Things to do in Chicago today
The day's best things to do in Chicago—including free and cheap activities, concerts, screenings, shows, parties and more. It's your social emergency savior.
Looking for something to do this evening? Have a friend coming into town who wants to see the sights? You're in luck, because Chicago is a city filled with attractions and things to do (including some that cost absolutely nothing). Seize the moment with our list of today's best concerts, shows, activities and more.
Independent Bookstore Day
Celebrate independent bookstores throughout Chicagoland by exploring the many wonderful businesses that keep great books flowing throughout the city. This year, customers can participate in the #ChiLovesBooks challenge by making a $25 purchase at a participating store in order to obtain a passport. Visit nine more indie bookstores throughout the day and you'll earn 10% off at participating shops for an entire year (if you make it to 15 stores on April 27, you'll get 15% off for an enitre year. Take a look at the complete list of participating bookstores below and start making a reading list. 57th Street BooksAbraham Lincoln Book Shop, Inc.Anderson's Bookshop (Naperville, Lagrange and Downers Grove)Book Bin NorthbrookThe Book CellarThe Book StallThe Book TableBookends & BeginningsBookie's (Chicago and Homewood)Centuries & Sleuths BookstoreCity Lit BooksThe Dial BookshopLake Forest Book StoreOpen Books (Pilsen and West Loop)Pilsen Community BooksPowell's Books ChicagoQuimby's BookstoreRead It & EatRoscoeBooksRosenberg Bookshop at the Newberry LibrarySandmeyer's BookstoreThe Seminary Co-op BookstoresVolumes BookcafeWicker Park Secret Agent Supply Co.Women & Children First Bookstore
Neko Case + Shannon Shaw
In the decades since she recorded her first solo EP in the kitchen of her Chicago apartment, Neko Case has established herself as a formidable country and rock troubadour (and an integral part of Canadian indie rock super group the New Pornographers). Co-produced with Björn Yttling of Peter Bjorn and John, Case's latest album, Hell-On, plays to all of her strengths, filled with folk-rock ballads that showcase Case's powerful voice and her reliably dark sense of humor. During Case's two-night stand at the Vic, Shannon Shaw of Shannon and the Clams supports.
Art on theMART
Five nights a week, a 25-story-tall video installation takes over the side of the Merchandise Mart, filling the building's historic facade with vibrant colors and moving images. Harnessing 34 digital projectors, the show features work by a rotating lineup of artists and is best viewed from Wacker Drive or the Riverwalk, between Wells and Orleans Streets. Art on theMART lights up the night Wednesday through Sunday, with projections beginning approximately 15 minutes after sunset.
Hamilton
Let’s not mince words, since we’ve already spilled so many of them: Hamilton, writer-composer-lyricist Lin-Manuel Miranda’s biography of Alexander Hamilton as refracted through a hip-hop, pop and R&B lens, is a sprawling, stunning, singular achievement. By filtering the story of the American Experiment’s beginning into modern, meticulously rhymed vernacular and populating the stage with performers of color to play the likes of Hamilton, Washington, Jefferson and Madison, Miranda and his regular collaborators (director Thomas Kail, music supervisor Alex Lacamoire and choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler) make the founding fathers feel fresh and, miraculously, human. RECOMMENDED: Our complete guide to Hamilton Chicago Weeks out from the country’s naming its 45th president, Hamilton’s new Chicago company arrives to remind us our democracy has always been messy, political, personal, and worth fighting for. Kail and Blankenbuehler fill designer David Korins’s spare set—which suggests that, like the country, it’s still under construction—with movement as thrilling and dense as Miranda’s lyrics. (The few moments of stillness are also used to great counter effect.) The nearly all-new Chicago cast (ensemble member Emmy Raver-Lampman is the sole transfer) easily lives up to the originals while finding their own new moments and shades. Miguel Cervantes is a rather more grounded Hamilton than the more frenetic Miranda, who originated the role, but Cervantes conveys the man’s vital, fatal
Independent Bookstore Day
Celebrate independent bookstores throughout Chicagoland by exploring the many wonderful businesses that keep great books flowing throughout the city. This year, customers can participate in the #ChiLovesBooks challenge by making a $25 purchase at a participating store in order to obtain a passport. Visit nine more indie bookstores throughout the day and you'll earn 10% off at participating shops for an entire year (if you make it to 15 stores on April 27, you'll get 15% off for an enitre year. Take a look at the complete list of participating bookstores below and start making a reading list. 57th Street BooksAbraham Lincoln Book Shop, Inc.Anderson's Bookshop (Naperville, Lagrange and Downers Grove)Book Bin NorthbrookThe Book CellarThe Book StallThe Book TableBookends & BeginningsBookie's (Chicago and Homewood)Centuries & Sleuths BookstoreCity Lit BooksThe Dial BookshopLake Forest Book StoreOpen Books (Pilsen and West Loop)Pilsen Community BooksPowell's Books ChicagoQuimby's BookstoreRead It & EatRoscoeBooksRosenberg Bookshop at the Newberry LibrarySandmeyer's BookstoreThe Seminary Co-op BookstoresVolumes BookcafeWicker Park Secret Agent Supply Co.Women & Children First Bookstore
Show of Hands Chicago
Presented by local design house Orange Beautiful, this three-day event curates wares from more than 100 local vendors with unique points of view. Geometric printed pillows, quirky wooden birdhouses and stunning ceramics are among the many distinct offerings. Admission is free throughout the weekend, but a ticketed preview event on Friday night allows guests to see all of the market's offerings (and they'll get a complimentary beer from Begyle or a cocktail from Jo Snow Syrups and Union Horse Distilling Co.).
Art on theMART
Five nights a week, a 25-story-tall video installation takes over the side of the Merchandise Mart, filling the building's historic facade with vibrant colors and moving images. Harnessing 34 digital projectors, the show features work by a rotating lineup of artists and is best viewed from Wacker Drive or the Riverwalk, between Wells and Orleans Streets. Art on theMART lights up the night Wednesday through Sunday, with projections beginning approximately 15 minutes after sunset.
The Curse of La Llorona
Another family gets spooked in this mostly exhausted-feeling addition to the Conjuring Universe
Missing Link
Laika dumbs down a fraction with an enjoyably handcrafted family caper that misses its usual mark
Hellboy
Run and hide from this overbearing, incoherent and unnecessary reboot of the franchise
Pet Sematary
Hollywood's second attempt at Stephen King's undead pet yarn is half wild, half declawed
High Life
Robert Pattinson deepens his post-Twilight career in a viscous, arrestingly strange sci-fi drama
Apollo 11
By mining a trove of archival NASA footage, filmmaker Todd Douglas Miller relives the historic moonshot