The best of what’s on stage now in the city and suburbs. * New this week.
CITY
BETWEEN BARACK AND A HARD PLACE: Barack Obama as malleable slate for liberal hopes and dreams is the uber-text of “Between Barack and a Hard Place,” the funniest mainstage show on Wells Street in several years. Includes a hilariously mournful love ballad performed by Molly Erdman and titled “Where Was This Al Gore Before?” Open run at The Second City, 1616 N. Wells St.; $19-24, 312-337-3992.
BLUE MAN GROUP: If you’d told me in 1997 that I’d be back 10 years later at a packed-to-the-gills Briar Street Theatre watching a weirdly expressive trio of cobalt dudes drumming and splattering, I’d have said you’d ingested too much blue paint. I saw the appeal, but didn’t think “Blue Man Group” would age well. Wrong. The Blue Men may no longer be on the technological knife edge, but they got a lot of things right, marrying spectacle with emotional engagement, making it fun (if a bit loud) for families, and most of all staying smart, spewing sociological theory along with their Twinkies. Open run at Briar Street Theatre, 3133 N. Halsted St.; $49.50 to $59.50, 312-902-1500.
THE COLOR PURPLE: The Broadway musical version of Alice Walker’s great novel arrives in sweet home Chicago in the most confident of hues. Does this musical evoke all the poetry and complexity of the source? No. But nobody cares much. Broader in style than in New York, the show is filled with well-timed laugh lines and comic takes, and with characters very much aware they’re playing and living in front of an intensely involved audience. The Chicago cast includes the charismatic Felicia P. Fields, who originated Sofia, and who has blossomed into a major star. To its credit, this show doesn’t run from the sexual complexities of Walker’s book. But it’s primarily an optimistic show about an impoverished black woman who learns the potency of believing in yourself. Through Sept. 30 at the Cadillac Palace Theatre, 151 W. Randolph St.; $28-$85 at 312-902-1400.
CYMBELINE: Deep into dircetor Barbara Gaines’ eye-popping production of “Cymbeline,” the very roof of the Chicago Shakespeare Theater seems to open up in a great chasm of smoke and sound. And, begorrah, there’s the god Jupiter, descending from overhead as part of plot — a literal translation of Shakespeare’s stage direction with eagle, thunderbolt, Hollywood swell and all. It’s quite the coup de theatre in a hugely cinematic, heavily underscored show that drips with so much heartfelt theatricality, passionate acting and fearless romantic storytelling that it lands this three-hour production right in the lap of a clearly enthralled and delighted audience. This might not be the subtlest Shakespeare you ever saw, but thanks to fine work from the likes of cast members Chaon Cross, Juan Chioran and Dennis Kelly, it’s surely one of the more entertaining. Through Nov. 11 by Chicago Shakespeare Theater in the Courtyard Theater on Navy Pier, 800 E. Grand Ave.; $54-$70, 312-595-5600.
* ELMINA’S KITCHEN: Kwame Kwei-Armah’s “Elmina’s Kitchen,” a huge hit at the National Theatre in London, is a play concerned with personal responsibility and gun violence in the black community. To some degree, Kwei-Armah is a younger, British version of August Wilson, but he also has different things to say and different ways to say them. And although the production values in this Midwest premiere are not up to Congo Square’s usual standards, that surely shouldn’t get in the way of seeing Derrick Sanders’ emotionally powerful performance. This is a widely praised play by a major new writer whose work is long overdue in Chicago. Many in the Congo Square cast are superb. Through Oct. 14 at Chicago Center for the Performing Arts, 777 N. Green St.; $16.50-$32.50 at 312-733-6000.
FORBIDDEN BROADWAY:
SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT: The show continues its run with a new, mostly Chicago-based cast, including Kevin McGlynn, Michael Mahler, McKinley Carter and Holly Stauder. The funniest 90 minutes this side of the Great White Way — for musical lovers at least. Show aficionados will split their sides at the ritual skewering of Broadway pretension. Through Dec. 2 at the Royal George Cabaret, 1641 N. Halsted St.; $49.50, 312-988-9000 or 312-902-1500.
HIZZONER: Mayor Richard J. Daley as a tragic figure? Neil Giuntoli’s gripping “Hizzoner” is a persuasive case, and his performance as Daley is a sight to behold. Not only has Giuntoli achieved an astonishing level of physical veracity — many in the audience shake their heads as if not believing what they see — he clearly understands that the key to Daley is not about power but insecurity, not about control but terror at the lack of it, not about egocentrism but about a peculiarly selfless love of a city. Open run at Prop Thtr, 3504 N. Elston Ave.; $35, 773-539-7838. Also playing through Sept. 23 at the Beverly Arts Center at 2407 W. 111th Street.
WAR: Despite the title, Roddy Doyle’s “War” is about nothing more dangerous than a pub quiz. But in this colorful Irish comedy from the author of “The Commitments,” bar-room trivia takes on life-and-death import. Populated by a slew of authentic character-actors, director Karen Kessler’s beautifully pitched production for the suddenly resurgent Seanachai Theatre Company deftly captures the comic traumas of hyper-competitive contestants — with dreams of knowing all and too much Guinness in their stomachs. Through Oct. 7 at Storefront Theatre, 66 E. Randolph St.; $20 at 312-742-8497.
WICKED: Blond girl. Green girl. Love interests. Goat. Wizard. All are in fine Midwestern fettle. All have received a brand-new coat of emerald paint. The recent minor improvements in Chicago’s most prominent and profitable theatrical attraction won’t suddenly seduce those who have always resisted the charms of this self-aware, proudly mainstream, grrrl-friendly pop musical. But when you add the pleasures of Barbara Robertson — the fifth, and the best, Madam Morrible I’ve seen — this surely becomes a very good time to see “Wicked.” And with Glinda the Good Witch now played by the remarkable, 20-year-old Erin Mackey, Chicago audiences get the chance to see a future Broadway star early in her career. Open run at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts, Oriental Theatre, 24 W. Randolph St.; $32-$90 at 312-902-1400.
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HOTTEST TICKET
* THE PRODUCERS:
As the Broadway producers discovered to their cost when original stars Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick departed, “The Producers” is all about Bialystock and Bloom, the veteran-and-wannabe double act. No matter how you stage everything else — the Little Old Ladies, “Springtime for Hitler” and all — if your two leads ain’t boffo, you’ll be hearing crickets instead of guffaws. Thus, let it be said for the record that Guy Adkins’ Leo Bloom and Lehman’s Bialystock at Marriott Theatre are both knockout performances. Leaving aside Lane and Broderick, they’re the best I’ve seen, and I’ve seen almost all of the others. And what of the rest of director Marc Robin’s production in Lincolnshire? It exceeds all reasonable expectations. To Robin’s great credit, this fast-paced, enjoyable show doesn’t just attempt to stick Susan Stroman’s original 2001 Broadway staging in the middle of a big suburban circle, but instead comes with up some very shrewd and entertaining ideas of its own.
Through Dec. 2 at Marriott Theatre, 10 Marriott Drive, Lincolnshire; $32-$43 at 847-634-0200.
