Theatre 
She’s So Unusual
Call it a comeback: The 1980s siren Cyndi Lauper ventures into the Broadway biz with the new musical Kinky Boots
Performance 
Prime Number
Finally, the Chicago-groomed choreographer Alejandro Cerrudo isn't sharing the stage with anyone
Music 
Hope Sings
She didn’t set out to reinvent the blues, but Shemekia Copeland might just be the genre’s most promising voice all the same
Literature 
Dark Knight
Cult literary hero Irvine Welsh chased his band of hoodlums from Scotland to Lake View for the final installment of his Trainspotting trilogy
Classical 
Building Music
Fall’s most unusual cultural alliance is between Access Contemporary Music–a collective of classical composers–and the Chicago Architecture Foundation
Film and TV 
Magic Mike
Chicago-trained actor and Renaissance man Michael Shannon moves effortlessly between the stage and the screen
Art and Design 
Van Gogh 2.0
Art Institute director Douglas Druick aims to lead backward-looking museums into the future