There are a lot of shows to celebrate this season, from brassy Broadway musicals on tour to locally produced singing spectacles on both a big and small scale. Lovers of musical theater in for a particular treat with a variety of shows both classic and relatively new.
Local big sings
The Paramount Theatre in Aurora launches its homegrown series of self-produced Broadway musicals with two big favorites. Lerner and Loewe's My Fair Lady continues through Oct. 2, while Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat runs from Nov. 2-20 at 8 E. Galena Blvd. in Aurora. Call 630-896-6666.
Fans of the Neo-Futurists won't want to miss the most famous shows created by some of its alumni: Urinetown: The Musical. Circle Theatre stages this hilarious 2001 Broadway musical in a steampunk style about a corrupt corporation that charges citizens for the privilege to pee. The show runs now through Oct. 21 at 1010 W. Madison, Oak Park. Call 708-660-9540.
Porchlight Music Theatre's new artistic director Michael Weber starts his tenure with the 1990s Stephen Sondheim revue Putting it Together, which continues through Oct. 16 at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont. Call 773-975-8150.
Fans of composer/lyricist Stephen Schwartz ( Wicked, Godspell ) are in for a treat. Northlight Theatre in Skokie presents the Midwest premiere of Snapshots ( now through Oct. 23 ) which features songs from Schwartz's musical catalogue to tell the new story of a couple looking back at how they fell in and out of love. Call 847-673-6300.
If you want your Stephen Schwartz songs in their original settings, then don't miss your chance to see Bohemian Theatre Ensemble's production of the hit 1970s musical Pippin Oct. 14-Nov. 13 at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont. Call 773-975-8150.
Although not technically a musical, George C. Wolfe's stage adaptation of three Zora Neale Hurston short stories called Spunk does contain a bounty of blues musical accompaniment thanks to guitarist Kelvyn Bell. Get an intimate look at Southern and New York African Americans in the early 20th century at the Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis. Call 773-753-4472.
Director Gary Griffin has been in this situation before where he oversees a major musical regionally while the same show plays on Broadway. Some critics preferred Griffin's West Side Story production for Canada's Stratford Festival over the recent Broadway revival, so it will be interesting to see the reaction to his take on Stephen Sondheim's Follies at Chicago Shakespeare Theater now that a Kennedy Center production of the same show has moved to the Great White Way. Follies runs from Oct. 4 to Nov. 6 at Navy Pier at 800 E. Grand. Call 312-595-5600.
Spring Awakening, the hit 2006 Broadway musical based upon the Frank Wedekind teenage drama with a rock score, gets its first locally produced production courtesy of the Griffin Theatre and New York-bound director Jonathan Berry. The teenage urges rise up from Nov. 27 to Jan. 8 at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont. Call 773-975-8150.
Irving Berlin's White Christmas follows the world premiere of For the Boys ( now to Oct. 16 ) at the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire from Oct. 19 through Jan. 1. Hopefully the in-the-round setting will be more critically pleasing than last year's tour of the holiday perennial at the Bank of America Theatre. Call 847-634-0200.
Over at the Drury Lane Theatre in Oakbrook Terrace, a more wholesome run of The Sound of Music ( Oct. 20-Jan. 8 ) is set to play through the holiday season after all of the bloodletting in Rachel Rockwell's superb staging of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street ( now to Oct. 9 ) . Call 630-530-0111.
The hit 1970s revue Starting Here, Starting Now featuring a compelling score by Richard Matlby, Jr. and Davis Shrie gets revived courtesy of Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre from Sept. 23 through Nov. 6 at the No Exit Café, 6970 N. Glenwood. Call 773-347-1109.
Light Opera Works rounds out its 2011 season with the revue Rodgers & Hart: A Celebration from Oct. 2 through Nov. 6 at its Second Stage, 1420 Maple, Evanston. Following that Northwestern University's Cahn Auditorium is a holiday production of the Tony Award-winning 1991 Broadway musical version of Lucy Simon and Marsha Norman's The Secret Garden from Dec. 26 through Jan. 1. Call 847-869-6300.
Director Sean Graney's irreverent beach basement staging of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance for The Hypocrites was such a hit that they're bringing it back again for an extra run from Nov. 17 to Jan. 22 at the Chopin Theatre, 1543 W. Division. Call 773-989-7352.
Broadway in Chicago
Several big hits from Broadway ( and off-Broadway ) will tour into town for limited runs courtesy of presenter Broadway in Chicago. Some are Windy City premieres, while others are return engagements. Call 800-775-2000 for tickets.
Nora and Delia Ephron's off-Broadway hit Love, Loss and What I Wore, is currently on the boards through Dec. 4 at the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place, 175 E. Chestnut, complete with a rotating cast of national and local theater celebrities.
Actress and writer Carrie Fisher discusses her issues with mental health and addiction in her one-woman show Wishful Drinking from Oct. 4 through Oct. 16 at the Bank of America Theatre, 18 W. Monroe.
One tour that aims to be Broadway bound is Ann: An Affectionate Portrait of Ann Richards, which features Two and Half Men star Holland Taylor as the late Texas governor at the Bank of America Theatre, 18 W. Monroe, from Nov. 13 through Dec. 4.
The 2010 Tony Award-winner for Best Musical was Memphis, a show penned by Joe DiPietro ( Fucking Men, All Shook Up ) and Bon Jovi co-founder David Bryan. This show about a white DJ who falls for African-American music in 1950s Memphis plays the Cadillac Palace Theatre, 151 W. Randolph, from Nov. 22 to Dec. 4.
Donny & Marie Osmond did a holiday show in New York City last year, so their upcoming Christmas in Chicago concert run technically counts as a "Broadway" show. It plays from Dec. 6 to 24 at the Oriental Theatre, 24 W. Randolph.
However, if you want specifically gay family values for the holidays, don't miss the tour of the Tony Award-winning revival of La Cage aux Folles from Dec. 20 to Jan. 1 at the Bank of America Theatre, 18 W. Monroe. George Hamilton and Christopher Sieber star as a loving male couple who also happen to run the most famed drag club in San Tropez, France.
Also making return Chicago engagements this fall are Rock of Ages ( Nov. 8 to 13 at the Bank of America Theatre ) , Mary Poppins ( Oct. 13 to Nov. 6 at the Cadillac Palace Theatre ) , Fiddler on the Roof ( Nov. 22-27 at the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University ) and The Addams Family ( Dec. 13 to Jan. 1 at the Cadillac Palace Theatre ) .
Other biggies not to miss
Former Chicagoan John Logan had London and Broadway eating out of his hand with Red, an award-winning drama looking at the artist Mark Rothko and his struggle at creating works for The Four Seasons restaurant in New York. Director Robert Falls tackles this drama at the Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn, through Oct. 23. Call 312-443-3800.
Steppenwolf Theatre's nurturing of playwright Bruce Norris' career has been repeatedly rewarding for Chicago audiences, even if his plays frequently push uncomfortable buttons. Now Norris' first Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, Clybourne Park, takes the spotlight in Amy Morton's new production running now through Nov. 6 at 1650 N. Halsted St. Morton also directs Enda Walsh's drama Penelope, which plays from Dec. 1 to Feb. 5. Call 312-335-1650.
If you can't get enough of theatrical Greek myths ( like those featured in The Hypocrites' Sophocles: Seven Sicknesses ) , then be sure not to miss the local premiere of An Iliad by Lisa Peterson and Denis O'Hare ( a gay actor from Chicago now famed for being the King of Mississippi vampires in HBO's True Blood ) . This adaptation of Homer's Iliad stars Timothy Edward Kane and features direction by Charles Newell the Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis, from Nov. 10 to Dec. 11. Call 773-753-4472.
American Theater Company takes a serious look at forgiveness with The Amish Project, a drama based upon the 2006 schoolhouse shooting that killed five children in Nickel Mines, Pa. This new work by Jessica Dickey runs from Sept. 23 to Oct. 23 at 1909 W. Byron. Call 773-409-4125.
The often messy love lives of artists, actors and writers is explored with plenty of incision in Tom Stoppard's hit 1980s drama The Real Thing, now being revived by Writers' Theatre in Glencoe through Nov. 20. Call 847-242-6000.
That's not all, but space constraints prevent us from listing all the great theater on tap this fall. Check out upcoming issues of Windy City Times for theater suggestions and recommendations.
