Lincolnshire Review

One-woman orchestra coming to SPACE

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 10:49:32 -0600

Zoe Keating was the tallest kid in her grade at age 8 in England, so music teachers stuck her with the cello. The pairing is an event Keating and fans of avant garde orchestra music have been grateful for ever since. Employing a do-it-yourself ethic, she’s become one woman making the music of many using the help of a laptop computer while she plays her instrument. Her moody songs often sound like orchestras of various sizes. “A teacher asked me if I wanted to play it and I think it’s because I was the tallest,” Keating said. “I thank that …

New this week on video

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:12:20 -0600

Shakespeare turns out to have been a bit of a poser in the historical drama “Anonymous” and Santa Claus turns out to be a bit of a stoner in “A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas.”

Initiative celebrates new realities for dance

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:34:01 -0600

FAR LEFT: Mordine & Company Dance | Photo by William Friederking …

BFF ‘Divas’ in concert at Northlight

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:30:00 -0600

The best of friends off stage, “The 3 Divas” have finally found a way to put their chemistry to work for an audience. Don’t let the name fool you, though. “The diva thing is tongue-firmly-planted-in-cheek,” said Susie McMonagle, who will share the stage with her pals Heidi Kettenring and Christine Sherrill during the threesome’s concert performance Valentine’s Day evening at Northlight Theatre in Skokie. “It’s kind of funny that we’re calling ourselves the divas, because we’re so not. We’re going to be singing some really hard songs and just belting them out, so that qualifies — but there’s no attitude …

Dan Chaon’s stories help you Stay Awake

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:28:01 -0600

Before publishing his critically acclaimed novels You Remind Me of Me and Await Your Reply, Dan Chaon (a 1986 Northwestern grad) made his literary reputation as a writer of dark, mysterious and disturbing short stories that packed a powerful metaphysical punch, not unlike the pulp stories he admired as a child reading anthologies branded with Alfred Hitchcock’s name. His first collection of stories, “Among the Living,” was nominated for a National Book Award and his third, “Stay Awake” has just been published by Ballantine Books. Pioneer caught up with Chaon as he was preparing for a national book tour that …

Chicago Chamber Musicians play in Evanston

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:26:01 -0600

Chicago Chamber Musicians will showcase the talents of two of its founding members — hornist Gail Williams and violinist Joseph Genualdi — in “Twilight Music,” at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 12. The program includes Franz Schubert’s Rondo in B minor, D. 895, Op. 70; John Harbison’s “Twilight Music” and Mozart’s Divertimento No. 17 in D Major for two horns and string quartet. Concerts are held at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall on Northwestern University’s campus, 50 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston. Tickets: $25-$45; $10 for students. (312) 225-5226 or see www.chicagochambermusic.org. …

Jazz vespers in Winnetka

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:26:01 -0600

Singer Tammy McCann joins the Victor Goines Quartet for Jazz Vespers at 4 p.m. Feb. 12 at the Winnetka Congregational Church, 725 Pine St., Winnetka. $10. Call (847) 441-3400. …

Evanston actor sees rare opportunity in ‘Meeting’

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:26:01 -0600

Most people think of Bill “Bojangles” Robinson as the ever-smiling African American who tap danced with Shirley Temple in her 1930s films. But the man behind those smooth moves was more serious, reported Evanston native Ernest Perry Jr., who plays the dancer in “Mr. Rickey Calls a Meeting” at Lookingglass Theatre. The Ed Schmidt play takes place one week before the opening day of the 1947 baseball season. Branch Rickey, general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, plans to call up Jackie Robinson, making him the first black Major League ballplayer. The playwright imagines a behind-the-scenes meeting between ballplayer Robinson and …

Songs for the broken-hearted on V Day

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:25:18 -0600

Valentine’s Day means love, and that’s rotten for single folk who’d rather spend the day with someone special. Even if they don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day because it’s cheesy and sappy and triggers the gag reflex, it’s nice to have the option. Nobody likes feeling left out. But, here you are, single, because you were dumped or you had to tell the last guy or girl to hit the road because they just didn’t cut it. The break up is what got you where you are today. So, for those who are feeling the sting of being single this Valentine’s Day, …

Places in the heart: dining spots for Valentine’s Day

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:22:01 -0600

A loaf of bread and jug of wine may have sufficed in the Middle Ages but these days impassioned foodies prefer something a bit more substantial, especially for Valentine’s Day. Try these. Benjamin, 1849 Second St., Highland Park. (847) 748-8737; benjaminrestaurant.com This Soho-chic jewel bedazzled in rich elements of cobalt black and animal prints already pulses with a cool city vibe; but wait, there’s more. High above its rad interior stands a balcony with not one, but two cozy nooks just perfect for V-Day; one better than the next. The first, a private booth surrounded by iridescent black curtains that …

Young cellist hits airwaves

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:22:01 -0600

Cellist Johannes Gray, 13, of Wilmette, can be heard at 7 p.m. on Feb. 12 on “From the Top” on 98.7 WFMT. Gray, a student at Wilmette Junior High School, will perform “Capriccio” by Lukes Foss and be accompanied by “From the Top” host Christopher O’Riley on piano. Gray also studies cello at the Music Institute of Chicago and has taken master classes with Yo-Yo Ma, David Finckel and Ralph Kirshbaum, and won a performance with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra after placing first in the 2011 Crain-Maling Foundation Chicago Symphony Orchestra Youth Auditions. “From the Top” has been a showcase …

Sean Flannery at Wilmette Theatre

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:16:01 -0600

Sean Flannery headlines Comedy at the Mette, in association with Chicago Underground Comedy, at 9 p.m. Feb. 11 at the Wilmette Theatre, 1122 Central Ave., Wilmette. $12 cover. Over 21 event; beer and wine available. (847) 251-7424. www.wilmettetheatre.com. …

Actors add extra zest to comedy’s debut

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:00:01 -0600

In “Sirens,” Deborah Zoe Laufer’s romantic comedy making its Midwest premiere at Citadel Theatre, a couple celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary bumps head-on into a midlife crisis as they take stock on the state of their marriage. The 90-minute play, directed by Will Casey, is entertaining, though predictable. Yet it benefits from an exceptional cast led by the real-life husband-and-wife team of Scott and Ellen Phelps, who first met in 1982 at the Actors Theatre of Louisville. In “Sirens,” Sam, a songwriter whose one and only hit was inspired during his courtship of Adele, finds himself in a funk, depressed …

BFF ‘Divas’ in concert at Northlight

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 19:54:02 -0600

Burning dialogue doesn’t warm up ‘Hesperia’s’ plot

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 19:52:01 -0600

Do a quick Google on “born again porn stars” and you’ll find there’s a surprising number of Evangelicals who gave up so-called sins of the flesh upon finding Jesus. Yet despite its grounding in an apparently not uncommon phenomenon, Randall Colburn’s “Hesperia” strains credulity. The story of sex workers striving to make new lives in a wholesome heartland far from Hollywood’s den of flesh-peddling iniquities has the marks of a writer gifted in dialogue and able to see intense depths in characters all too often played as stereotypes. Still, the Writers’ Theatre remount of a script seen in a Right …

Chicago a cappella sings spirituals in Evanston

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 21:39:16 -0600

“Wade in the Water” is the name of one of the more well-known African-American spirituals, and it is also the title of the latest concert from Chicago a cappella. Chicago a cappella performs at 8 p.m. Feb. 11 at Nichols Concert Hall, 1490 Chicago Ave., Evanston. Some of the selections will be familiar to those who frequent Chicago a cappella concerts; others are brand new, said director Jonathan Miller. “The most exciting thing about this program from a new music point of view is that we have several world premieres on this program,” he said. New work Grammy Award-winning arranger …