Back in 1988, Steppenwolf Theatre premiered an expensive, AT&T-sponsored stage version of John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, adapted and directed by Frank Galati. In my review I argued that the show sabotaged itself, mainly through the absurd juxtaposition of a socialist novel with megacorporate funding, but also by forcing the audience to “sit there and wait to be impressed by all the gimmicks that $500,000 buys. The real river and the genuine car, the honest-to-God rainstorm and the burn-your-fingers campfires....

Torture survivors have their day. In his struggle to express himself, Richard M. Daley has uttered some colorful language in 2001. For those who can’t picture what’s inside the mayor’s head, here’s an illustrated guide. “Scrutiny? What else do you want? Do you want to take my shorts? Go scrutinize yourself. I get scrutined every day.” –on whether his brother […] Even a broken clock is right twice a day, but economists are almost always wrong when predicting the future....

You can’t pitch a chile-crusted pork rib in Chinatown these days without hitting a Sichuanese restaurant. I’m always yammering to whoever will listen about how Chinatown and soon-to-be-annexed Bridgeport are consistently the most interesting and dynamic food neighborhoods in the city. But lately things have been looking a bit one-dimensional. Then in late June, it reappeared in Bridgeport on a strip of Halsted that’s become a showcase for regional variety: there’s the Sichuanese A Place by Damao; the venerable, pioneering northern-Chinese Ed’s Potsticker House; the Shenyang street food at Xiao Mei Ming; the Taiwanese hot pots at Taipei Café; the Dongbei-style Northern Taste, and even Big Boss Spicy Fried Chicken, for a weird and wonderful collision of Chinese-Belizean and southern-fried poultry....

Set in 1595 during the glorious reign of Elizabeth I, this 2015 musical romp (book by John O’Farrell and Karey Kirkpatrick, music and lyrics by Karey Kirkpatrick and Wayne Kirkpatrick) begins with an opening number, “Welcome to the Renaissance,” so rousing and energetic, packed with clever lyrics and great dance moves (choreographed by Alex Sanchez), we expect the rest of the production, directed by Scott Weinstein, will blow the roof off of the Marriott....

New musicals are inherently fragile. Festivals devoted to them, exponentially more so. Chicago has seen ambitious fests showcasing new tuners come and go: The Musical Theatre Writers Workshop, Midwest New Musicals and . . . New Tuners—all shone brightly and went dark. The latest casualty in the field is the New York Musical Festival, where Next to Normal and [title of show] (among others), got early productions. NYMF shuttered suddenly in January, leaving 2020’s festival entrants with little but feedback from the selection committee....

“I think policy is everything,” said Dr. Angela Odoms-Young, a professor at University of Illinois Chicago who researches environmental and social impacts on diet-related diseases. Odoms-Young is one of two dozen public health experts, food justice advocates, and city officials who gathered at the beginning of the year to assess how Chicago’s government can serve as a guiding hand in building a more equitable food system. “We tend to think of this as a household issue,” she said....

Folks living in the Logan-Avondale area vividly remember the crushing news of popular bar and liquor store Crown Liquors closing its doors in April last year. It was one of the early businesses to shutter due to the pandemic, which started the cycle of sadness we’ve been stuck in: watching our favorite bars, theaters, and restaurants get uprooted. After mourning the loss of the staple that existed since the Prohibition era—a place that housed a plethora of memories, new friends, dance parties, and even networking meetings—my heart jumped at the newfound hope that we might be able to save it....

Here’s the good news fans of Making a Murderer have waited since last winter to hear: Yes, there will be a second season. Still, he’s not out of prison yet. The state of Wisconsin has filed an appeal, and Northwestern law professor Steven Drizin says it could take years for the ensuing legal action to be resolved. Avery vowed that this relationship made him realize that “I haven’t been in love my whole life....

The Reader‘s archive is vast and varied, going back to 1971. Every day in Archive Dive, we’ll dig through and bring up some finds. Skinheads were in the spotlight in the late 1980s; in the fall of 1988 Oprah Winfrey interviewed a group of racist skinheads on her show. As Wyman pointed out, one of the protagonists of his piece, a black Cabrini-Green native and anti-Nazi skinhead named Dwayne Thomas, was in the audience during that taping:

With another presidential election upon us, it’s time for me to write my quadrennial Don’t fool yourself, Chicago column, in which I plead with independents and Tea Party types not to view a vote for the Republican candidate as a vote against the Democratic machine. Good God, my friends, please don’t fall for that argument. You’d only be fooling yourself. Building that tower required making peace with Mayor Daley and virtually every other powerful Democrat in this town....

ARTIST: Rachel R. Adler SHOW: What’s for Brek-fest 2! with Ovef Ow, Speed Babes, Nightfreak, Montrose Man, Beastii, Musclegoose, Bev Rage & the Drinks, and more at Chop Shop on Sun 6/16 MORE INFO: hatchcomic.com

It’s difficult to describe the vastness of Chicago indie rock and punk without mentioning Great Deceivers, partly because of the four-piece’s pedigree. Guitarist Russell Harrison and bassist-vocalist Ben Rudolph play in unforgivingly ferocious hardcore unit C.H.E.W., while drummer Seth Engel makes delightfully solemn indie rock as Options and has been part of far too many other groups to list here. In Great Deceivers’ 11 years together, they’ve issued music on several small but vital indie labels, including Florida’s New Granada, Virginia’s Flannel Gurl, and Chicago’s Sooper....

Iranian-American Muslim fashion blogger Hoda Katebi gave a contentious live interview broadcast by WGN News on January 31, in which host Robin Baumgarten tells the University of Chicago graduate that she “doesn’t sound American”—not because of her voice but because of her views. The interview went viral on social media after Katebi posted the clip on her political fashion blog, JooJoo Azad, on February 9. Mom, I’ve made it — someone turned me into a meme!...

Time to plan the weekend. Here’s some of what we recommend: Sat 1/16: El-P and Killer Mike, together known as Run the Jewels, talk musical collaboration with music journalist Jessica Hopper at the Museum of Contemporary Art (220 E. Chicago) as part of the MCA’s “In Sight Out” series. 6 PMSat 1/16: This year Curious Theater will finally make the RhinoFest connection that never was: Beau O’Reilly himself will direct Rhinoceros (1/23-2/28, Sat-Sun 7 PM), and the fest’s fringe-y local participants have been invited to create pieces inspired by it....

On Friday, July 8, archival label the Numero Group opens the Numero Factory Outlet, a brick-and-­mortar shop in its Little Village warehouse at 2533 S. Troy. Numero cofounder Rob Sevier says the store will carry the entire Numero catalog, including items otherwise offered only online. “It’s gonna be a pretty relaxed environment,” Sevier says. “If you come in, we’ll be playing test pressings for the next record. It’s part of our workspace....

When I was a child, I listened to childish things. I put a B96 bumper sticker on my mom’s car in grade school, I was glued to Loveline and Q101 all through middle school, and I studied classic-rock radio with naive devotion in high school. So when my car’s tape player broke down six years ago and I was forced to listen to the radio again, I was excited to revisit all my favorite stations....

Wakandacon is back for its sophomore year and has a lot in store for lovers of all things Black. With plenty to do wherever you fall on the spectrum, go “find your tribe” at Wakandacon this weekend. v Fri 7/26-Sun 7/28, Hyatt Regency McCormick Place, 2233 S. Martin Luther King, wakandaconforever.com, $35 day pass, $60 weekend pass.

Back by popular demand: The Back Room Deal features radio personality and longtime Reader political writer Ben Joravsky arguing local Chicago politics with Reader senior writer Maya Dukmasova. With sharp wit and stinging analysis, Joravsky and Dukmasova cut through the smokey haze of the elections to offer you a glimpse of the 2020 Chicago-area Illinois primary races—local and Cook County-level and, of course, U.S. presidential. Will these historic elections be determined in back-room deals, like so many in Chicago’s past?...

In a recurring feature, the Reader will conduct 15-minute interviews with candidates running for city, county, state, and federal offices that represent Illinois. First up: Fritz Kaegi, a candidate in the Cook County assessor’s race. What were you up to in Russia in the 1990s? Yes, because of a government choice. The government didn’t have to choose to do things the way they did. They were so cavalier about the global libertarian philosophy, having no government intervention, that was shown to be wrong....