Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
274
$10 for the first balcony, $13 for the second section of the main floor , and $16 for bo x
seats and the front section of the main floor.
If you can't snag tickets or if y ou visit during the opera 's off season in F ebruary and
March, you can still check out the theater b y taking a tour (
&
312/827-5685).
Civic
Opera House, at Madison St. and Wacker Dr.
&
312/332-2244.
www.lyricopera.org. Tickets $45-
$165. Subway/El: Brown Line to Washington.
Old Town School of Folk Music
Finds
All ages.
Country, folk, bluegrass, Latin,
Celtic—the Old Town School of F olk Music covers a spectr um of indigenous musical
forms. A full schedule of classes, concer ts, and special events is geared to children ages 6
months to teen years. (For more on dropping in for a class, see chapter 8.) The school is
best known as a training center offering a slate of music classes, but it also hosts everyone
from the legendary Pete Seeger to bluegrass phenom Alison Krauss. The school's home,
in a former 1930s library, is the world's largest facility dedicated to the pr eservation and
presentation of traditional and contemporar y folk music. The O ld Town School also
houses an art gallery showcasing exhibitions of works by local, national, and international
artists; a music store selling an exquisite selection of instruments, sheet music, and hard-
to-find recordings; and a cafe. The school hosts an annual Chicago F olk and Roots Fes-
tival in J uly in Wells Park at Lincoln and M ontrose, with stage per formances and an
activity-and-crafts tent for kids. H eadliners ar e name-brand per formers such as P atti
Smith. The school maintains another retail store and a schedule of children's classes at its
first location, 909 W. Armitage Ave.
4544 N. Lincoln Ave. (btw. Wilson and Montrose aves.).
&
773/728-6000.
www.oldtownschool.org. Tickets $10-$25. Subway/El: Blue Line to Western.
5
MOVIES
Chicago has its share of multiplex theaters that feature kid fare. The
AMC River East,
at
322 E. Illinois, east of Columbus D rive (
&
312/596-0333
), is Chicago's largest movie
complex and features stadium seating and digital sound in all auditoriums. O ther major
downtown cinemas include
AMC Loews 600 N. M ichigan Theaters,
at that addr ess
(
&
312/255-9340
), and
AMC Lowes Pipers Alley 4,
1608 N. Wells (
&
312/642-6890
).
One IMAX and one OMNIMAX theater surround you with sights and sounds.
Navy
Pier IMAX Theater
(www.imax.com;
&
312/595-5629
) sho ws not only traditional
10
Tips
Facets' Film Festival
Facets Multi-Media,
1517 W. Fullerton Ave. (
&
773/281-4114;
www.facets.org;
Subway/El: Red or Brown Line to Fullerton), a nonprofit group that screens inde-
pendent film and video from around the world, is for the die-hard cinematic
thrill-seeker. The group also hosts the
Chicago International Children's Film
Festival
(Oct), the largest in the U.S. The festival screens more than 200 children's
films from 40 countries—many of which you'll never see in mainstream theaters.
Some 23,000 kids, adults, educators, and celebrities attend and run filmmaking
workshops for kids. For more information about the film festival or to check out
Facets' kids' programs, including Young Chicago Critics and Take One! Workshops,
log on to
www.cicff.org
.
