Karaoke isn't Cool. Karaoke is in fact, the antithesis of "Cool" if we define "Cool" as that feline quality of aloof detachment that makes you more attractive to people seeking your attentions precisely because you won't give them. Karaoke, the practice of you, an amateur, singing your heart out in a dive bar for the amusement of your fellow drunks, will never be that. It's also like my favorite thing. Because as with storefront theatre, karaoke is the practice of wearing your emotions on your sleeve and presenting your vulnerable, authentic self at your unselfconsciously cheesiest and not caring how  you look. That's why it will always be MY idea of Cool. Mike Beyer and Kirk Pynchon's play Last Night In KaraokeTown , currently being performed at the Factory Theater directed by Kim Boler recreates a karaoke dive bar experience with almost Uncanny Valley level accuracy. Shannon (Ashley Yates) slings cheap, domestic beer behind the bar while Ken...

Black Button Eyes Productions is consistently one of the most creative and fun small companies in Chicago, focusing on shows with weird and spooky subject matter. I saw their current show Whisper House  a musical by Duncan Sheik and Kyle Jarrow and I am happy to report that it is delightful . Set during World War II, Christopher, a young American boy (the adorable and promising child actor Leo Spiegel) has lost his father to combat and his mother, suicidal with grief, has been sent to a sanitarium. Christopher therefore is sent to live with his Aunt Lily, a kind but decidedly not used to children lighthouse keeper. (Kate Nawrocki) Lily is assisted by a Japanese man, Yasuhiro, (Karmann Bajuyo) who is targeted by the xenophobic sheriff. (TJ Anderson) Manipulating all of them are two creepy and malicious, but extremely fun ghosts, played by powerhouse singers Kevin Webb and Mikaela Sullivan. Their tragic backstory is that they were doomed lovers who drowned when their ship sunk due ...