My friend surprised me with tickets to see Ruthless! at the Citadel Theatre, and I didn't even know…read morethis hidden gem existed! There was ample parking when we arrived, and the entrance to the theatre was clearly marked. We were immediately greeted by a gentleman at the ticket counter who was absolutely wonderful. I wish I had remembered his name--he was so warm and welcoming and made us feel genuinely happy to be there. The seats were very comfortable, and I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of legroom. I really appreciated not feeling cramped, as I often do in many other theatres. The live music, lighting, sound, acting, and singing were all top-notch. I was incredibly impressed by my experience here and can't wait to return for another show!

We have been patrons of the Citadel Theatre for a couple of years now and their shows never…read moredisappoint! As a patron of the arts, I am privileged enough to see a variety of shows in a variety of spaces and the Citadel is one that I can say is consistently great and offers a variety of shows at very reasonable prices. The theatre space is not huge, but for me, that means there is never a bad seat in the house! They have a reasonably priced concession stand and have a wonderful staff in the lobby that is always friendly and helpful. Bonus points for them always have little touches that reflect the current show--for example, today's show revolved around college admissions and there were all of these college pennants adorning the walls. There are clean bathrooms, an accessible bathroom, and there is plenty of parking. The seats are comfortable, well-spaced, and the sound system is great. My grandmother is a little hard of hearing and she can hear most everything the actors have to say! I always look forward to my evenings planned at the Citadel Theatre!

I love Genesee Theater!…read more This smaller vintage theater has charm and elegance inside and out. The large chandeliers are gorgeous. The staff scanning tickets and the ushers are warm and welcoming. They were very helpful. All seats offer a great view. The first two rows cause you to loop up at the stage so I would recommend at least a few isles back. The shows they offer are diverse and plentiful. The more popular shows create a bit of traffic. There is street parking and a nearby parking garage.

Still Enjoying the Genesee Theatre First of all, we…read moreabsolutely love seeing concerts at the Genesee. It's a smaller, intimate venue where there really isn't a bad seat in the house. Parking couldn't be easier -- affordable parking is located literally about 50 feet from the entrance and it's only $10, which makes the whole experience even better. We paid under $100 for two Orchestra Row T seats, and since our row was empty, we moved to the middle for a better view. The show featured a full orchestra, lead singer David Jacobson, and two female vocalists. The first half highlighted Neil's softer songs, while the second half brought the energy with his bigger hits. For the price, it was a fun and enjoyable evening. We now attend at least 3 -4 events per year here!

Chicago culture, Lake County price I went to hear the Lake…read moreForest Symphony Sunday afternoon at the College of Lake County James Lumber Center. It was my second time. The energetic young conductor gets wonderful music from the talented, professional musicians. There are special sound baffles set around the stage to provide excellent sound quality. The seats are comfortable in the large theater, and parking was free and closer than most other local venues. I love hearing the lecture (in another room) before the performance. Did you know Vivaldi was a priest? And that there are chattering teeth and a dog barking in Vivaldi's familiar Four Seasons?! These tidbits helped expand my enjoyment of the performance. AND there are even cheese, wine and crackers afterward! This would be a great "date night" especially when followed by a meal at Lovely Thai across the street. Tickets for the pre-concert lecture, concert, and reception afterward start at just $15!!! Hard to beat the value. Perfect for any music lover. I will certainly be back.

From the owner: Symphonic and concert musicread more

I wasn't aware this place existed, as it's a bit out of my usual distance for going to events. But…read moreI saw an instagram ad for Michael Cavanaugh and couldn't pass up the opportunity to see him (Movin' Out is one of my favorite Broadway shows). The location is very convenient to the Metra, and there's free parking in the lot for the building, which is always appreciated. The venue itself is nice -- intimate and a community-based feeling (there was a community band of some sort rehearsing in a room outside the theater when I left, which is charming). The theater itself isn't elaborate, but it's a nice space. It's great for this type of event. The show itself was great -- he's a fantastic performer, and I loved the set list and how interactive he tried to be with the audience (more on that later). I also loved that I was able to get a discounted seat because I bought a single seat in between seats that had already sold, so it was half price. (I don't know if they always do this, or if it was just because there were still quite a few seats left at the time I bought my ticket 2 weeks beforehand. Regardless, my frugal self appreciated it. I wish more places did that.). There were a few times during the show that the house lights randomly came on during a song, and it didn't seem like it was intentional. Maybe it was the light board operator hitting the wrong thing, or maybe a house manager bumped a switch. It was a little odd though and it happened a few times, which kind of took me out of the performance and made me think something was going on. But oh man, the crowd itself was an interesting experience from a people-watching perspective. It must be a Lake Forest thing? 96% of the audience seemed to think they were in the waiting room of a dentist office waiting for a root canal, and about 1% of the audience thought they were at Coachella (including the three 55-65 year old women next to me, who I'm pretty sure were drinking vodka out of a water bottle because they were getting progressively more wasted during the show despite only drinking from a clear water bottle lol. No judgement. We've all been there...I just haven't been there since I was 21 and trying to sneak my own alcohol into a street festival because I was cheap and not going to pay for overpriced drinks. But hey, you do you. YOLO!). The other 3% were like myself and wanted to get into it, but because everyone else seemed like they were afraid to move, we were holding back (because we didn't want to be "those people", like the ladies next to me...although honestly they seemed like they had a GREAT time, by the way they were grooving and had their hands up in the air even though not another soul in the theater did lol. I can only hope I'm that carefree when I grow up. I'm certainly not at this stage in my life). I almost feel bad for Michael, because I assume he wanted the audience to be a bit more into it than they were. He asked people to clap along a few times and he would start it and then as soon as he put his hands back on the piano to play, people stopped clapping (then he would start clapping again to try to get people going, and they would until he went back to playing. My dudes....he wanted you to clap along to the beat during the song. That's literally how that song works). I tried to keep it going but it was awkward (and bless the people next to me...they tried to clap but the alcohol was definitely impacting their ability to find and stay on the beat. I was fighting a losing battle trying to guide them haha). Also, the crowd here could stand to learn a few things about technology to avoid annoying everyone around them. Obviously people are going to take videos and photos, which is fine. I did too. But it seems like no one knew to turn down their screen brightness in a dark theater so you don't blind the people around you. It was super distracting and headache-inducing to see super bright phone screens out of the corner of my eye every few minutes (maybe it was just the section where I was seated). It would be nice if the ushers or house manager could've said something to folks or reminded people at the beginning not to let their phones be distractions. I was a house manager out in the western suburbs for a similarly sized theater while I was in grad school, and I worked at a theater that held concerts like this in high school, so I've worked at (and attended) hundreds of concerts just like this. This was definitely the strangest experience of an audience I've ever encountered. Apparently this is par for the course, though, because I made an IG story post describing my people observations during intermission and my friend asked me if I was at Gorton Center...I asked her how she knew and she said it was because of the audience description I gave lol. I'd go back and I'm glad I went. I'd just need to prepare myself so I'm not so jarred by the bizarre audience vibes.

Great community center! I had an office here for about 10 years and ran a non profit and watched…read morethe center grow from well appointed but not fully utilized community center into a bustling hub of classes, shows, private events, parties for the town. Rents are reasonable for private events. Shows are very reasonably priced. Classes are well attended.

We visited the Improv Playhouse as a part of Mom's Night Out. Most of us had no clue what to expect…read moreand were surprised to arrive for our showtime and realize we were the only 5 people who would be in the audience. We all had a good laugh about this (both the performers and our group) and our group quietly hoped that the performance would actually be funny as there wasn't a huge crowd to buffer with. All of that to say, we were absolutely delighted by the show. The group of performers that evening were wonderful and truly funny. You could see their connection, adaptability and ability to think on their feet. It truly was an enjoyable experience at the Improv and we were happy to have gone. They have snacks and drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) available for purchase (cash only) which was a nice offering as well.

Total scam! Not as advertised! Not worth the money! Child was very disappointed! It is NOT about…read morekids, education, or theater! ALL IT IS ABOUT PROFIT. They put 50 kids in a gym with counselors that are not of legal age themselves (14 year old children). No structure! Chaos! Selling junk food to kids. My daughter was there the first day and it will be her last time at Improv Playhouse. Our 12 year old daughter wanted to take an acting summer camp. We called Improv Playhouse, a lady explained that our daughter should register for a version of the camp called showstopper, which is intended for 4th-9th grade instead of broadway bound which is intended for 1st-3rd grade. The lady suggested that we read more about their programs. We went on the website and found the Improve Playhouse channel on YouTube. We watched the video Improv Moana Camp (Link provided), which featured a group of about fifteen 4th-9th grade children taking acting classes and putting on a Moana Production. We read the mission statement. My daughter liked it, and said that is what she wanted. The camp was $755 for 10 days (two weeks), ran at the middle school. We thought we did our homework. We were expecting 4th-9th graders, groups of about 15-20 children, and acting activities. On the first day of camp, as we are walking in, all kids walking in are kindergarten through third grade. My daughter got nervous and said all kids are little. I told her that they probably have multiple camps running. Greeting the children were very young counselors. Most counselors were 14 year olds from the same middle school. They brought all the kids into a gym where they remained the entire day (9:00 am - 3:00 pm). There were about 50 children. They did not separate the children by age, there were no acting classes/activities, kids were not even taken to the cafeteria to eat lunch, but had to eat lunch on a dusty gym floor. There were no chairs, kids had to sit on the floor the entire day. They were selling junk food and candy to children at lunch. When my wife picked up my daughter, she was very disappointed and said It was very chaotic, unstructured, and a waste of time. She said it felt like the park district camp and is not what she was expecting and what we saw on the improv playhouse channel. Right away my wife asked if we can cancel the rest of the camp and asked to talk to someone in charge. Counselors went to get someone. When my wife explained that the camp was not what my daughter expected and we would like to cancel it, Mr. James said we can but we need to email the office. My wife emailed the office right away (administrative manager, Rachel Kwiecinski), but Mrs. Kwiecinski replied that there will not be refunds given. My wife called her and explained what was going on and asked her to refund the money, but to be prorated. Mrs. Kwiecinski said she will have to talk to the bookkeeping and will try to get a prorated refund. A couple of minutes later, the Creative Director of Youth Programming, Miss O'Leary called and said that there are no refunds. My wife asked her again very nicely to double check, and that it was not what was advertised and it was not for the age group that I paid for. Later that evening, the owner David Stewar emailed my wife saying they are an accredited organization and refunds will not be given, he also accused my wife of being disrespectful. My wife was very respectful to everyone she talked to, did not raise her voice or said anything disrespectful. My wife did not even ask for the full refund, which we should totally get because it was not what was advertised. In addition, he said that the video was from a local community house even though it was on their channel and suggested by their staff. According to his email "That video was from a small Highland Park workshop held years ago at a local community house, an entirely different format, group size, and production model. Our current camp format is a full-scale 10-day performance experience." Honestly, I am not totally sure what the difference is.

My daughter had been auditioning studios for weeks, much to my dismay. None of them seemed to…read moregive her that special feeling that makes dancers light up. Until we got to Jenny's... She was able to try a class full of girls her age. We got a tour of the studios and examined the awesome (she said that) outfits that were hanging. The hip hop teacher was cool enough to make her feel swaggy (also not my word) but nice and supportive. As a mom, I loved the 'no pressure' feel of the trial and was able to discuss prices at my leisure. She even worked out a payment plan so I wasn't hammered with fees and costumes and tuitions all at once. My eternal dancer leapt into the car and exclaimed that she wanted to go here and it was perfect. I don't know about perfect but making her feel that way is perfect to me! ~Dance Mom 4 Life~

The best thing we ever did with our son Xander. He's performing now and studying music business and…read moreaudio engineering in college.

They have offered virtual lessons for my son during COVID. We absolutely love it! We thought it…read morewouldn't be the same as in person but I feel like it gives my son even more confidence. Hopefully he'll have the nerves out when he starts in person. They always respond quickly to emails and voicemails. I can't say enough good things about this place. They clearly care about the families as a whole!

This isn't a fancy high-tech movie theater but the prices are great, seating is plentiful and…read moreconcessions are affordable. This is not open to the public and is located on the base at Great Lakes.

My new favorite pizza place in the north shore! Pizza is incredible! Not your American (neither NY…read morenor Chicago) type of pizza. Not greasy, the 30-days fermented dough hold up, light airy and crispy texture. Fresh ingredients toppings they don't skim on kids pizza either! Great wine by the glass menu and love the wine shop concept for some wine shopping afterward. Wine and pizza, what's not to like!

- On a trip to Milwaukee from Chicago, I stopped by for a late dinner, and I'm so glad I did. The…read morephotos I saw online immediately made me crave pizza (which doesn't happen often)--and there were no regrets! - We went with the Margarita pizza our way, with an Italian sausage add-on. It was delicious--crispy crust, fresh ingredients, and perfectly balanced flavors. - The restaurant is in a quaint little town, quiet yet lively for the time of the night. The space is cozy and well-kept, and the walls are lined with an impressive collection of wine (wish I could've sampled a few!). The staff was super friendly and attentive to me and other patrons. Overall, it's a great spot for a relaxed and satisfying meal.