OPENING
Friday
“War” — through Oct. 7 at Storefront Theater, 66 E. Randolph St.; $20, 312-742-8497 and www.dcatheater.org. Pub quizzes and beer-swilling, trivia-mad Dubliners form the basis for this comedy by Roddy Doyle (“The Commitments”). Seanachai Theatre Company presents a U.S. premiere.
Monday
“The Hound of the Baskervilles” — through Oct. 14 at City Lit Theater, 1020 W. Bryn Mawr Ave.; $25, 773-293-3682 and www.citylit.org. Don Bender and Will Schutz reprise their 2006 roles as Holmes and Watson in Terry McCabe’s adaptation of the mystery of the Baskervilles and the spectral hound that is said to haunt the clan.
CLOSING, last chance
Sunday
“High School Musical” — Disney’s new touring stage version winds up its premier engagement in Chicago. Director Jeff Calhoun has created a pumped-up dance party of a Broadway-style show that delivers enough excitement to justify the downtown ticket price — yet does not soup up the original material out of all recognition. Thanks to a skilled and energetic cast, this stage version is a lot better than the movie, and Calhoun delivers sass and sizzle without killing the innocence. Sensitive jock Troy (John Jeffrey Martin) and brainy, insecure Gabriella (the delightful Arielle Jacobs) fight off cliques and mean-girl Sharpay (Chandra Lee Schwartz) to find a chaste form of puppy love. A slam-dunk good time for its ‘tween-age target audience. At LaSalle Bank Theatre, 18 W. Monroe St.; $20-$78 at 312-902-1400.
“The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” — Spell this witty, warm and hopelessly optimistic show about the traumas and victories of a spelling bee and our ever-striving city “M-A-T-C-H.” Even after a change in producer and some cast replacements, the long-running, family-friendly Chicago production remained comparable to the current Broadway production, replete with strong production values and the same dead-on direction from James Lapine. And Drury Lane is both big enough to offer a sense of occasion and small enough to provide intimacy. At Drury Lane Theatre at Water Tower Place, 175 E. Chestnut St.; $25-$69.50, 312-902-1400.
“Killing Women” — A fresh and funny noir-comedy, the young and talented Marisa Wegrzyn’s new play about the struggles of empathetic female assassins is a caustic and insolent piece of writing that nonetheless contains a beating emotional heart in a self-questioning central character (superbly played by the classy, wound-tight Margot Bordelon) who one suspects has a lot in common with the playwright. The emerging company Theater Seven of Chicago has the world premiere — it’s uneven but a lot of fun. By Theatre Seven at Chicago Dramatists Theatre, 1105 W. Chicago Ave.; $15-$20, 563-505-7645.
