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Fall is in the air, and there’s plenty to do. Here’s some of what we recommend: Tue 9/13: Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad reimagines a historical operation of deliverance and insurrection, following a freedom-bound plantation slave’s miraculous odyssey by means of a literal below-ground train system. Whitehead discusses the novel, selected for Oprah’s Book Club, alongside WBEZ’s Natalie Moore, author of The South Side: A Portrait of Chicago and American Segregation, at the Logan Center for the Arts (915 E....

The Boys in the Band at Windy City Playhouse isn’t the only 1960s counterculture show in town. Theatre Above the Law’s current staging of Elaine May’s 1969 one-act Adaptation (an off-Broadway hit in its original run, but seldom seen these days) offers up a giddy and retro exploration of one man’s voyage through the game of life. The story is structured as an actual game show, where the Contestant (David Hartley) moves from birth to death through various challenges (familial, academic, professional, romantic, existential) with the help of a Game Master and an ensemble of three actors playing all the supporting roles....

UPDATE Friday, March 13: this event has been canceled. Refunds available at point of purchase. The Drury Lane orchestra, under the direction of Chris Sargent, does Gershwin proud. As does director/choreographer Lynne Kurdziel-Formato and her ensemble of triple threats. The dance sequences in the show are to die for, each one bigger, stronger, and more amazing than the previous one. Even more impressive, though, is her cast, who face the formidable task of competing with the likes of Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron....

I was standing at the front of the security line for the premiere of The French Dispatch when I saw, on a jumbo celebrity monitor overlooking the red carpet, the outline of that unmistakable grin below a golden mask and white broad-brimmed panama hat. It was then that I decided I wasn’t allowed to leave Cannes without meeting Bill Murray. The fortress element registered with Alexandra Milic, who is from Cannes originally, and was attending the festival for the first time....

Chicagoans is a first-person account from off the beaten track, as told to Anne Ford. This week’s Chicagoan is . . . Anne Ford, who after 190 columns is bidding the project farewell. I was going to write a profile of this guy whose name I can’t remember who was and possibly still is a private tutor. He was a very colorful guy. For some reason, I got really stuck. He was a great talker....

Andersonville Chamber of Commerce Lincoln Square Ravenswood Chamber of Commerce Finalists: Northcenter Chamber of Commerce, Edgewater Chamber of Commerce

Rapid Pulse rapidpulse.org Runner-Up: Chicago Improv Festival

Warning: This review contains spoilers of the final season of BoJack Horseman. And so everything crumbles when BoJack is subject to two Biscuits Braxby interviews, the first a formality and a recovery, the second a brutal #MeToo-era interrogation that dashes any hopes of the happy ending hinted at in previous scenes of post-rehab college professor BoJack. But maybe we weren’t hoping for a happy ending. Maybe we shouldn’t have been. Still, I found myself yelling at my TV when BoJack relapsed and went on his worst bender yet....

Will we ever rent shoes again? It’s a required act for two of my favorite activities, one that feels downright irresponsible in a post-pandemic, hyper- hygienic world. Just thinking about being in a bowling alley or a roller rink incites a scent memory of greasy foods, stale beer, sweaty socks—I can practically smell the germs. Still, I miss the lanes at Fireside Bowl, the snack bar at the Fleetwood Roller Rink, the camaraderie and sense of athleticism that both activities afford to even the most sedentary indoor kids....

In essence, what endears romantic comedies to their most ardent supporters also is what bothers a lot of critics. Rom-coms, on the whole, are formulaic fantasies about everyday people who behave unrealistically in exceptional (and exceptionally well-lit) situations. The films usually adhere to a simplistic three-act structure that hinges on the viewer’s emotional catharsis. The lovebirds meet and get to know each other in a montage scored to an upbeat pop song; clash, separate, and miss each other in a montage scored to a melancholy pop song; and ultimately reunite, with a coda scored to a cathartic pop song....

Northwestern University professor and Medill Justice Project director Alec Klein has requested a leave of absence “from all of his positions at Northwestern until the University completes its investigation,” according to a statement released by Alan K. Cubbage, vice president for university relations. “The University has agreed that is the appropriate action.” On Wednesday, the Reader first reported that ten former students signed a letter detailing allegations of sexual misconduct against Klein....

As DJ Roc, Chicago producer Clarence Johnson helped mold footwork and provided the support it needed to become an international underground phenomenon. He started making juke tracks in the early 2000s, but just a few years later he adopted the faster, battle-ready footwork sound. Johnson strengthened the footwork scene in 2005 by cofounding production collective Bosses of the Circle, which soon expanded to include future experimental star Jlin. He became a force in those years, during which Chicago house hero DJ Sluggo released several of Johnson’s CDs....

Party Noire thepartynoire.com Runner-Up: CumbiaSazo

Billy Caldwell Golf Course Jackson Park Golf Course

The Hungarian composer György Ligeti will be feted during the University of Chicago’s 2017-2018 concert season with a thrilling series of performances by high-caliber artists including Imani Winds, Eighth Blackbird and Amadinda, and Third Coast Percussion. The program gets off to a stellar start with the Arditti Quartet, arguably the most consistently adventurous and precise contemporary-music string quartet of the last quarter century. Ligeti (1923-2006) wrote only two string quartets in his life....

In the heated race to see who can be the state’s most secretive schmuck, Governor Rauner made moves last week to challenge his old pal Mayor Rahm. FOIA is the acronym for a state law that supposedly obligates public figures—even mighty ones, like Rauner and Rahm—to release public documents. Slick move, Mr. Mayor—that’s why you’re the reigning king of FOIA schmucks. Though, as we can see, Rauner is gaining fast. So it looked as though we’d never know what was blacked out....

Welcome to the Reader‘s morning briefing for Tuesday, November 7, 2017. Chicago is close to surpassing 600 homicides for the second year in a row At 593 homicides as of Monday morning, Chicago is inching closer to reaching 600 for the second year in a row for only the second time since 2003, the Tribune reports. The only good news is that there have been fewer murders this year as compared to last; in 2016, the city had recorded 681 homicides by early November....

In February 2020 Alex Grelle was hitting his stride. He just put up his dream show at the Chopin Theatre, the David Bowie homage Floor Show, and was starting to think of other theater spaces to tackle, maybe even possibly, dare he say, starting his own company. But then, well, March 2020 happened and that momentum hit a wall fast. “I’m not really interested in doing Wizard of Oz or Death Becomes Her, those are pretty obvious ones....

Welcome to the Reader’s morning briefing for Tuesday, May 31, 2016. Welcome back to the work week after Memorial Day weekend. Minimum wage protesters head to McDonald’s headquarters during annual meeting Protesters gathered outside McDonald’s corporate headquarters in Oak Brook to demand a minimum wage increase to $15 an hour Thursday. Demonstrating during the restaurant giant’s annual shareholders meeting, the Service Employees International Union-funded protesters are not only asking for higher wages, but to be allowed to unionize....