Theater Spotlight
Pride Films and Plays has a new male singing quartet featuring Emmy Award winner Scott Gryder, Jeff Award winner Donterrio Johnson and Chris Logan and Luke Meierdiercks, who starred in Pride Films and Plays' Chicago premiere of The Boy from Oz. Their goal? To heat things up this winter with a revue of summery music in The Boys in Briefs: At the Beach! The show features music by the Beach Boys, Broadway tunesmiths John Kander and Fred Ebb, the Drifters and more. The Boys in Briefs: At the Beach! plays 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 26, at Uptown Underground, 4707 N. Broadway. General admission tickets are $20 and a limited number of reserved VIP seats is available for $25; call 800-737-0984 or visit www.pridefilmsandplays.com .
Critics' Picks
Good for Otto, Gift Theatre, through Feb. 7. Both profound and invigorating, David Rabe's world premiere looks at two community mental health workers and their patients struggling with parental abandonment. Rabe's skill makes it's more exciting and entertaining than you'd think. JA
Marjorie Prime, Writers Theatre at Books on Vernon, Glencoe, through March 13. There's a rumored film version in the works of Jordan Harrison's futuristic Pulitzer finalist drama, so see the original play now while you can. SCM
R+J: The Vineyard, Red Theater at Den Theatre, Jan. 22-Feb. 20. When Juliet Capulet meets Romeo Montague on Martha's Vineyard in 1890, feuds between the hearing-impaired and aural-dependent flare in this tri-lingual re-mount of Shakespeare's classic tragedy. MSB
Ten Dollar House, Pride Films and Plays at Piccolo Theatre, Evanston, through Jan. 31. It's not perfect, but Rick Kinnebrew and Martha Meyer's historical dramatization of the lives of gay Wisconsin couple Robert Neal and Edgar Hellum is largely enjoyable and illuminating. SCM
By Abarbanel, Barnidge and Morgan