Live it up like a gangster or a flapper at Tommy Gun's Garage, "Chicago's only original speakeasy dinner theater." A truly interactive experience, Tommy Gun's offers $50 meal and entertainment packages ($60 on Saturdays). Patrons are transported back to the Roaring Twenties by giving Gloves, the bouncer, a secret password to be granted entrance into the "speakeasy." There's a pretty decent menu (which is to be ordered from a week prior to your visit) of pasta, chicken, steak and fish, to dine on while listening to '20s tunes from Fats Waller, Duke Ellington and the like, watching flappers dance their chorus-line dances and eavesdropping on mobsters plotting their secret schemes. Stay on your toes, though; you'll become part of the cast when the "cops" bust in for a raid and anyone's a suspect.

Luckily, prohibition is no hurdle at Tommy Gun's: there's a full bar where folks can order the "hooch" of their choice (which costs extra). Tommy Gun's is family-friendly (as some jokes will surely be over the little ones' heads) and while it's very comedic, the stories don't stray far (if at all) from the facts, so it also offers a bit of a history lesson (albeit a less gruesome one). Matinees and group packages are also available.

Centerstage Reviewer: Jamie Murnane