In a season of all things bright and brisk, here are three artistic picks every bit as bold as the month itself!
Disney in Concert: Tim Burton’s ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’
When: Oct. 31
Where: Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. Congress Parkway, Chicago
If the onset of fall has you ready to embrace All Things Holiday, then have we got the event for you! Join Jack Skellington and the residents of Halloween Town as they team up with the Chicago Philharmonic at Auditorium Theatre, complete with a costume-encouraged party in the lobby.
The PG screening (on Halloween itself!) commemorates the 25th anniversary of Director Tim Burton’s Academy Award-nominated stop-motion classic, and tells the story of Jack, rag doll Sally, a few trick-or-treaters and one kidnapped Santa Claus. Danny Elfman’s Golden Globe-nominated score will be gorgeously performed by the Chicago Philharmonic.
Who needs a pumpkin spice latte when you’ve got the Pumpkin King to herald in the season?
Art on theMART
When: Wednesdays-Sundays
Where: The Merchandise Mart, Wacker Drive, between North Wells Street and North Orleans Street, Chicago
Like you needed another reason to adore the Chicago Riverwalk: Art on theMART, a curated series of digital works across 2.5 acres of theMART’s exterior facade, will become the largest permanent digital art projection in the world. The inaugural set of works feature the craft of renowned artists Diana Thater, Zheng Chongbin, Jason Salavon and Jan Tichy.
The works take viewers to Kenyan hills to see elephants, zebras and giraffes in their native (and endangered) habitats, into the worlds of Chicago’s art and design history, and even into expanding and shrinking voids.
The projections are viewable for up to two hours per night, five nights each week (Wednesday-Sunday), 10 months of the year (March-December) and feature zero branding, sponsorship credits or messaging. (Isn’t that as refreshing as a breeze off the river?)
The American Revolution
When: Oct. 17-Nov. 11
Where: The Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago
The tale of America’s fight for independence is a gigantic one—but, according to devised physical theater company Theater Unspeakable, you only need roughly 21 feet of space to tell it. Its madcap version of ‘The American Revolution’ has only seven actors portraying everyone from George and Martha Washington to King George III back to Sam Adams and crew.
Clocking in at 50 minutes, this is definitely a quick one but—more importantly—it’s a fun one, full of tongue-in-cheek humor and whirlwind physicality to bring to life the battles from Lexington to Yorktown. (Before it rolls into town, it’ll have a stint at Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center, and will bookend the Second City with two more stops in Washington and California; you’ll definitely want to catch this one before it zooms from sea to shining sea.)
This article originally appeared in the October 2018 issue of Chicago Parent. Read the rest of the issue.
