Events Search – Recommended
Action Bronson, Calez, Alex Wiley, Impala Sound Champions
Sun., Jan. 27, 6 p.m.Hip-Hop
Queens rapper and former chef Action Bronson spent most of last year supporting Blue Chips, a Reebok-sponsored mixtape cut with Brooklyn producer Party Supplies. It was one of the most celebrated rap releases of 2012—the Reader’s Miles Raymer praised its boldly sloppy subversion of NYC hip-hop—and a wave of year-end best-of roundups that mentioned it began right around the same time Bronson released the Alchemist-produced mixtape Rare Chandeliers (Vice/Warner). Though Rare Chandeliers doesn’t have the rule-breaking, free-for-all aesthetic that helped make Blue Chips a hit, Bronson preserves the playful energy he demonstrated on the earlier recording, delivering lines about his lothario-foodie lifestyle with a just-blazed attitude that smooths out his rough, sometimes piercingly nasal voice. Alchemist’s beats recall 70s exploitation-film soundtracks, their dramatic horn melodies, burning guitar solos, and buoyant bass lines bolstering Bronson’s outsize rebel-without-a-cause character—together they’re as much fun as a midnight screening of a grindhouse flick with a half dozen rowdy friends. —Leor Galil Calez, Alex Wiley, and Impala Sound Champions open.
$22, $20 in advance, $40 VIP tickets
Bud, Not Buddy
Through 2/24: Tue-Wed 10 AM, Thu-Fri 10 AM and 6:30 PM, Sat 2 and 6 PM, Sun 11 AMTheater & Performance
Director Derrick Sanders doesn't miss a beat in this well-orchestrated stage version of Christopher Paul Curtis's 1999 children's book, about an African-American boy searching for his father in Depression-era America. Each part of the show just hums along: Sanders's eye-pleasing staging, Rick Simms's ear-pleasing sound design, Courtney O'Neill's superb scenic design, and the tight, playful ensemble. Among the many fine performances are Travis Turner's as the title character and Cedric Young's as a grumpy bandleader who may be Bud's dad. Though clearly pitched to school-aged children, there's enough texture in both the book and the wonderful Chicago Children's Theatre production to move adults as well. --Jack Helbig $36
1016 N. Dearborn St.
Gold Coast/Mag Mile/Streeterville
847-864-5323The Sound, the Soul, the Syncopation
Through 3/15:Galleries
Sam Worley writes, "With photos and text, 'The Sound, the Soul, the Syncopation' looks at how close-knit subsidized communities in Brooklyn, Houston, Detroit, and other cities have helped produce talents like Barbra Streisand, Kenny Rogers, and Diana Ross." Check out the rest of his review right here.
The Book of Mormon
Through 9/18: Tue-Fri 7:30 PM, Sat 2 and 8 PM, Sun 2 and 7:30 PM; no show Tue 12/25Theater & Performance
I know it'll seem incomprehensible to you fans of talking turds, but I've never paid Comedy Central's South Park much mind one way or another. And when New York fell all over itself last year appreciating The Book of Mormon, I wondered if there wasn't just a smidge of hyperbole in calling the musical by South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone (along with Robert Lopez) the best of the "century." Now that I've seen the Chicago production, however, I've been—well—converted. A wise mix of nasty satire and compassionate truth telling, Parker, Stone, and Lopez's tale of Mormon missionaries in Uganda is as entertaining—and, strangely, uplifting—a piece of work as anything in recent American theater. Although the book draws whole quivers full of big red arrows to everything that's ludicrous about the Mormon way, it also ends up making a case for the hope we all derive from silly myths. Meanwhile, playful as it is, it ranks up there with Lynn Nottage's Ruined in exposing the danger, dignity, and distortions of African life. The cast is uniformly and perfectly seductive. And is that Steppenwolf's famously earnest James Vincent Meredith, showing a new side of himself as the Ugandan village chief? Incredible. —Tony Adler
$65-$125
First Monday
Open run: the first Mon of each month, 12:15 PMClassical
Abandon your regular lunchtime smoke break, nap, or illicit tryst for something a bit classier. Join the Chicago Chamber Musicans as they present First Monday, a monthly lunch-hour concert series. This month features cafe music by Astor Piazzolla and Paul Schoenfield. —Jamie Keiles
Wait Wait . . . Don't Tell Me!
Open run: Thu 7:30 PM 312-948-4600Theater & Performance
Chicago Public Radio's satirical twist on the classic quiz show is taped before a live audience. Host Peter Sagal and crew mine news stories for quiz questions, with different panelists from the worlds of literature and entertainment and audience members participating each week. Politics supply the jokes du jour, but what happens off microphone is often funnier. —Ryan Hubbard $24.75
Maggie and Coco Save the World
Open run: the last Fri of each month, 8 PM,Theater & Performance
Given the cultural ascent of really good TV, it's surprising that there aren't more efforts, like this one, to adapt the serial structure to the stage. In Coriolis Theater's live "pilot" episode, angry 99-percenter Coco returns to Chicago from a six-month stint with Occupy Wall Street—to the surprise of her roommate Maggie, who's more inclined to occupy the couch and watch American Idol. There's little plot or action, but these 50 minutes do the one thing a pilot must: establish interesting characters you want to see again. Grayson Vreeland's cast is already more realistically diverse and relatable than the white-bread lineups you find on most young-adult urban sitcoms. If the show's writers develop compelling story lines for them, they might earn the repeat following that Coriolis is banking on. —Keith Griffith $10-$15
The Magic Parlour
Open run: Fri 8 and 10:30 PMTheater & Performance
This 60-minute, late-night magic show is exactly what it should be: funny, lively, intimate, and utterly baffling. House Theatre of Chicago member Dennis Watkins blends quick-witted improv and physical comedy with freewheeling patter as he performs classic illusions. Though his sleight-of-hand is impossibly subtle, it was the mind reading tricks that seemed to have drawn several inquisitive skeptics back for another look on the night I attended. A curio-shop intimacy and cash bar encourage audience participation, and Watkins, with his Eagle Scout looks, clearly takes a mischievous pleasure in the unexpected. Just let your cell phone go off during the show and see what kind of fun he has. --Keith Griffith $75
Maxwell Street Market
7 AM - 3 PMIllinois
An international bargain hunt that goes on all year long. Free
Blind wine tasting
Ongoiing: Sun 5-9 PMDrink Events
Starting today, Eno Wine Room in the Fairmont hotel will offer blind tastings every Sunday evening; people who can correctly identify five attributes (like age, region, country, and grape) of three wines get their flight for free. There are two levels of difficulty, one aimed at the average wine drinker and the other created for aficionados. —Julia Thiel $25-$30 per wine flight
