#Chicago performing arts

[phonecaseboss]

Do what? In THIS weather? A list of events in 312 Land

February in Chicago can be bleak, but your social life doesn’t have to be! Whether you’re into theatre, comedy, live music, or art, the city has plenty to offer. From Clue Live on Stage! and Twelfth Night to Write Club’s literary showdown and the mesmerizing Circus Quixote, this month is packed with incredible events. Explore immersive art installations at Millennium Park, take in Shakespeare at the Greenhouse Theater Center, or test your Vampire Diaries knowledge at trivia night. Whatever your vibe, there’s something happening near you. Check out the full list and plan your next night out!

Murder, Mayhem, and Midwinter Melancholy Good evening, Chicago! Or should I say, “Good evening, you magnificent metropolis of deep-dish and deep-seated existential dread!” Let’s take a look at what’s happening around the city this week, because let’s be honest, February in Chicago is a time when we collectively ask ourselves, why do we live here? First up, CLUE Live on Stage! at the CIBC…

[garadinervi]

Ana Mendieta, Untitled (Blood Sign #2/Body Tracks), (Super-8 film (colour, silent) transferred to video, 1'20"), 1974 [Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA), Chicago, IL. © The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, Courtesy Galerie Lelong & Co.]

[galleryofart]

Tight-Rope Walker

Artist: Jean Louis Forain (French, 1852–1931)

Date: c. 1885

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States

[paullorenz]

Visual Training, part one, 2023

Explore the visual, the training, the sound.,,from the beginning of the 93-minute durational sound/endurance drawing performance.

[aquascopex]

I forgot that I fucking love electric light orchestra

[yz]

The Nederlander Theatre when it was the Ford Oriental. Chicago, June 2018.

[charlescake]

CAKE is super excited to announce our first fundraising event since 2019! Save the date: May 25th, 2024. This fundraiser will have everything! We’ll be auctioning off art from all of your favorite indie cartoonists, we’ll be raffling off tons of comic and art goodies, there will be live comic readings and beer! Hosted by Beth Hetland and Kyle O’Connell. This will be an event you won’t want to miss! Admission is free!

Revolution Brewing Kedzie Taproom

3340 N Kedzie

Chicago, IL 60618

Saturday, May 25th, 2024 7pm-10pm

Stay tuned for our readers' announcement next week!

Super rad poster artwork by Jose Garibaldi! @cluepac 

[thevegetablewhichnoonedaresname]

I bet pretentious weebs would throw up if they found out that, in the Japanese silent film performance I went to tonight, the subtitles called a child "Tetsu" instead of "Tecchan" like the performer doing the script and voices clearly said, because you lose so much nuance about the characters if you don't leave the honorifics on and ACTUALLY it's technically an incorrect translation because the words are different and a correct translation would actually just be Japanese subtitles and if people can't just deal with that then they're lazy

[unwelcomecorporation]

started watching musicals today. Woah mama!!!!

[strazcenter]

Trans Visibility on Broadway and Beyond

Trans Visibility on Broadway and Beyond #fromtheblog

In 2022, Angelica Ross took on the role of Roxie Hart in Chicago, making her the first openly trans woman to play a lead role on Broadway. Earlier that same year, L Morgan Lee became the first openly trans woman to be nominated for a Tony® (Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical) for her role in A Strange Loop. March 31 is International Transgender Day of Visibility, so it’s…

[galleryofart]

At the Moulin Rouge

Artist: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (French, 1864-1901)

Date: 1892-1895

Medium: Oil on Canvas

Collection: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America

Description

Even in its crowded intimacy, At the Moulin Rouge retains an element of the theatrical: its cast of vibrant characters, lit by unseen lights, are reflected in blurry mirrors.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec has been associated with the Moulin Rouge since its opening in 1889: the owner of the legendary nightclub bought the artist’s Equestrienne as a decoration for the foyer. Toulouse-Lautrec populated At the Moulin Rouge with portraits of the legendary nightclub’s regulars, including himself—the diminutive figure in the center background—accompanied by his cousin, physician Gabriel Tapié de Céleyran. Dancer La Goulue arranges her hair behind the table where Jane Avril, another famous performer, socializes. Singer May Milton peers out from the right edge of the painting, her face harshly lit and acid green. At some point, the artist or his dealer cut down the canvas to remove Milton, perhaps because her strange appearance made the work hard to sell. Whatever the reason, by 1914 the cut section had been reattached to the painting.

[samebutdifferentchicago]

SAME but DIFFERENT is an INTERVENTION! Here is some guidance ::

Same But Different is an intervention. We are not asking permission to use this public space, it is a guerrilla action - an improvised celebration of our freedom to gather.

This project occurs OUTDOORS RAIN OR SHINE. Please dress for the weather.

Actions will begin promptly at 6PM and last exactly one hour until 7PM. There will be no prompts or direction, it is a group improvisation.

PLEASE BRING materials to explore and share - but you must take them with you when you leave. 

Maintain respect for the public space - do not create additional labor for others.

Never block any thoroughfare - sidewalk or street. 

Same But Different is about harmony and community - please keep this in mind and act responsibly. Defibrillator Gallery is not responsible for injury, theft, damage, legal trouble, etc. - participate at your own risk and please use common sense. 

There is no power supply at the location.

The closest restroom is McGuane Park Fieldhouse at 2901 S Poplar.

The event will be recorded with photography and video for the DFBRL8R Archive and shared with the international community on social media. You have been notified: your participation indicates your consent.

Mount Bridgeport

Palmisano Park | 2700 S Halsted

[krispyweiss]

Album Review: Chicago - Chicago at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington D.C. (9/16/1971)

For decades, Chicago at Carnegie Hall had been the go-to album for fans of the band’s improvisational, politically charged approach to music making.

Now, there’s another option: Chicago at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington D.C. (9/16/1971). Where the horns were often bleating on Carnegie, they’re crystal-clear on JFK; where the former was occasionally sloppy, the latter is tight.

JFK doesn’t replace Carnegie, it complements it. The long-gestating, archival LP is a gift to those who revere the early days of Chicago and its change-the-world mission and an ear-opener to those who may regard the band as a milquetoast purveyor of pop that didn’t feature one of rock most under-appreciated guitarists, Terry Kath, among his members.

As the band takes the stage at the then-new D.C. venue, it tells tapers they can turn off their machines as the show will be recorded via mobile truck. What the group didn’t say is it would wait 53 years to put the thing out.

It was worth the wait, but the lag is inexplicable.

Though At the John F. Kennedy Center captures the the original septet at a crossroads, it was still a daring live act, playing cuts from its first three studio albums and previewing V with the unfinished “Dialogue” and the debut performance of “Saturday in the Park” with Peter Cetera on vocals.

Wah-wah master Kath is ablaze throughout, adding his soulful rasp to the progressive jazz of “Loneliness is Just a Word;” crying for a cessation of hostilities in Southeast Asia on “It Better End Soon” and giving a six-string clinic on the 3rd Movement, parenthetically titled “Guitar Solo;” and generally torching the stage on such vocal and instrumental showcases as “In the Country,” “I’m a Man” and “25 or 6 to 4.”

Not to be outdone, Robert Lamm improvises a lengthy piano into to “Does Anybody Really Know What Time it Is?;” drummer Danny Seraphine gets the spotlight on “I’m a Man” and “Beginnings;” and Walt Parazaider takes a long flute solo on the 2nd Movement of “IBES.”

“A Song for Richard and His Friends,” a scathing rebuke of Nixon that never received the studio treatment, combines elements of a Grateful Dead “Space” segment with the adventurism of Frank Zappa’s jazz period. “A Hit by Varèse,” meanwhile, finds the band cooking while mocking the pop stars they could become just a few years down the line.

Yes, there were hits at this point - most notably “Make Me Smile” and “Colour My World” as part of the multi-track “Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon.” But Chicago at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is really just a reminder that Chicago was once a kick-ass rock ’n’ roll band that sought to reorder society with its music.

The endeavor failed. The music was - and remains - successful.

Grade card: Chicago - Chicago at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington D.C. (9/16/1971) - A

11/4/24

[paullorenz]

Visual Training, part five

please take a moment to revel in the visual and musicals teasings and contradictions...

Recorded live in S.R. Crown Hall, IIT, Chicago on July 31, 2023

[ch33se-head]

I was indecisive about posting this other project on this Cheesehead blog, but am doing so because this other project did impact my process and productivity and, thus, deserves mentioning. Developing two divergent works simultaneously isn't easy, especially with a day job, teaching gigs, curatorial projects, and...life. BUT I put this other project to bed last weekend. So my focus is now on Cheesehead. Sorta....OK, actually, for the next few days I must focus on @dfbrl8r - we are presenting UK based Martin O'Brien at the International Museum of Surgical Science in Chicago on THU 07 NOV...then I can give Cheesehead %100 of my focus.

Hindsight impacted my process in two primary ways...well three, maybe. First, it occupied headspace! Hindsight was in my IMAGINATION and there wasn't much room for more...Cheesehead was back there, simmering...but it had to stay on the back burner in my mind. Second, TIME was of course, a problem. I spent a lot of time and energy on Hindsight. Finally, MONEY was a big issue, as always. I had to spend what I had on materials for Hindsight, so I came to a stopping point...ran out of materials...to continue Cheesehead. I've processed what I have thus far (laminate, grommet, ring, etc.) and the remaining materials arrive TODAY!

Now onto Hindsight....

> I'm sharing these terrific performance photos by @vinnous

HINDSIGHT | a performance by Joseph Ravens | 2024OCT25

In the performance art piece Hindsight, I embody my own archive by combining the very first performance action I ever made (1990) with moments from my most recent work. For this ongoing personal retrospective, I revisit and breathe new life into actions spanning thirty-four years.

HINDSIGHT is part of the first annual 3320 Dance Series presented by Dovetail Studios and Same Planet Performance Project. This two weekend festival features work from Bob Eisen, Zephyr Dance, Terence Marling, Joseph Ravens, and Same Planet Performance Project. DOVETAIL GARAGE | CHICAGO

[anthonyopal]

Iurodstvo means “holy foolishness” - the prophetic tradition of acting and speaking in shocking and unorthodox ways in order to communicate spiritual truths.

Ken Feit (1940–1981) was a Chicago-born poet, performer, and self-proclaimed “itinerant fool.” Relatively unknown, Feit’s writings show him to be one of the most thoughtful practitioners of western iurodstvo.

Collected here is a selection of Feit’s reflections on the role of holy foolishness regarding justice, compassion, and identity.

Author: Ken Feit

Editor: Anthony Opal

Booklet, 24 pp, 7 x 5.25 in

Language: English

ISBN: 978-1-7356630-9-8

Published: December 10, 2020