transported to the land of Oz, where he meets familiar characters and less-than-familiar ones, giving Raimi and his team a chance to pay homage and be utterly creative.
Clearly hoping to capitalize on the success of Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland, Disney has actually got a much better film on its hands than that appalling, ugly spectacle — which doesn't automatically mean it will make as much money, but it's not my job to guess the box office. Much like the '39 classic, Oz the Great and Powerful begins with reduced screen ratio and in black & white, as we see Diggs (nicknamed Oz) seduce a young, would-be assistant (more like a plant in the audience) for his circus magic show. In this lovely prologue, we meet a young girl in a wheelchair (Joey King) who begs the magician to make her walk again, Oz's right-hand man, Frank (Zach Braff), and Oz's true love, Annie (Michelle Williams), who has just been asked by another man (last name: Gale) to get married. Oz knows he cannot commit, so he sets her free with much pain in his heart. Soon after, a familiar Kansas storm kicks up a tornado, which sends Oz in a hot-air balloon off to the land where brilliant color and a widescreen await him.
March is Women's History Month, a time to look back at women who left their mark on history. Events in celebration of Women's History Month are popping up all over Chicago. Join the Driehaus Museum this SundaySaturday to celebrate women and songwriting through the ages.
The Driehaus Museum is celebrating some of the great American women songwriters from the past 100 years with a performance this Saturday, March 9, 2013. "All the Write Women" is Driehaus Museum's own caberet show to salute Women's History Month.
Performing the greats will be three of Chicago's favorite singers- Hilary Ann Feldman, Beckie Menzie, and Marianna Murphy Orland. These three singers will pay homage to the great Dorothy Fields and other great female talent since. Fields' career spanned over fifty years from the 1920's to the 1970's. She wrote more than 400 songs for the Broadway stage and screen- many of which have been come American classics. Her contribution paved the way for future songwriters and singers like the 60's Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon, as well as modern talent.
Purchase tickets prior to the show. Doors will open for the performance at 5:30pm and guests are welcome to peruse the museum collections before the show. Drinks and light fare will be provided. Guests must be 21 and up.
Just after the new year, I started making a list of people I'd like to interview in 2013. The first person who came to mind was Brad Bischoff. Having just watched his latest film, he was fresh on my mind, but Brad's an auteur I've admired and respected for years. I met him in 2008 at Columbia College Chicago during the screening of his student film, Eyelids, and have watched his films (and progression as a storyteller) ever since. Most recently, I got involved in Brad's work as a Kickstarter funder for his latest project, Where the Buffalo Roam.
Where the Buffalo Roam was really great, man. I actually watched it for the first time with my parents and sister over the holidays. As a family, I think we all got something special and deeply personal out of it. I'm sure our familial, shared experience had a lot to do with the intimacy and sincerity you used while writing, directing (and acting in) it. According to IMDb, Buffalo marks your fifth film as writer and director. Besides a few commercial exceptions, you seem to prefer playing both roles on projects. Are they one in the same? How would you characterize the two?
Writing is a very isolated thing. And I like it that way because there's no one around telling you how weird it all sounds, or nonsensical it is. You have permission to dream and you can stay there for however long you want. Directing is a very different thing. At least, for a while it was. I always felt there was a certain way you had to act. A certain angle you needed to point your finger to get the crew thinking that you're not an idiot. But, I'm learning that was all wrong. That's why certain films are wrong. And it's getting much more beautiful for me. I don't pretend to have all the answers when I write, and I try to do the same when I direct. I choose to write and direct because I want to keep the dream dreaming. They were very beautiful to me when I was in my cave painting them, and I want people to see them that way.
Keith Ecker and Samantha Irby are names that are revered in the Chicago storytelling scene. If you see these names on the bill of a show, you can rest assured that you're in for a good night. At least at the show. You still might get a parking ticket or have other, unrelated problems. They're good, but they're not magic!
Or are they? Ecker and Irby do seem to have a touch of the supernatural about them. In their storytelling, they spew truth wrapped in smart, sassy phrasing and delivered with pizazz. Yes, pizazz. They've got it. Ecker and Irby are forces of nature, producing so much material and participating in so many shows that you'd have a hard time stalking them if you tried. (I've tried). They also both look exceedingly hip every time you see them. How do they do this? If only someone could successfully stalk them to find out. But today I'm interviewing them less about their outfits and more about their newest creation, a night of live lit that is a unique addition to the booming Chicago storytelling scene: Guts & Glory.
If you haven't been to Guts & Glory, cancel your spa day and do this instead; it is acupuncture for the soul. On the third Wednesday of every month, an audience bigger than your extended family's Christmas gathering (and far less awkward) snuggles into the back of Powell's Bookstore to hear fearless tales of guts, and possibly glory. But, as Ecker points out, the glory mainly comes from just getting up there and talking. How did these two hip, smart storytellers create a hugely successful show and make it look effortless? And am I or am I not obsessed with them? Do I just get obsessed with everyone who can tell a good story in a cute outfit? Sorry, excuse me, I promise this is about Guts & Glory. Let the questions begin.
Time for a bit of nostalgia. The Second City first opened its doors to Chicago in 1959. What was a small cabaret style theater then has been pushing the envelope ever since. With a mission to cater to the younger crowd and current events-based comedy, the small theater has become one of the most influential and recognized comedy theaters in the world. By the time the sixties rolled around, The Second City's sister theater in Toronto was performing and creating cutting-edge comedy series as well.
Between the two theaters, their famous comedic reputation, and their training centers, many of Second City's alumni have gone on to become comedy elite appearing on everything from Saturday Night Live to Comedy Central. Fifty-two years in the business has turned out comedy geniuses like Steve Carell, Tinay Fey, Stephen Colbert, John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd and Gilda Radner, just to name a few.
The Second City is truly a Chicago landmark, and in celebration of their 52nd year in comedy, it will be hosting a "best of" show. "The Best of Second City" will feature some of the best and most beloved sketches, songs, and improvisations for the past half-decade-plus in comedy.
There are two chances to be part of this walk down memory lane: Thursday, March 7, and Sunday, March 17. Make sure to grab your tickets now. Don't miss out!
While small independent film festivals gradually become fewer, the Chicago Underground Film Festival (CUFF), now in its twentieth year, remains a cultural outpost in part by refusing to define (even if it were possible) the nature of its programming. "The key is to keep being open to all possible ideas of what "underground" can mean and show the best examples of that work that we can," says Bryan Wendorf, CUFF's director. Could so simple a philosophy be what has allowed this member of an endangered species to survive into the age of YouTube?
CUFF, which opens Wednesday, March 6, is one of the only places where a certain type of film is screened for a public audience, according to Andrew Lampert, curator of collections at Anthology Film Archives. There are few venues left in which to show experimental and decidedly non-commercial work. Of course the Internet is where it can now be found. Filmmakers may gain an audience there "if they're lucky," says Lampert, but what they'll never have is the more vibrant forum of live screenings to engage with their viewers. And what other underground film festivals don't have (or didn't have when they were running) is a willingness to ignore politics in the construction of its identity. CUFF is not a place for queer film, black film or feminist film alone, but any one of them might be represented in the programming.
If you think you know Pablo Picasso, a visit to The Art Institute of Chicago's new exhibition Picasso and Chicago might have you second-guessing your expertise. In a sweeping tour of dozens of rooms, nooks and hallways, Picasso and Chicago takes viewers on a captivating journey into the artist's life and works. You would be hard-pressed to find an exhibition that is more engaging or more thoughtfully laid out.
In Picasso and Chicago, we learn of the people, places and events that shaped Picasso's work: the many women who served as his muses, including Fernande who inspired Picasso's cubist sculpture Head of a Woman (1900); the many landscapes that sparked his imagination, like the Cote d'Azur, which shaped his exploration of fauns and other mythical figures; and his relationship to wars happening around him, including the Spanish Civil War, which informed his notable and anguish-filled work Guernica (1937).
Kara Walker's new installation at The Art Institute of Chicago is as impressive for its visually rich and thought-provoking material as it is for packing itself neatly into a room no bigger than your living room. In the intimate, secluded space of Gallery 293 in the Modern Wing, Rise Up Ye Mighty Race! offers viewers a chance to confront issues of race, gender, and sexuality as historic and enduring phenomena of the human experience.
Rise Up Ye Mighty Race! includes eight silhouettes cut from white and black paper, five large graphite drawings, and forty small mixed-media drawings. Against the rich gray walls of Gallery 293, Walker's white and black paper silhouettes are immediately captivating. The silhouettes portray characters in groups of two or three with cartoon-like simplicity. Walker chooses characters that predominate in our collective imagination of the antebellum South, including slaves, masters, and Southern belles. The silhouettes seem to completely lack detail while simultaneously being completely filled with it. In the character's faces and bodies, we see nothing but blank white or black paper. But along the carefully carved edges of each cutout character, Walker has spared no detail. We see the armpit hair of a man with his arm outstretched, the erect nipples of a woman facing sideways, the fullness of a girl's lower lip, and a drop of urine clinging to the penis of a young boy. This is the most striking thing about Walker's silhouettes: we know practically nothing about the characters, while simultaneously knowing their most intimate details.
It is amazing how easily we sort each other into categories with one glance in our daily lives. White or black. Rich or poor. We see a mere outline of each other and we somehow know all we need to know. Walker's complex silhouettes, however, remind us that we never do. Maybe you try to ignore a homeless woman asking for change, but the color of her frayed shoes stay with you for the rest of the day. That detail reminds you that she is a person with a unique story, rather than just a stereotype. It is this tension that Walker captures--the tension between our desire to never really see each other, and the intimate details that we can't help but see.
If my life in Chicago has taught me anything, it is that the measure of a good Chicago night can be seen by the remnants of the evening in your bed the morning after. I woke up after CLLAW (Chicago League of Ladies Arm Wrestlers) with tiny red stars littering my bed, the name "Hills" signed in red marker across my left breast and the distinct taste of PBR still in my mouth. My terrible morning hair concurred; CLLAW had been a success, one more thing that made me fall completely and utterly in love with the city of Chicago and all of the crazy creative people that inhabit it.
To be honest, when I thought about going to a CLLAW event, I thought "Cool, I'll see some ladies arm wrestle. That seems like a pretty gender-dichotomy-crushing thing to do today." It was one of those things that seemed to have that feministy flavor I love while also not being some horrifically boring feminism education event straight out of "Portlandia's" "Women and Women First" bookstore. CLLAW is feminism in action baby!
Hello, everyone. I'm not a big fan of doing this, but due to combination of a busy week and a lot movies being released this week, I'm going to have to blaze through these reviews, with just two or three paragraphs per film.
Jack the Giant Slayer
Whether you love, hate or are indifferent about the latest fairy tale fleshed out and turned into a feature-length film, Jack the Giant Slayer (based on the Jack and the Beanstalk story), you're all going to come out of it with at least one common thought: "Those giants were pretty fucking cool." There's really no denying it, especially when the leader of the giants, General Fallon, is voiced by the great Bill Nighy and has a second, malformed head on his shoulders that acts as something of a mentally challenged parrot for his proclamations of war against the humans that invade the giants' land in the clouds.
I was genuinely excited to see this film due in large part to the director, Bryan Singer, who has a solid track record with the first two X-Men movies (and the next one as well), The Usual Suspects, Valkyrie and Apt Pupil. I also like the cast, led by Nicholas Hoult (Warm Bodies, X-Men: First Class), Ewan McGregor, Eddie Marsan, Stanley Tucci, Ian McShane and the lovely Eleanor Tomlinson. Jack is handed a small number of beans by a monk trying to escape capture by the king's men, but when they get wet, a giant beanstalk grows into the clouds taking with it Jack's house and Princess Isabelle (Tomlinson). The king's guard (led by McGregor's Elmont) heads up the stalk to retrieve the princess. One member of the party, Roderick (Tucci), is planning to marry the princess and overthrow the King (McShane), but Isabelle has her eyes on Jack, because the young pretty ones deserve each other.
Coming of age during the Great Recession presents all kinds of problems for Millennials/Gen Y-ers/twentysomethings. A lack of full-time employment. Useless college degrees. Growing a beard.
Where can you find a duke cleverly disguised as a priest, a cunning nun out to save her condemned brother by whatever means necessary, a handful of satirical plays-on-words, and enough whorehouses to be disreputable even by the lenient standards of the 1970s? Only in
By Doug Rapp
The "Windy City" meets the "Motor City" at The Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University this April. Roosevelt University welcomes Detroit's Eisenhower Dance Ensemble for the Chicago premiere of "Motown in Motion." This upbeat dance performance guarantees to get you into the Motown mood at the Auditorium's Landmark Stage Sunday, April 14th at 3pm. 
Last Thursday, I trekked through early-March slush to watch local standups perform in Congrats On Your Success, a BYOB showcase held every first Thursday of the month at 
Oh, St. Patrick's Day in Chicago. It can't be beat. This year, why not celebrate with an age-old Chicago tradition: Improv Comedy. 
My friend recently told me that I'm "known for talking about celebrities." This caught me off-guard because I imagine myself as a much more interesting person who, I don't know, likes art or something. Admittedly, I do spend a great deal of time talking about Rihanna conspiracy theories (there is no way she smokes as much pot as she 
Time for a bit of nostalgia. 
By Troy Pieper
