“Cats” and “Les Miserables” have both returned to Chicago this summer, and “West Side Story” is in the throes of a renaissance. Here are some brief impressions about all three musicals as experienced in their recent incarnations.

This weekend is the 14th annual Pitchfork Music Festival – a homegrown stage for adventurous music from around the world, including Chicago. We visit a pair of young local artists as they prepare for their Pitchfork debut.

Earlier this month, we took you on a tour of a distillery that produces Malort, the Chicago-born liquor that inspires devotion – and disgust. This week, we pour out a hefty helping of the stuff and stick it in the fryer.

A new documentary from Chicago’s Kartemquin Films revisits an extreme weather event that killed more than 700 people – most of them poor and black. We discuss “Cooked: Survival by Zip Code” with producer Fenell Doremus.

A youth basketball league from the 1940s and ‘50s is a reminder of Japanese American internment during World War II. Geoffrey Baer has that story and more in this edition of Ask Geoffrey.

A bold plan to get hundreds of people into the Chicago River for a 2.4-mile swim remains docked for a year or so after organizers struggled to secure permits and coordinate with a number of city agencies.

Colorful sidewalks, a massive music fest, Mexican fare and a moon bash usher in the weekend. Here are 10 things to do in and around Chicago.

Apple and Google are rolling out dozens of new emoji that of course include cute critters, but also expand the number of images of human diversity.

There’s a parade of new shows on stage in Chicago. Theater critic Hedy Weiss recommends her current favorites.

The Chicago Park District teams up with a local organization to offer youth skateboarding camps and clinics at skate parks across the city. We “drop in” for a look at Go Grind.

Steppenwolf’s fabled 1982 production of Sam Shepard’s darkly comic tale is a foundational part of Chicago theater history. And now, two of the company’s “next generation” of actors are bringing their own high-octane intensity to the play.

Bungalows have served Chicago families for a hundred years. Could this new design by Greg Tamborino be the bungalow of the future? Blair Kamin weighs in.

A Chicago walking tour enters its final season of investigating the city’s corrupt past – and present. Local journalist Paul Dailing, who started the tour in 2016, join us in discussion.

With its volcanic staging of Jonathan Caren’s intensely physical play, Windy City Playhouse has carved out a unique niche for itself in Chicago with a style dubbed “immersive theater.” 

It’s a brave new world out there, and one fast-growing career is that of “social media influencer.” We talk with three Chicago-based influencers to find out just what they do.

The 1930s were a defining decade for the U.S. At the Chicago History Museum, a new exhibit explores part of that era’s history you might not think of: fashion.