Things to do in Chicago today

Each month, Chicago Loop Alliance throws a party in an unexpected location downtown with the help of local artists and DJs. Guests can RSVP to receive a free drink when they arrive and enjoy an evening of music, art and entertainment. In August, the party moves to Garland Court and Lake Street, where Party Noire curates an evening of entertainment called "A.K.A. Power House." Visitors can check out live graffiti, DJs, a drag performance, an old-school dance floor and more interactive installations.

All ages and skill levels are welcome at this annual event series that will allow you to practice your jives, twirls and jumps. The dancing breaks out Thursday through Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons in the Spirit of Music Garden in Grant Park, where a professional instructor gives dance lessons (with genres ranging from Swing to Argentine Tango) for the first hour before allowing participants to cut a rug with the accompaniment of a live band. You'll also find SummerDance lessons at Buckingham Fountain during Taste of Chicago and one-off events in parks throughout the city. The series culminates with a day of dancing and performances in Millennium Park on August 25. See the complete details of the SummerDance series here.

Come for the fried festival fare, stay for the Butter Cow—the fair's unofficial icon and Paula Deen's life-long dream, a life-size cow sculpture made of 500 pounds of butter. The annual State Fair features carnival rides, auto races, livestock competitions and (separately ticketed) concerts from the likes of Ludacris, 311, Foreigner and more. Really, there's no better excuse to make the trip to our state's capital.

Named after the style of chair that is found on improv comedy stages throughout the city, iO Theater's 10-day fest celebrates improv, sketch and experimental comedy, with headlining performances from Jet Eveleth and Scott Adsit, local podcast Hello From the Magic Tavern, the writers behind Clickhole and Comedy Central's Jordan Klepper.

Berlin has Thursday nights on lock like NBC in the ’90s. This fab long-running weekly brings many flavors, many styles, from disco to house to new-wave. Check the calendar to find out what’s happening this week, with parties ranging from the the women- and nonbinary-focused Rosebud to queer-fashion showcase IT Presents.

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

In 1989, acclaimed artist Keith Haring came to Chicago to create a gigantic 488-foot-long mural in collaboration with 500 Chicago Public School students. After remaining on display at Midway Airport for several years, 36 panels of the mural will return to the Loop, going on display alongside a selection of Haring's photographs, correspondence, designs and his now-iconic drawings.

This 1989 British creation, perhaps one of the first in the now inescapable wave of pop-star jukebox biographies on stage, offers a starkly mechanical retelling of events in Buddy Holly’s brief career. Don’t expect to learn much of anything about the inner life or influences of the bespectacled young Texan who cranked out an astonishing string of hits like “Peggy Sue” and “That’ll Be the Day” before he was killed at age 22 in the plane crash that also took the lives of Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper. Despite its title, Buddy—The Buddy Holly Story isn’t much interested in story—just the songs. Both acts, as arranged by writer Alan Janes, culminate in extended mini-concerts—the first depicting Holly and his bandmates in the Crickets making their debut at Harlem’s Apollo Theater, and the second the Clear Lake, Iowa show with Valens and the Big Bopper on the night before the day the music died. But if you accept Buddy for what it is—a tribute-band concert with occasional book scenes and less depth than a Wikipedia entry—then Lili-Anne Brown’s production for American Blues Theater is as enjoyable as it could get. Brown’s cast is stacked with supremely talented actor-musicians (among them Alex Goodrich, Liz Chidester, Derek Hasenstab, Shaun Whitley, Kieran McCabe and music director Michael Mahler) who are more than capable of carrying out this hit parade. And as the man behind the glasses, Zachary Stevenson is vocally spot-on and thoroughly charming. Though new to Chicago—thi

Kids become the captain of their own ship (figuratively speaking, of course) at this exhibit, which includes a two-level boat complete with a bunk and kitchen plus an interactive bait shop. Little explorers will be able to explore the ship, drop a fishing line, try on life vests, secure a rig and so much more. 

Each month, Chicago Loop Alliance throws a party in an unexpected location downtown with the help of local artists and DJs. Guests can RSVP to receive a free drink when they arrive and enjoy an evening of music, art and entertainment. In August, the party moves to Garland Court and Lake Street, where Party Noire curates an evening of entertainment called "A.K.A. Power House." Visitors can check out live graffiti, DJs, a drag performance, an old-school dance floor and more interactive installations.

All ages and skill levels are welcome at this annual event series that will allow you to practice your jives, twirls and jumps. The dancing breaks out Thursday through Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons in the Spirit of Music Garden in Grant Park, where a professional instructor gives dance lessons (with genres ranging from Swing to Argentine Tango) for the first hour before allowing participants to cut a rug with the accompaniment of a live band. You'll also find SummerDance lessons at Buckingham Fountain during Taste of Chicago and one-off events in parks throughout the city. The series culminates with a day of dancing and performances in Millennium Park on August 25. See the complete details of the SummerDance series here.

Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s outdoor production touring to 18 different city parks this summer is the Bard’s romantic comedy of lovers, faeries and mechanicals. CST artistic director Barbara Gaines directs her own 75-minute abridgement.

In 1989, acclaimed artist Keith Haring came to Chicago to create a gigantic 488-foot-long mural in collaboration with 500 Chicago Public School students. After remaining on display at Midway Airport for several years, 36 panels of the mural will return to the Loop, going on display alongside a selection of Haring's photographs, correspondence, designs and his now-iconic drawings.