Eat. Watch. Do. — ‘Into the Woods’ review, Paczki Day, plus spring baseball travel

It’s Thursday, Chicago.

Those long-gone flurries are back, but perhaps not here to stay. We hope you’re hungry for Paczki Day, here now, or coming soon to a bakery near you this Fat Tuesday. Check out our roundup of Chicagoland bakeries filling paczki with mouthwatering flavors such as passion fruit jelly and chili cinnamon chocolate cream.

If you want to escape the drab and dreary weather, take a trip to the forest with Paramount Theatre’s performance of “Into the Woods,” which “spill(s) out of this historic venue’s proscenium arch like a full blooming plant from the garden center,” critic Chris Jones writes.

Or book a flight to reliably sunny Phoenix, and check out the sights and eats near the Cubs and White Sox training camps in the coming weeks. “If it’s been awhile since you last enjoyed a game at either Sloan Park (or “Wrigleyville West,” as some Cubs fans call it) in Mesa or Camelback Ranch in Glendale, we’ve got some suggestions on what to do away from the ballpark,” writes the Tribune’s Kori Rumore.

Find more below on the latest in food, TV and movie news, plus reviews from our critics. Enjoy the weekend, we’ll see you here next week.

— Lauryn Azu, deputy senior content editor

Performances for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra have been announced for its 2023-24 season, its first without a music director since Riccardo Muti’s departure at the end of the current season. Muti will return for two key performances next season, but all eyes are on the CSO as it prepares to fill the high-profile vacancy. Read about other things in store here.

Chef Zubair Mohajir was one of five Chicago chefs on the James Beard Foundation’s list of semifinalists for best chef in the Great Lakes region. Wazwan and The Coach House by Wazwan are two concepts in Zubair’s first permanent restaurant, and both are rooted in the cuisine of southern India, but have vastly different vibes. Food critic Nick Kindelsperger recommends visiting Wazwan first. Read the rest of his review here.

In the new movie “Somebody I Used to Know” on Amazon, “a woman attempts to disrupt pending nuptials so she can have the guy for herself,” Tribune critic Nina Metz writes. The flick borrows from more than a few rom-com tropes, but subverts them in ways that make them interesting to watch, she says. Read Metz’s other thoughts on the movie here.

A foreboding Instagram post in June warned of Half Birthday’s demise.

“Sign up for a cake before I pass away,” the Chicago-based microbakery advised, citing inflation and burnout as the reason Alexa Linsemeyer was closing her cake-baking business.

Read about three home-based bakers who are now scaling back their online businesses after starting them during the pandemic here.

Paul Rudd reprises his role as Ant-Man in the latest Marvel movie, “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantimania” which releases in theaters this weekend. “The movie, let it be said, is not awful, but the kinetic battles are chaotic, and the look of the Quantum Realm is oddly drab in its interweaving of digital and VFX elements,” Tribune critic Michael Phillips writes. Read his entire review here.

While Chicago Restaurant Week may be over, Chicago Black Restaurant Week is back for its eighth year with specials to choose from at 30 Black-owned businesses across Chicagoland through Feb. 26. “Prominent participants this year include Frontier, Luella’s Southern Kitchen and Bronzeville Winery, one of the Tribune’s 25 best new restaurants,” writes Tribune food critic Louisa Chu. Read more here.

Paramount Theatre’s maximalist production of “Into the Woods,” “offers resonances wherever you may be on life’s journey,” Tribune critic Chris Jones writes. Though the show is stronger in Act 1 than in Act 2, Natalie Weiss’ Witch and Lucy Panush’s “Little Red Ridinghood” drive home the play’s most important themes. Read more about the show, playing through March 18, here.

Paczki Day is almost here, and Chicagoland bakeries and restaurants are game for all the paczki action. Read our roundup of where you can grab your own portion of paczki, plus events like Paczki Fest at Marz Community Brewing and a paczki-eating contest at Bennison’s Bakery.

Though Chicago Tap Theatre technically turned 20 last year, it’s celebrating the big milestone this year with a mixed-repertory show called “Tempo, Rhythm and Time” on display this weekend at The Den Theatre in Wicker Park.

“We are living in a golden age of tap dance right now,” artistic director Mark Yonally told the Tribune. Read more here.

With opening day afoot, take a trip to the fast-growing Phoenix area where the Cubs and White Sox train. You can try a Sonoran-style hot dog, take a ride in a hot-air balloon and add a classic Western rodeo to your agenda. Read more here.