{"id":539752,"date":"2026-01-24T15:40:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T15:40:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/539752\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T15:40:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T15:40:15","slug":"things-to-do-in-chicago-winter-2026-museums-dance-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/539752\/","title":{"rendered":"Things to do in Chicago, winter 2026: Museums, dance and more"},"content":{"rendered":"

It may be frigid outside, but museums, concert halls and movie theaters are nice and warm indoors.<\/p>\n

Among the highlights for winter entertainment are: an exhibition at the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry devoted to\u00a0the award-winning costume designer behind both \u201cWicked\u201d films, the stage version of \u201cHamnet\u201d at Chicago Shakespeare Theater and a version of the opera \u201cMadama Butterfly\u201d that\u2019s set in a video game simulation.<\/p>\n

And if you\u2019re already thinking ahead to the warm weather, we don\u2019t blame you. Here\u2019s who is coming for concerts this summer<\/a>. Plus here\u2019s our critic\u2019s picks<\/a> for club sets for early 2026.<\/p>\n

\"ReplicaReplica of Dorothy’s ruby slippers from the 1939 movie “The Wizard of Oz” on display at the “Land of Oz: Beyond the Page” exhibit at the Richard H. Driehaus Museum in Chicago on Nov. 13, 2025. (Antonio Perez\/Chicago Tribune)
\nMuseums for winter 2026: \u2018Oz,\u2019 owls and \u2018Costumes of Paul Tazewell\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Boy, do we have a winter museum roundup for you. Even as the rest of Chicago shifts into hibernation mode, our city\u2019s finest museums remain busy and open for business. Read more here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"AA mid-career survey of Firelei B\u00e1ez at the Museum of Contemporary Art includes \u201cMan Without a Country (aka anthropophagist wading in the Artibonite River),\u201d an installation of 225 collage-drawings on old book pages. (Oriol Tarridas photo)
\nArt exhibitions for winter 2026: Don\u2019t miss these 10 at the MCA, Art Institute and in Elmhurst<\/a><\/p>\n

Go see art in 2026. Can\u2019t hurt, might help, and it\u2019s absolutely better than binge-watching trash television, click-buying things no one needs, doomscrolling the apocalypse or feeling helpless in the face of fascism. Read more here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"SoSo Young An and Martha Graham Dance Company in Martha Graham\u2019s “Diversion of Angels.” (Melissa Sherwood)
\nDance for winter 2026: Our top 10 includes Joffrey, Red Clay and a visit from Martha Graham<\/a><\/p>\n

The first part of the year used to be slow for dance in Chicago. Not so, recently. And in 2026, the chilly months are teeming with rare appearances and fresh collaborations capable of inspiring a trip to the theater even in the darkest depths of winter. The Martha Graham Dance Company presents its first full evening in Chicago since 2007. As a nod to the 100th season of that revered choreographer\u2019s company, the Joffrey Ballet tries on Graham\u2019s \u201cSecular Games\u201d for its winter mixed rep \u2014 a program celebrating the blurred lines between modernism and classicism. Speaking of lines, festivals aplenty, at Steppenwolf, the Logan Center and the Harris Theater this winter and spring, dissolve perceived boundaries between genres and forms, dance and music \u2014 crafting rich and varied experiences for patrons and performers, both. Read more here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Artistic<\/p>\n

Brian Cassella \/ Chicago Tribune<\/p>\n

Artistic director Robert Falls at the Goodman Theater on Sept. 13, 2021.
\nTheater for winter 2026: \u2018Hamnet,\u2019 a local \u2018Evan Hansen\u2019 and Robert Falls returns to the Goodman<\/a><\/p>\n

A new year has dawned and Chicago\u2019s energetic new theater season will keep your winter chill away. Here\u2019s a quick look at 10 of the most intriguing shows opening between now and the end of March. Read more here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"NicoleNicole Kidman plays Kay Scarpetta in “Scarpetta.” (Connie Chornuk\/Amazon)
\nTV for winter 2026: A new \u2018Game of Thrones\u2019 spinoff, \u2018Bridgerton\u2019 returns and Nicole Kidman leads a new series<\/a><\/p>\n

The overriding theme defining television in recent years has been a fear of the new. Which is why reboots and spinoffs continue apace, with old titles brought back from the dead (\u201cScrubs\u201d) or from the not-so-distant past (\u201cThe Night Manager\u201d) and intellectual property milked within an inch of its life (somehow HBO has yet another \u201cGame of Thrones\u201d series coming our way). Read more here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"RalphRalph Fiennes stars in “28 Years Later: The Bone Collector.” (Columbia Pictures)
\nMovies for winter 2026: Post-apocalyptic thrillers, crime stories and gothic romance<\/a><\/p>\n

The bigger financial questions surrounding the long and short-term viability of the movie industry are out of our hands, which means our only job as moviegoers is to pick and choose what we want to see. So let\u2019s commit to a New Year\u2019s resolution to stop talking about movies in terms of box office. What\u2019s happening on the screen is so much more interesting anyway. Read more here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"ChicagoChicago Sinfonietta, led by music director Mei-Ann Chen and here at Symphony Center, boasts a year full of premiering works in 2026. (Terrence Antonio James\/Chicago Tribune)
\nClassical music for winter 2026: Embracing the unexpected<\/a><\/p>\n

Mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, the Chicago Symphony\u2019s artist-in-residence, returns to sing a work specially written for her and string trio Time For Three, and director-in-waiting Klaus M\u00e4kel\u00e4 bookends his East Coast CSO tour with two home-turf appearances. Meanwhile, Lyric\u2019s production of \u201cEl \u00faltimo sue\u00f1o de Frida y Diego,\u201d composed by the bountifully gifted Gabriela Lena Frank, ought to be on any art-lover\u2019s calendar \u2014 not just the opera buffs. Read more here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"TrumpetTrumpet player Pharez Whitted performs at Jazz Showcase in Chicago in 2017. His concerts there this January celebrate a new album. (Chris Sweda\/Chicago Tribune)
\nJazz for winter 2026: Concerts to heat up the cold months<\/a><\/p>\n

Everywhere from concert halls to holes-in-the-wall, these 13 shows will be portals to a happier clime in the coming weeks. And if you\u2019re still hankering for more, keep your eyes on your favorite clubs: Many have yet to announce their late winter lineups. Read more here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"BrittneyBrittney Denise Parks performs as Sudan Archives during Pitchfork Music Festival in Union Park on July 19, 2024, in Chicago. (John J. Kim\/Chicago Tribune)
\nSudan Archives and Sprints: Our top 10 club concerts for early 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

The new year means resolutions. One you might consider adding to your list: Frequenting some of the city\u2019s smaller concert venues that help Chicago thrive as a live-music mecca. Since most large-scale tours don\u2019t begin until late spring or summer, now is an ideal time to see artists who might not have household-name recognition. Read more here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It may be frigid outside, but museums, concert halls and movie theaters are nice and warm indoors. Among…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":539753,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[648,960,171,5386,1818,1370,53,5424,1148,1072,7156],"class_list":{"0":"post-539752","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-chicago","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-il","12":"tag-illinois","13":"tag-latest-headlines","14":"tag-movies","15":"tag-music-and-concerts","16":"tag-theater","17":"tag-things-to-do","18":"tag-tv-and-streaming"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115950834673849113","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=539752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539752\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/539753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=539752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=539752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=539752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}