Goldstar

In this musical version of the exploits of Mr. Toad, an amphibian obsessed with motor cars, his steadfast friends, Rat, Mole and Badger, attempt to break Toad of his terrible habit, against the background of a class struggle in the Wildwood. Featuring an eclectic score made up of rock, reggae, tin-pan alley, spirituals and a Gilbert and Sullivan send-up, The Wind in the Willows is a masterpiece for all ages. Learn more...

BackStage Theatre Company presents a dark and disturbing play by writer and actor Wallace Shawn (My Dinner with Andre). In Aunt Dan and Lemon, a reclusive young woman named Lemon recounts her seemingly ordinary life story, which becomes increasingly dominated by an eccentric family friend known as Aunt Dan. The play serves as a complex meditation on compassion and morality. Learn more...

Now at the Apollo Theater after a sold-out limited engagement, the new musical Million Dollar Quartet recaptures the memorable December 4, 1956 night when legends Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins met in Memphis for an impromptu jam session. The show is loaded with rock 'n' roll hits such as "Blue Suede Shoes," "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" and "Great Balls of Fire." Learn more...

Everyone's favorite softhearted buccaneers are back, and they're in the mood for matrimony. Join the dashing Pirate King, the bumbling Sergeant of Police and the Modern Major General for a swashbuckling holiday good time. Includes the classic songs "Poor Wand'ring One," "I Am a Pirate King," "A Policeman's Lot is Not a Happy One" and "I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General" played by a 26 piece orchestra. Learn more...

Laugh Out Loud Theater presents a night of completely improvised holiday-themed comedy. In The Ha-Ha-Holiday Show, an experienced group of improvisers will use audience suggestions to inspire short comedy scenes, holiday games, improvised carols, and more. Learn more...

The yuletide season really is the most wonderful time of the year, especially when The Flaming Dames return to spike your eggnog with their brand new holiday-themed burlesque revue, Naughtier & Nicer. This December, the Dames will fill your stockings with a combination of song and dance that would even put a smile on the face of Ebenezer Scrooge. Learn more...

Nicholas Kraemer, one of today's leading Baroque music specialists, lets the musicians of the CSO shine in a selection of 18th-century gems. He completes the concert with Strauss' elegiac Metamorphosen, an intimate work for 23 solo strings. Learn more...

Chicago Symphony Orchestra's popular Beyond the Score series explores Mahler's Fourth Symphony. One of the conductor's most irresistible works, it draws from folk songs, klezmer, military marches and many more sources. The program will begin with a live multimedia documentary, exploring the Fourth Symphony's cultural and musical context, before the CSO performs the work in its entirety. Learn more...

The Tony Award-winning Lincoln Center Theater production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific comes to the Rosemont Theatre. Set on a tropical island during World War II, the musical tells the sweeping romantic story of two couples and how their happiness is threatened by the realities of war and by their own prejudices. Learn more...

Family favorite A Christmas Carol is back at Drury Lane Oakbrook Terrace this holiday season. In Drury Lane Children's Theatre's production of this Dickens classic, an old miser has an incredible change of heart over the course of one night after being visited by ghosts from Christmas past, present and future. Learn more...

Raven Theatre presents Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. Justly revered as one of the finest plays in American history, the story of traveling salesman Willy loman and his desperate pursuit of the American Dream remains stunningly powerful and tragic today. Learn more...

Thoroughly Modern Millie is a humorous story of a young girl from Kansas who takes New York City by storm as she flaps, taps and Charlestons her way into the Roaring '20s. Millie experiences the hustle and bustle of Jazz Age Manhattan at a time when women were just entering the workforce and rewriting society's rules. It's a funny, romantic story about following dreams and falling in love. Learn more...

The Chicago Bulls host their longtime rivals, the Detroit Pistons, at the United Center. The classic NBA rivalry was rekindled this summer, when former Bulls guard Ben Gordon signed with the Pistons. The Bulls' stars include spectacular point guard and 2009 Rookie of the Year Derrick Rose. Learn more...

Chicago Shakespeare Theatre presents Richard III. The classic story of a deformed king whose nefarious schemes lead him to the throne and threaten the safety of England was Shakespeare's first great stage success, and remains wildly popular. Helen Hayes Award-winning actor Wallace Acton plays the title role. Learn more...

Amber Spa combines a peaceful and beautifully modern environment with a highly trained, friendly staff to offer the most advanced spa services available. Enjoy facials, massages, manicures, pedicures, waxing and body treatments, and more in a tranquil atmosphere with beautiful paintings and stained glass works on display. Learn more...

Watson Adventures' art-themed scavenger hunt sets teams loose in the famed Art Institute of Chicago, where competitors will have to search the museum's collection for nudity. Working in groups of up to six people, participants will have to solve a series of clues that require tracking down provocative Picassos, sultry sirens bathing beauties and a naked muscle man wrestling a lion. Learn more...

Medieval Times is an exciting, family-friendly dinner attraction inspired by an 11th century feast and tournament. Guests are served a four-course banquet and cheer for one of six knights as they compete in the joust and other tests of skill. Expect lots of jousting, swordsmanship, thrilling hand-to-hand combat, and displays of extraordinary horsemanship as part of an exciting story set in Medieval Spain. Learn more...

Two of the NBA's top point guards face off on a Saturday night, as Derrick Rose and the Chicago Bulls host Chris Paul and the New Orleans Hornets. Paul led the league in assists last season, while Rose won the Rookie of the Year award. Learn more...

Porchlight Music Theatre presents Miracle on 34th Street, a stage adaptation of the classic holiday movie. A kindly old gentleman takes a job as a department store Santa. He claims to be the genuine article, convincing a cynical divorced single mother, her somber daughter, and the entire state of New York that Santa Claus is no myth. Learn more...

Derrick Rose, Luol Deng, Joakim Noah and the Chicago Bulls host the New York Knicks at the United Center. The Bulls are led by 2009 Rookie of the Year Rose, one of the league's brightest rising stars. Mike D'Antoni's Knicks are known for their fast-paced offense. Learn more...

In an attempt to save her small-town community center during an economic crisis, a young girl tries to convince Nick Nolte via the Internet to appear in her "celebrity" benefit holiday pageant: the story of Jesus told through the music of rock band Queen. Learn more...

Chicago's oldest cemetery is the backdrop for Graceland, the story of four lonely Chicagoans -- including a brother and sister dealing with their father's suicide -- whose lives collide one August weekend while the Blue Angels airshow is in town. This world premiere comedy-drama deals with the loneliness of family, the tenderness of strangers and the unexpected benefits of bad decisions. Learn more...

Chris Bosh and the Toronto Raptors face the Chicago Bulls in NBA action. The Bulls are led by 2009 Rookie of the Year Derrick Rose and high-scoring small forward Luol Deng. Learn more...

Chicago Bluegrass & Blues Festival is an all-day celebration of music old and new from 25 bands on three stages. The show features six-time Grammy-winner Béla Fleck and his Flecktones. Also on the bill: Dr. Dog, Emmitt-Nershi Band, Eddy "The Chief" Clearwater, The Giving Tree Band and more. Learn more...

In a time of national tragedy, the world changes overnight. On September 12, 2001, Ben Harcourt finds himself in the downtown apartment of his lover, Abby Prescott. Over the course of the night, Ben and Abby explore the choices now available to them in an existence different from the one they knew just the day before. LaBute presents the brutal realities of their relationship and explores whether one can be truly opportunistic in a time of universal selflessness. Learn more...

As part of an annual holiday tradition, The Victory Gardens Theatre presents The Snow Queen. Hans Christian Andersen's beloved winter tale comes to life in a show featuring human actors alongside delightful puppetry and Michael Smith's magical, wickedly funny score. Learn more...

Lincoln Park Massage Spa invites you to a sanctuary in the city, created with your satisfaction in mind. Discover comfort, serenity and balance during a decadent 90 minute spa experience of your choice. Learn more...

The Holiday Hop is a rockin', smooth and soulful holiday to remember with great '50s and '60s chart-topping groups performing under one roof. The Coasters, The Platters and The Marvelettes lead a non-stop sing-along song list with favorites like: "The Great Pretender," "Only You," "My Girl," "Charlie Brown," "Yakety Yak," "Please Mr. Postman" and a few holiday surprises. Learn more...

Remy Bumppo Theatre Co. presents Heroes. Tom Stoppard's Olivier Award-winning translation of Gerald Sibleyras's comedy tells the funny and bittersweet story of three French World War I veterans who keep each other company on the back terrace of a retired soldiers' home, exchanging quips and plotting to escape to a grand adventure in Indochina. Learn more...

Be in the audience for a taping of the hilarious weekly news quiz from NPR and Chicago Public Radio, Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! Each week on the radio, you can test your knowledge against some of the news and entertainment world's best and brightest. Peter Sagal, Carl Kasell, and company take a fast-paced, irreverent look at the week's events. Guest panelists rotate weekly, like comedian Paula Poundstone, author Roy Blount Jr., and The Daily Show's Mo Rocca. Learn more...

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra performs at Symphony Center. Led by veteran conductor Christoph von Dohnányi, they'll play Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 12 with English pianist Paul Lewis, whose recent recording of Beethoven's sonatas was named 2008's "Best Recording of the Year" by Gramophone. The program also features Schumann's Symphony No. 2. Learn more...

The greatest "Ziggy Stardust" Christmas special that never was features singing and dancing impersonations of Mick Jagger, Annie Lennox, Iggy Pop, Marianne Faithfull, Paul Lynde, Charo and the Ghost of Freddy Mercury. But when the mysterious Bizarro Bowie appears to reveal secrets from his past, this '70s glam rock sleigh ride really gets bizarre. Learn more...

A young advertising executive reaches the breaking point and decides to disappear. He turns to an expert for a detailed lesson in the art of escape. The mission? To dispose of everything that defined his former self. How to Disappear... is an adrenaline-charged play that won the 38th Arts Council John Whiting Award for New Theatre Writing and a 2007 Peter Brook Award. Learn more...

For over a decade, Puppetry of the Penis has been making audiences laugh worldwide with unclad "puppeteers" who stretch themselves to the limit performing genital origami. The two performers move through a series of tricks, contorting themselves into shapes such as the "Hamburger" and "Loch Ness Monster." Learn more...

Based on an extraordinary true story, Calls to Blood tells the darkly comic tragedy of the perfect American couple and their seemingly impenetrable happiness even as they struggle to conceive the child they want so desperately. But in trying to find a solution to this continual failure, they unearth the one truth that can destroy everything upon which their perfect lives have been built. Learn more...

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, known around the world for its innovative, athletic repertoire by top choreographers, presents its Winter Series. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Glenn Edgerton, the program includes Off Screen by Alejandro Cerrudo, Tabula Rasa by Ohad Naharin and Walking Mad by Johan Inger. Learn more...

American Blues Theater presents a live radio-style performance of Frank Capra's holiday masterpiece on stage at the Biograph Theater. Complete with live sound effects and an original score, It's a Wonderful Life recreates a 1940s-era radio broadcast of this heartwarming tale of troubled George Bailey's Christmas Eve journey through his life history. Learn more...

The acclaimed International Gem and Jewelry Show presents the most dazzling display of gems, jewelry, beads, accessories and minerals ever seen under one roof. The huge selection, along with special show pricing direct from worldwide designers and manufacturers, make this show a must for gem enthusiasts and jewelry lovers alike. Learn more...

You Can't Take It With You follows the clash between a conservative family and the more eccentric Sycamore-Vanderhof household. Full of fast pacing and witty one-liners, the play, written by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, has entertained audiences for over 70 years. It's a classic comedy that is as fresh as ever. Learn more...

Silent Theatre Company welcomes visitors into the mysterious underground world of a traveling carnival. In the midst of fire breathers, fortune tellers, bestial tamers and natural freaks, a somber secret lies - a curse that binds them all together. With a live band and physical acts of carnival performance, this original dark fable combines the styles of Tim Burton and Edward Gorey in a thrilling and enchanting ride through a world of whimsy and the macabre. Learn more...

Step aboard the Spirit of Chicago for unparalleled lakefront cruising fun. Dine on a delicious buffet lunch or dinner, dance, enjoy Broadway-quality entertainers and catch breathtaking views of the city's historic skyline. Learn more...

Noble Fool presents a holiday-themed sequel to the musical hit Forever Plaid. Thanks to a heavenly phone call from Rosemary Clooney, the four Plaid men return to harmonize on songs from the 1930s, '40s and '50s in their own hilarious tribute to the classic Ed Sullivan Christmas Spectaculars. Learn more...

Come see the acclaimed Chicago theater mainstay Tony n' Tina's Wedding as it celebrates 15 years on stage. Be a guest at this hysterical satirical Italian-American wedding, where you won't just see a show--you'll be a part of it! Tony n' Tina's Wedding includes a pre-wedding cocktail cash bar, a ceremony full of mishaps and madcap comedy, and an evening of dinner, music and dancing. Learn more...

With buoyant music by Stephen Flaherty and a bawdy book and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens (Ragtime and Once on this Island), The Glorious Ones mixes the pratfalls of commedia dell'arte and classic American musical comedy in a show about the life of a clown troupe in 16th century Italy and how they captured the public's adoration. Learn more...

This timeless Nutcracker tale comes alive on horseback. This unique production features a dreamy young girl, a magic prince, a mysterious old man, and a cast of beautiful horses. The Nutcracker on Horseback captures the whimsy and magic of Tchaikovsky's original. Learn more...

It doesn't matter what denomination you are, anyone can enjoy Burlesque Is More, a holiday-themed version of the popular Late Night Tit Bits. Featuring acts by seven stimulating ladies, you'll get to know the girls as they tackle a problem based on a suggestion from the audience, with assistance from their ever-helpful Club Owner, Nick Divencenzo. Learn more...

While a father tries to move dope, his son tries to find his voice. Nuyorican playwright Reinaldo Povod's explosive drama, Cuba and His Teddy Bear, features a dynamic ensemble of award winning, nominated actors and exciting newcomers. Journey back to the mid 1980s and experience New York's Lower East Side like never before; a world where love, drugs, family and faith are everything. Learn more...

Written by rock journalist Mark Guarino and featuring the music and artwork of Bloodshot Records recording artist Jon Langford, this phantasmic journey into the mind of a fictional country music legend is what an episode of Howdy Doody might look like if it were directed by David Lynch. Learn more...

Factory Theater's 1985 imagines an Orwellian Chicago where disavowing oneself from team loyalty isn't easy and might just be impossible. Winston Smith is sick of losing. The major sports teams in Chicago let him down time and time again. He's done. Or is he? If the Bears win, what will be the cost? On the heels of Chicago's failed Olympic bid, 1985 examines the culture and heart of a city that demands victory, but rarely achieves it. Learn more...