Northlight Theatre has announced a special spring event featuring The Midnight Circus. The show titled “The Midnight Circus: Stilettos, Circus and Soul!” also will featured the noted actress-chanteuse Alexandra Billings and the sounds of Mars Williams of Liquid Soul. The production (a world premiere) runs March 2-12 at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie. . . . Michael Whelan is the star of a new big-band-oriented show called “Come Fly With Me!,” slated for the Mercury Theatre. On all except Saturday nights, a free dinner is included with the ticket price. Directed by Marc Robin, this commercial production is a tribute to the big-band and show-tune era. Whelan has toured with the Glenn Miller Orchestra. Performances begin Oct. 26; opening night is Nov. 2. . . . The 5-year-old holiday show known as “The Hipmas Carol” will be performed this year at the Raven Theatre, Dec. 8-23. . . . Eric Rosen’s “Winesburg, Ohio” has attracted enthusiastic reviews in Philadelphia and might yet have a New York future. . . . The Gift Theatre is inaugurating a brand-new, 25-seat theater in the Jefferson Park neighborhood. Located at 4802 N. Milwaukee Ave., the theater bows officially on Oct. 24 with a production of “The Glass Menagerie” directed by Sheldon Patinkin. . . . And the Near West Side also has a new performance space. Actor Blake Montgomery is inaugurating “The Building Stage” with a production of “Hamlet,” currently running at 1044 W. Kinzie St. Montgomery’s new space is a flexible black-box. . . . Emerald City Theatre Company is planning a new Christmas show: “A Nutcracker Christmas.” Theatrical rather than balletic, the show was penned by G. Riley Mills and Ralph Covert (of “Ralph’s World” fame).
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Compiled by Chris Jones
