15 Favorite Chicago Shows in 2015

My New Year’s resolution for 2015 was to see more theatre, and given that I went to 326 shows in 2015, I think it’s safe to say that I succeeded. On average, I went to 27 shows a month (32 in both April and July, 31 in August). 47% of shows were plays; 32% were musicals; 10% were readings; 3% were operas; 3% were concerts; and the last 5% were other kinds of shows (puppet, magic, dance, etc.).

I saw 153 plays, and although nearly all of them were separate plays, I did see the Hypocrites’ 12-hour-long Greek play festival All Our Tragic twice. I saw 104 musicals, though only 70 different shows (I tend to return to musicals). I made my first trip back to Broadway since 2006 – over two weekends, I saw nine shows, including the 2015 Best Musical Tony Award winner Fun Home and the presumptive 2016 Best Musical Tony Award winner Hamilton. And since Broadway shows like Hamilton rather skew the results, I will limit my 2015 list of favorite shows to Chicago productions.  Continue reading

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15 Favorite Dishes of 2015

I love good food almost as much as I love good theatre. Well, perhaps that’s a bit of hyperbole, but delicious food can certainly put a smile on my face. Luckily, Chicago is a terrific city for both food and theatre, which is a significant portion of the reason why I love living here.

In no particular order, these are my favorite 15 dishes of 2015:

Fried Chicken Sandwich – Frontier

Fried Chicken Sandwich - Fried Chicken Thigh, Hook's Maple Jack Cheese, Molasses Mustard, Pickled Banana Peppers, Brioche Bun ($13)

Fried Chicken Sandwich – Fried Chicken Thigh, Hook’s Maple Jack Cheese, Molasses Mustard, Pickled Banana Peppers, Brioche Bun, served with rosemary fries ($13)

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