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  • Cher’s Here We Go Again Tour

    Mama mia! Bring your loved ones to see Cher’s Here We Go Again Tour at the United Center February 8 and stay at the nearby and affordable Best Western Plus Chicago Hotel at Hillside!

    Cher and Cher alike! First there was Sonny and Cher, then there was solo Cher, then there was movie star Cher, and now she’s back on tour with Cher’s Here We Go Again Tour!

    Cher starred in three really good movies, “Moonstruck,” for which she won an Academy Award for Best Actress; “Silkwood,” the biopic; and “Mask.”

    Cher has won a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, an Academy Award, three Golden Globe Awards, a Kennedy Center Honors Award, a Cannes Film Festival Award, and a special CFDA Fashion Award, among several other honors. She has sold 100 million records worldwide to date, becoming one of the best-selling music artists in history. She is the only artist to date to have a number-one single on a Billboard chart in six consecutive decades, from the 1960s to the 2010s.

    The United Center, “the house that Jordon built,” is located at 1901 West Madison Street in Chicago. For tickets to see Cher’s Here We Go Again show, go online to https://www1.ticketmaster.com/cher-here-we-go-again-tour-chicago-illinois-02-08 2019/event/ 04005525D4349DE6?artistid=734742&majorcatid=10001&minorcatid=1&f_PPL=true&ab=efeat5787v1 and follow the prompts.

    Best Western Plus Chicago Hotel at Hillside, just up the road from the United Center’s Cher’s Here We Go Again Show, offers free shuttle service to and from O’Hare Airport in Chicago. The hotel offers affordable, comfortable rooms, a breakfast bar and restaurant and much more. The hotel is pet friendly and offers AAA rates.

  • iMagician Holiday Show

    Chicago’s Harris Theatre

    Bring the family for holiday magic to Chicago’s Harris Theatre to see Jamie Allan’s iMagician show December 12-January 6 and stay at the nearby and affordable Best Western Plus Chicago Hotel at Hillside!

     

    Direct from London’s West End! Featured on Penn & Teller’s “Fool Us”. iMagician is Britain’s #1 prime time television illusionist. A stunning show with world class high-tech illusions. Dazzling laser levitations, death-defying water chamber escapes and awe-inspiring magic. Jamie Allan’s iMagician is coming to town! His show is being described by the press as Harry Houdini meets the 21st century. He fuses magic with technology, Performing and designing incredible modern illusions with iPads, Holograms, Laser Beams, Facebook and Twitter. This is an all-ages, family friendly performance.

     

    Jamie’s recently performed his signature iPad illusion “Digital Art” to close the BBC One show live to millions of viewers, an illusion here repeated Live on “Grand Cabaret Du Monde” “BBC Breakfast” and “The Slammer’ ITVs “Alan Titchmarsh Show.” He has been seen as star mentor on ITV1 in the primetime show “Get Your Act Together” and in 2016 he has appeared as special guest star on “Michael McIntyre’s Big Show” and he is also soon to be seen on the ITV Prime Time Show “The Next Great Magician” and he is the star of the hit West End show “Impossible.”

     

    Jamie has worked alongside and designed effects for many top stars including: Sting, Tim Minchin, Katherine Jenkins, Lulu, Blue, Leona Lewis, Billy Ocean and Jools Holland.

     

    The Harris Theatre is located at 205 East Randolph Drive, on the north end of Millennium Park. For tickets and show times, go online to https://my.harristheaterchicago.org/ single/SYOS.aspx?p=8609 and follow the prompts.

     

    Best Western Plus Chicago Hotel at Hillside, just minutes away from the Jamie Allan’s iMagician show, offers free shuttle service to and from O’Hare Airport in Chicago. The hotel offers affordable, comfortable rooms, a breakfast bar and restaurant and much more. The hotel is pet friendly and offers AAA rates.

  • New Years Eve Party at Fitzgerald’s

    New Years Eve Party at Fitzgerald’s

    Bring your special someone to the New Year’s Eve blast at Fitzgerald’s Night Club in Berwyn as Expo 76 & the Total Pro Horns plus the Outcast Jazz Band hit the stage, and stay at the nearby and affordable Best Western Plus Chicago Hotel at Hillside!

     

    Expo ’76 will play a few songs, then will be joined and backed by Outcast Jazz Band, a 12-piece big band! Plus, there will be party hats, favors and champagne toast!

     

    Expo ‘76 & the Total Pro Horns will chime their way through a New Wave nugget with the same exuberance that they slap around a swinging, jazzy blues number or a folk revival sing-along. Irrepressible, unstoppable, 100% unironic, and actually quite unbelievable at times, Expo‘76 won’t take your requests, because they’re already playing them. But you can still shout them out.

     

    Outcast Jazz Band: The Outcasts emerged from the Beverly area of Chicago in the early 1980’s. Founded in the summer of ’81 by the late Gilbert “Smokey” Robinson, the original OJB (actually Gilbert’s Social Outcast Band) was comprised of ten kids ranging in ages from 13 to 17, and was put together solely for the purpose of entertaining at the St. Margaret of Scotland Summer Day Camp. Since that fateful summer so long ago, the Outcasts have been swinging their way through some of the most prestigious ballrooms and events in the Chicagoland Area.

     

    Fitzgerald’s Night Club is located at 6615 Roosevelt Road in Berwyn. For tickets to see Expo 76 & the Total Pro Horns plus the Outcast Jazz Band, go online to http://www.fitzgeraldsnightclub.com/events/view/NEW-YEAR-S-EVE-with-Expo-76-the-Total-Pro-Horns-plus-Outcast-Jazz-Band-Club and follow the prompts.

     

    Best Western Plus Chicago Hotel at Hillside, just minutes away from Fitzgerald’s Night Club, offers free shuttle service to and from O’Hare Airport in Chicago. The hotel offers affordable, comfortable rooms, a breakfast bar and restaurant and much more. The hotel is pet friendly and offers AAA rates.

  • A Dickens Carol

    Oak Park Festival Theatre’s

    Thrill the dickens out of your 10 years and up kids at the Oak Park Festival Theatre’s “A Dickens Carol” December 15-30 and stay at the nearby and affordable Best Western Plus Chicago Hotel at Hillside!

     

    Everybody knows the classic Charles Dicken’s story “A Christmas Carol.” “A Dickens Carol” is a very new take on the very old tale of Scrooge and Tiny Tim!

     

    Before Scrooge. Before Jacob Marley. Charles Dickens had his own ghosts to contend with. “A Dickens Carol” is an all-new holiday tradition that re-imagines the story of Scrooge from Dickens’ point of view and real-life events.

     

    It’s 1842 Victorian London, and Charles Dickens’ popularity is on the wane. His marriage and finances are in trouble and he has become embittered towards life itself. Yes, in a way, Dickens has become a bit of a Scrooge—a character he has yet to even create! But on a cold Christmas eve, Dickens’ fortunes take a dramatic turn when a train crash sends Dickens into the icy Kent river. There, in a sinking carriage, Dickens is visited by three Spirits who lead him on a journey through his past, present, and future. This is a journey that transforms his life and inspires him to write his most celebrated work ever. “A Dickens Carol” is not only the carol behind the most famous carol of all time. It’s an all-new twist on a family ghost story that promises to melt the heart of any Scrooge out there.

     

    The Oak Park Festival Theatre is located at 167 Forest Avenue in Oak Park. For tickets, go online to https://oakparkfestival.com/project/a-dickens-carol-2018/# and follow the prompts.

     

    Best Western Plus Chicago Hotel at Hillside, just minutes away from the Oak Park Festival Theatre’s “A Dickens Carol,” offers free shuttle service to and from O’Hare Airport in Chicago. The hotel offers affordable, comfortable rooms, a breakfast bar and restaurant and much more. The hotel is pet friendly and offers AAA rates.

  • Brookfield Zoo Holiday Magic

    Brookfield Zoo Holiday Magic

    Celebrate the Yule season at the Brookfield Zoo Holiday Magic spectacular December 1 through New Year’s Eve, and stay at the nearby and affordable Best Western Plus Chicago Hotel at Hillside!

     

    Brookfield Zoo’s Holiday Magic event is chock full of family activities. Come early to enjoy the entire zoo and stay later for the festivities, which begin at 4:00 p.m. Holiday Magic officially begins with an opening ceremony that includes switching on the lights of the 41-foot-tall Talking Tree on December 2 at 5:00 p.m.

     

    This year, Brookfield Zoo will be aglow with new light displays throughout the park. The South Mall will showcase spectacular larger-than-life animal figures featuring a bear, giraffe, and bison. Just south of The Carousel, guests can walk through a nearly 20-foot-tall lit orb—making for memorable photo opportunities. In addition, there will be searchlights illuminating the sky at Roosevelt Fountain, the Formal Pool, and the North Gate. The East Mall will twinkle from the lights on gigantic reindeer created from telephone poles that are surrounded by lit spheres. On the opposite mall, guests can view hexagon-shaped trees that “dance” to music. Finally, lining the walkways along the zoo’s four malls and around the fountain will be nearly 600 lit trees decorated with ornaments by Chicagoland communities and corporations.

     

    Each night of Holiday Magic will feature a full schedule of music and live entertainment in the Holly Jolly Theater, professional ice carving demonstrations, magic shows, costumed characters who will greet zoogoers of all ages, a model train display, and an animated video accompanied to holiday tunes that will illuminate the front of The Swamp.

     

    The Brookfield Zoo is located at 8400 31st Street in Brookfield. For tickets and more information, go online to https://www.czs.org/Brookfield-ZOO/Events/Upcoming-Events and follow the prompts. Any and all military personnel are admitted free with service ID. Regular zoo admission applies.

     

    Best Western Plus Chicago Hotel at Hillside, just minutes away from the Brookfield Zoo’s Holiday Magic spectacular, offers free shuttle service to and from O’Hare Airport in Chicago. The hotel offers affordable, comfortable rooms, a breakfast bar and restaurant and much more. The hotel is pet friendly and offers AAA rates.

  • Cirque Dreams Holidaze

    Cirque Dreams Holidaze

    Bring the family to see the fantastic “Cirque Dreams Holidaze” at the Chicago Theatre December 12-16 and stay at the nearby and affordable Best Western Plus Chicago Hotel at Hillside!

     

    “Cirque Dreams Holidaze,” from the ever popular and ever limber Cirque du Soleil, lights up the 2018 holiday season with its popular and electrifying stage spectacular The New York Daily News proclaims a “delicious confection of charm, sparkle and talent by the sleigh-load and so full of energy it could end our dependence on oil.”

     

    Broadway Director Neil Goldberg, has searched the world to assemble the most unique cast of incomparable cirque artists and theatrical talent to wow audiences nationwide. This critically-acclaimed extravaganza is a Broadway-style musical and a new Cirque adventure wrapped into the ultimate holiday gift for the entire family.

     

    Over 300 imaginative costumes, 20 world-class astonishing acts, the finest singers, original music and seasonal favorites celebrate Thanksgiving, Chanukah, Christmas and New Year’s in a two-hour breathtaking spectacle. Audiences of all ages will marvel at soaring acrobatics, gravity defying feats and extravagant theatrical production numbers the Boston Globe hails “Entrancing … Las Vegas meets family entertainment.” Experience this unique multi-million-dollar live stage production that has dazzled everywhere from the Kennedy Center, the Grand Ole Opry House and Broadway World calls “The Perfect Holiday Gift…a show that everyone will enjoy.”

     

    The Chicago Theatre is located at 175 North Sate Street in the heart of the Loop. For tickets to see “Cirque Dreams Holidaze,” go online to https://www1.ticketmaster.com/cirque-dreams-holidaze/event/070054EBC8F143A and follow the prompts.

     

    Best Western Plus Chicago Hotel at Hillside, just minutes away from the “Cirque Dreams Holidaze spectacular at the Chicago Theatre, offers free shuttle service to and from O’Hare Airport in Chicago. The hotel offers affordable, comfortable rooms, a breakfast bar and restaurant and much more. The hotel is pet friendly and offers AAA rates.

  • Michelle Obama Book Tour United Center

    Chicago’s United Center

    Bring the family to see BECOMING: An Intimate Conversation with Michelle Obama November 13 at Chicago’s United Center and stay at the nearby and affordable Best Western Plus Chicago Hotel at Hillside!

     

    BECOMING: An Intimate Conversation with Michelle Obama is a speaking tour to promote Obama’s new book, “Becoming.” Attendees will hear firsthand Mrs. Obama’s intimate reflections on the experiences and events, both public and private, that have shaped her, from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her years spent at the most famous address in the world.

     

    Michelle Obama has emerged as one of the most iconic and compelling women of our era. As First Lady of the United States of America – the first African-American to serve in that role – she helped create the most welcoming and inclusive White House in history, while also establishing herself as a powerful advocate for women and girls in the U.S. and around the world. In candidly recounting moments from her own extraordinary journey, Mrs. Obama will also share life lessons learned and inspire people to become the very best version of themselves.

     

    Michelle Obama is a lawyer, university administrator, and writer who served as the First Lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017. She is married to the 44th U.S. President, Barack Obama, and was the first African-American First Lady. Raised on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, Obama is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School.

     

    The United Center, “the house that Jordon built,” is located at 1901 West Madison Street in Chicago. For tickets to see BECOMING: An Intimate Conversation with Michelle Obama, go online to https://www.eventticketscenter.com/a-conversation-with-michelle-obama-chicago-11-13-2018/3704004/t and follow the prompts.

     

    Make your family’s BECOMING: An Intimate Conversation with Michelle Obama experience even more enjoyable by staying at the Best Western Plus Chicago Hotel at Hillside. The hotel offers free shuttle bus service to and from the Loop area and is close to bus and train services. Enjoy the free breakfast. AND Jazz and seafood buffet (non-seafood items available) Friday nights.

  • Illumination Light Show Morton Arboretum

    Illumination Light Show Morton Arboretum

    Bring the nature lovers in your family to experience Illumination at beautiful Morton Arboretum, a holiday-themed light and sound show, November 16 through January 1, and stay at the nearby and affordable Best Western Plus Chicago Hotel at Hillside!

     

    Morton Arboretum’s Illumination is a chilly delight of light, sound and sights display. The illumination walk is a mile in length through fifty acres of trees bathed in theatrical LED lighting, with vivid colors of electric blue, hot pink and neon green!

     

    Along your walk, you will delight in programmed sound and video, with the aim of making you think about trees in a new way. Hikers can interact with trees that respond to voice or touch! Enjoy the dazzling light effects on Meadow Lake and Ornament Hill, recordings from the world renown Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Woods! Or sing to the trees and watch LED lights cascade from the treetops to the forest floor.

     

    This year offers new twists on favorite experiences and surprising new sights, including art from HYBYCOZO–amazing new treelike sculptures that spread intricate designs of light. Hug a tree to see how it responds, let star-like lights wash over you in a grove of trees, and watch multicolored lights dance to symphonic music. Enjoy the main path full of hands-on, everchanging fun for all, or stroll a more tranquil trail for another view. Chrystal Promenade will feature twenty-four chandeliers of various sizes lighting the trees. Season’s Greetings affords hikers the opportunity to control; the movements of projected images with hemlock trees as “screens.”

     

    Morton Arboretum is located at 4100 Illinois Route 53 in Lisle. For tickets and more information, call (630) 968-0074, or go online to www.mortonarb.org. Reservations are required and specific to particular nights and times. Closed Mondays, Christmas Eve and Day, and Thanksgiving.

     

    Best Western Plus Chicago Hotel at Hillside, just minutes away from the Morton Arboretum, offers free shuttle service to and from O’Hare Airport in Chicago. The hotel offers affordable, comfortable rooms, a breakfast bar and restaurant and much more. The hotel is pet friendly and offers AAA rates.

  • “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” Musical

    Chicago Theatre

    Bring the family to see the musical version of “Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas” at the Chicago Theatre November 16-25, and stay at the nearby and affordable Best Western Inn & Suites in historic Hyde Park!

     

    More than two million audience members have already discovered the magic of “Dr. Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical.” Featuring the hit songs “You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch” and “Welcome Christmas,” the Grinch discovers there’s more to Christmas than he bargained for in this heart-warming holiday musical that The New York Times hails as “100 times better than any bedtime story.”

     

    In this live-action adaptation of the beloved children’s tale by Dr. Seuss, the reclusive green Grinch decides to ruin Christmas for the cheery citizens of Whoville. Reluctantly joined by his hapless dog, Max, the Grinch comes down from his mountaintop home and sneaks into town to swipe everything holiday-related from the Whos. However, the bitter grump finds a hitch in his plans when he encounters the endearing Cindy Lou Who. Max the Dog narrates as the mean and scheming Grinch, whose heart is “two sizes too small,” decides to steal Christmas away from the holiday-loving Whos.

     

    “Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical” features magnificent sets designed by John Lee Beatty and costumes designed by Robert Morgan that are inspired by Dr. Seuss’ original book.

     

    The Chicago Theatre is located at 175 North Sate Street in the heart of the Loop. For tickets and showtimes, go online to https://chicagoticketoffice.com/chicagotheatre/Tickets-Active.php?eventID=2715177&venueID=330 and follow the prompts.

     

    Best Western Plus Chicago Hotel at Hillside, just minutes away from the Chicago Theatre and “Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical,” offers free shuttle service to and from O’Hare Airport in Chicago. The hotel offers affordable, comfortable rooms, a breakfast bar and restaurant and much more. The hotel is pet friendly and offers AAA rates.

  • Rachel Drew & the Bitter Roots with Special Guests

    Fitzgerald’s Night Club

    Bring a loved one to see Rachel Drew & the Bitter Roots with Electric Dirt and Kathy Greenholdt at the fabulous Fitzgerald’s Night Club in Berwyn November 1 and stay at the nearby and affordable Best Western Plus Chicago Hotel at Hillside!

     

    Americana band Rachel Drew & the Bitter Roots, features soulful vocals, Alton Smith on piano, Gerald Dowd on drums, Dave Nelson on guitar, and John Abbey on bass. The band, and Rachel Drew’s songs, evoke mid-’60s R&B, early-’70s Ronstadt, Roy Orbison, and classic country. Whether inspired by dreams, family, or heartbreak, her songs have a haunted, aching quality. Rachel also performs with Tony Richards, Peter Joly Group, Phil Angotti, and more.

     

    ELECTRIC DIRT: Electric Dirt is a 4-pc. Band dedicated to playing the music of the late, great drummer/singer/mandolinist/ songwriter Levon Helm. From his ground-breaking work with The Band, to his Grammy-winning solo records, to the work he did with Bob Dylan and Neil Young among others, anything in which Levon had his hands is fair game. Electric Dirt is John Abbey (bass, vocals), Gerald Dowd (drums, vocals), Dave Nelson (guitars, vocals), and Scott Stevenson (keys, vocals).

     

    Chicago singer-songwriter Kathy Greenholdt’s songs deal with human desires, spiritual questions, and the natural world in brightly dark folk-rock. In 2002, at age 38, Kathy learned to play guitar and wrote her first song. Since then, she has recorded seven collections featuring her original music. Richard Milne said about the album “When You’re Dead” that Kathy has, “the ability to create music of a powerful nature—deceptively powerful.” And, “her voice is unlike any I’ve ever heard.” The latest album, “Halos Are History,” was released at a sold-out concert in Chicago and includes a companion Web-based project.

     

    Fitzgerald’s Night Club is located at 6615 Roosevelt Road in Berwyn. For tickets, go online to https://www.ticketweb.com/venue/fitzgerald-s-berwyn-il/32814?pl= and follow the prompts.

     

    Best Western Plus Chicago Hotel at Hillside, just minutes away from Fitzgerald’s Night Club, offers free shuttle service to and from O’Hare Airport in Chicago. The hotel offers affordable, comfortable rooms, a breakfast bar and restaurant and much more. The hotel is pet friendly and offers AAA rates.