Mangum kept an extremely low profile following the breakup of his main band, Neutral Milk Hotel, and hasn't officially played in Chicago since the band's last performance here in 1998 more ›

The 2008 Dance Chicago festival, a three-week long dance smorgasbord featuring 130 companies performing over 300 works, kicked off last Friday with three opening weekend performances packed with a variety of dance genres and styles. Among the many dancers and dance companies hitting the stage at the Athenaeum Theatre were the World Champion Trinity Irish Dancers, Moscow Ballet, Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago and Chicago's Mexican Dance Ensemble, all coming together to create a diverse program showcasing ballet, tap, urban, Irish, character, jazz and contemporary dance. more ›

The title of Chicago Tap Theater's new production, The Hourglass and the Poisoned Pen: a Superhero Tap Dance Opera piqued our interest immediately, but this show is no gimmick. The production is the collaborative brainchild of artistic director Mark Yonally and comic book artist Andrew Pepoy, and is meant to be a way for Yonally to further challenge his dancers, as well as the way his audiences see tap. more ›

Going with the 'last real weekend of the year' theme, we thought we would point out some things maybe you'd hoped get done in '06, but haven't quite gotten there yet. As always, feel free to leave additional events around the city in the comments section. more ›

The Chicago Improv Festival kicks off tonight at the Gallery Cabaret in Bucktown with Schadenfreude’s first Chicago stage performance since…probably last year’s fest. The “Schadenfreude Rent Party” is an evening of all new material from a group that routinely packed the house at past CIFs, their late night revues, and the national college circuit until Chicago Public Radio got a hold of them. Then they were too busy hobnobbing with, and making fun of,... more ›

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‘Tis the season for all sizes and flavors of “Christmas Carol” offerings, plus variations on its time-honored (some might say “tired”) theme. Our favorite standby is ye olde Muppets version, costarring a surprisingly tuneful Michael Caine, but our job here is to send you out into the world, not to your sofa zones. Luckily, Chicagoland has plenty of theatrical Scrooges to please everyone, everywhere, over the holidays: For the Purists: “A Christmas Carol” The... more ›

Aida more ›