Arts & Culture

CSO at the Movies presents ‘The Godfather’

By Antoinette Isama

On Tuesday and Wednesday the Chicago Symphony Orchestra goes to the movies, presenting, The Godfather, with members of the CSO playing Nino Rota’s original score.

For the 7 p.m. performance in Symphony Center, Francis Ford Coppola’s mega-hit will be shown on a giant HD screen hanging above the stage, while conductor Justin Freer leads the orchestra in Rota’s score. The performances are among the few taking place worldwide since the world premiere of this combination screening and live performance at London’s Royal Albert Hall in December 2014. Continue reading →

Jazz dance company makes history at Auditorium Theatre

By Megan Kramer

Giordano Dance Chicago performed their first full-length evening at the Auditorium Theatre Saturday, including the premiere of “Shirt Off My Back” by Ray Mercer as part of the theater’s new “Made in Chicago” series.

The performance was a huge milestone for artistic director Nan Giordano, whose father Gus Giordano formed GDC in Evanston in 1963.

“It is a very honored, exciting opportunity for our company,” Giordano said. “We have been on the Auditorium stage numerous times, but we’ve never had our own evening.”

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Dance company focuses on family in debut performance

By Megan Kramer

DanceWorks Chicago made its debut in the Harris Theater’s 2014-2015 Exelon Family Series on Saturday, with a program that included the premiere of a piece titled “Red Beans and Rice-ly Yours.”

If you missed the performance, you can catch DanceWorks’ next performance on Friday, Jan. 30 at 7 p.m. at the Lou Conte Dance Studio, 1147 W. Jackson. The Family Series, which opened in November with the children’s music band Dan Zanes and Friends, will wrap up its season with the Peking Acrobats Feb. 6-7. Continue reading →

South Side restaurants largely missing from Chicago Restaurant Week

By Karin Vandraiss

Restaurant Week, the annual winter event that offers Chicagoans the chance to eat at top-flight restaurants at relatively low prices, opens Jan. 30. But the imbalance between North Side (and north suburban) restaurants and South Side eateries is hard to ignore.

Since its launch in 2008, Chicago Restaurant Week has grown exponentially, from 44 restaurants to over 300 listed in this year’s lineup. Of those 300, however, barely two dozen are on the South Side or southern suburbs. Continue reading →

Chicago Men Stay on Trend

By Mallory Hughes

Hot on the heels of the Men’s Fashion Weeks in Milan and London, Paris Fashion Week, which closed on Friday, offered one last look at luxury menswear for the upcoming Fall-Winter 2015 season.

When the latest designs hit the European runway, Chicago can seem like a world away. But local men’s boutiques, department stores and couture storefronts are already making decisions about next years merchandise, sending buyers to the shows and placing orders. Continue reading →

VIDEO: Safety tips help keep horseback riders from injury

by Beth Lawrence

Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe was in the hospital recently after he was thrown from a horse while vacationing in Tanzania. McAuliffe was admitted for a punctured lung and seven broken ribs and remained hospitalized for three nights before returning to work. Injuries like his are not uncommon for horseback riders. A riding instructor provides some tips so you can stay safe around horses.

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VIDEO: Oscar nominations spark debate on diversity

By Michaela Meaney

The Oscar nominations are in and the results? A lack of diversity, say some critics. Entertainment professionals at Second City give their opinion on the lack of diversity and what that says about the industry as a whole.

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Charlie Hebdo ‘survivors’ issue’ quickly sells out in Chicago

By Yanqing Chen, Ellen Kobe, Meghan Tribe and Andersen Xia

Dozens of people lined up at two Chicago-area newsstands hoping to get one of the copies of the “survivors’ issue” of French satirical publication Charlie Hebdo (WARNING: Cover image may be offensive to some) before dawn Friday morning. Within minutes, both City Newsstand in Portage Park and Chicago-Main Newsstand in Evanston sold out the 12 copies made available to the public. Continue reading →

Artist Penny Pinch brings the street indoors

By Rachel White

Many artists limit themselves to a canvas to express their creativity, but for Chicago-based street artists, the city is their canvas. Local artist Penny Pinch is bringing his street art indoors at Galerie F in Logan Square.

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D-Generation: An exaltation of larks

By Jessica T. Gable

On a darkened stage in Chicago’s Columbia College Dance Center on Jan. 16, four lifelike puppets bound to tiny wheelchairs stared out across the sea of empty seats with a gaze that seemed too penetrating to come from something inanimate. Continue reading →