Warm Days and Spooky Nights in Chicago

Your daily guide to what's popping in Chicago

By Raj Singh · Published October 28, 2026.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28

Omar @ Lyric Opera House

Rhiannon Giddens won a MacArthur "Genius Grant," and with co-composer Michael Abels she won a Pulitzer for this score — tonight it's on the Lyric Opera House stage. Omar draws on the real memoir of Omar ibn Said, a 19th-century Islamic scholar captured in West Africa and carried across the Atlantic into slavery, and the music follows him through it, weaving hymns, spirituals and bluegrass into what the creators call a fundamentally American story.

Director Kaneza Schaal keeps the staging spare and direct. Curtain is at 7 PM at 20 N. Wacker in the West Loop.

Taylor Tomlinson: Tries Out New Ideas @ The Den Theatre

Taylor Tomlinson is workshopping, not touring — the night is billed as Tries Out New Ideas, which means new, unpolished material being tested in the room rather than a finished hour. If you like catching jokes before they're locked in, that's the whole appeal. The listing has it at 6:30 PM at The Den Theatre on North Milwaukee.

Chicago Bulls vs. New York Knicks @ United Center

The Bulls host the New York Knicks at the United Center, a marquee early-season matchup with an Eastern Conference rival. Tip-off is 7 PM on Madison Street in the West Loop.

We the People: Beauty in Greektown @ South Halsted

Today is the rare late-October gift — clear skies and a high near 73 — so spend part of it walking Halsted. We the People: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Beauty lines South Halsted from Madison to Van Buren with 40 artworks, indoors and out, marking the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. It's the work of 27 professional and emerging artists, and it's free to wander.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29

Lecture: Mary Cassatt's Lost 1893 Mural @ Rubloff Auditorium

One of Mary Cassatt's biggest works — a mural called Modern Woman, painted for the Woman's Building at Chicago's 1893 World's Columbian Exposition — has been lost for more than a century. Curator Annelise K. Madsen spends an hour on its story: how Cassatt landed one of the earliest public mural commissions given to a woman in the United States, and what she did with it, in a modernist vocabulary of strong forms and flat, vivid color.

It's Thursday at 6 PM in Rubloff Auditorium, free with museum admission but registration is required, so reserve your spot ahead; closed captioning will be available.

The Book of Mormon @ Cadillac Palace Theatre

The Book of Mormon is in its final week at the Cadillac Palace — a limited engagement that closes Sunday, November 1. The nine-time Tony winner comes from Trey Parker and Matt Stone of South Park and Avenue Q co-creator Robert Lopez, and follows two mismatched LDS missionaries sent to a village in Uganda.

The language is explicit and the satire is pointed: it carries a strong recommendation for mature audiences, and every patron needs a ticket regardless of age. Showtime is 7 PM on Randolph in the Loop.

ON THE HORIZON

Terror in the Tropics: Midnight in Mexico @ Salon 61

For Halloween night, Three Dots and a Dash is flying in six bars from Mexico City and setting them up at Salon 61 in River North. Each pours signature cocktails, a general-admission ticket covers five drinks, and there are DJ sets all night — costumes encouraged. It's one night only, Saturday, October 31, starting at 9 PM, $99.