OPENING
Friday
“A View from the Bridge” — through Nov. 11 by Actors Workshop Theatre, 1044 W. Bryn Mawr Ave.; $20-$30, 773-728-7529 and www.actorsworkshop.org. The rising Actors Workshop revives the original version of Arthur Miller’s urban drama. Michael Colucci and E. Malcolm Martinez share directing duties.
Saturday
“Aristocrats” — through Nov. 17 by Strawdog Theatre Company, 3829 N. Broadway; 773-528-9696 and www.strawdog.org. He could have been on Broadway in the cast of Tracy Letts’ “August: Osage County.” Instead, Steppenwolf ensemble member Rick Snyder is honoring some Chicago commitments, including the direction of Brian Friel’s widely admired 1979 Irish drama.
Sunday
“The Night of the Iguana” — through Dec. 8 at Raven Theatre, 6157 N. Clark St., $15-$25, 773-338-2177 and www.raventheatre.com. Raven Theatre — a long-lived North Side company that specializes in classic American fare — opens its fall season with a revival of the 1961 Tennessee Williams classic about a tour group in 1940s Mexico. Michael Menendian directs.
“Jersey Boys” — open run at the LaSalle Bank Theatre, 18 W. Monroe St.; $30-$95, 312-902-1400 and www.broadwayinchicago.com. Frankie Valli, Bob Gaudio and a host of other boys, Jersey and otherwise, are expected for the splashy, much-anticipated Chicago opening of the hit Broadway musical about the life and times of the Four Seasons. Still doing huge business on Broadway, this unusually sophisticated jukebox musical is expected to remain in Chicago for a year or more.
“Letters Home”” — through Oct. 24 by Griffin Theatre Company at Theatre Building Chicago, 1225 W. Belmont Ave.; $20, 773-327-5252 and www.theatrebuildingchicago.org. The Griffin Theatre remounts one of the biggest hits in its history — a piece drawing on actual letters home sent by members of the U.S. Armed Services stationed in Iraq. The soldiers are brought to life by the actors on stage.
Wednesday
“Confessions of a Mormon Boy” — through Oct. 21 by Bailiwick Repertory Theatre, 1229 W. Belmont Ave.; 773-883-1090 or www.bailiwick.org. Stephen Fales returns to Chicago with his moving , autobiographical solo show about being gay and being a devout member of the Mormon Church. I greatly admired this involving and unexpectedly nuanced piece on its first visit to Chicago. It’s since had a successful off-Broadway engagement.
CLOSING, last chance
Sunday
“The Busy World is Hushed” — Keith Bunin’s sincere and highly literate new drama is one of that small but welcome group of plays in which people of faith aren’t portrayed as naives, hypocrites or predators. You certainly wouldn’t call “Hushed” a socially conservative play; after all, two of the three characters are gay. But it’s an honest probing of the place in the world for religious belief, even in the face of the empirical evidence assaulting the literal truth of its narrative. An especially fine performance from emerging star Erik Hellman. By Next Theatre Company, 927 Noyes St., Evanston; $23-$38, 847-475-1875.
“Elmina’s Kitchen” — Kwame Kwei-Armah’s “Elmina’s Kitchen,” a huge hit in London, is a play concerned with personal responsibility and gun violence in the black community. Although the production values in this Midwest premiere are not up to Congo Square’s usual standards, they don’t compromise Derrick Sanders’ emotionally powerful performance. This is a widely praised play by a major new writer, and many in the cast are superb. By Congo Square Theatre at Chicago Center for the Performing Arts, 777 N. Green St.; $16.50-$32.50 at 312-733-6000.
