CITY
The American Dream Songbook: As much about an imperfect marriage as a dream — American or otherwise — Leonard Bernstein’s 1953 operetta “Trouble in Tahiti” is a rare treat for Chicago’s legions of Bernstein fans. In a rare and well-performed revival at the plucky Next Theatre of Evanston, this five-actor, 45-minute song suite draws exclusively from the American idiom. It looks sardonically, chirpily, backward at the harmonies of the 1940s and also forward to Bernstein’s own restlessly melodic compositions for “West Side Story.” Romance may be comatose here, but there remains a tiny possibility of resurrection of the human spirit. Through March 22 at Next Theatre Company, Noyes Cultural Arts Center, 927 Noyes St., Evanston; $25-$45 at 847-475-1875.
Blue Man Group: 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.
Breathing Corpses: Laura Wade’s arresting, 90-minute contemporary drama from Britain follows three sets of characters who all run into dead bodies. And the notion of what constitutes a corpse is up for debate. This is a juicy, tightly packed and exceedingly smart show by the buzz-worthy Steep Theatre Company. When this show is on the boil, it’s hot. And the scene between actors Lucy Carapetyan and Jonathan Edwards, who play a couple immersed in heat and violence, sizzles deliciously on the dividing line between normal marital tensions and mutually assured destruction. Through March 22 at Steep Theatre, 3902 N. Sheridan Rd.; $18 at 312-458-0722.
Carousel: In Charles Newell’s arresting, new Court Theatre version of the iconic American musical from 1945, the only reminder of the titular carousel is a single horse, suspended in air. And the only flashes of colored light are obscured by designer John Culbert’s forbidding wall of grey wooden slats. By eschewing the fantastical and mostly draining the landscape of color, Newell has refocused “Carousel” on human failings. The casting is unusual and the lack of climactic optimism exacts a price. But Doug Peck’s remarkable musical arrangements offer much compensation — and you’ll have never seen a “Carousel” acted as intensely as this one before. Through April 13 at Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis Ave.; $32-$54, 773-753-4472 and www.courttheatre.org.
Dolly West’s Kitchen: As you’ll appreciate if you see Kimberly Senior’s production of “Dolly West’s Kitchen” at TimeLine, the Irish playwright Frank McGuinness writes warm, transitional plays about people coping with crumbling borders. This drama, set in McGuinness’ native County Donegal in 1943, features many tropes of Irish drama — Chekhovian sisters, booze, a butcher’s block table, the desire for escape even as nationalist loyalties simmer on the kitchen stove. But the war threw a wrench into the traditional cast of heroes and villains, and a new world order is about to change everything. The non-Equity cast is mostly strong, including Cliff Chamberlain, Sara Hoyer and Kat McDonnell (as Dolly West). But the best work of the night comes from Niall McGinty, as a wound-tight-but-direct young Irishman who comes to see that change can mean possibility more than fear. Through March 22 at TimeLine Theatre, 615 W. Wellington Ave.; $25 to $30, 773-281-8463.
Hizzoner: Mayor Richard J. Daley as a tragic figure? Neil Giuntoli’s gripping “Hizzoner” is a persuasive case. He understands that the key to Daley is not about power but insecurity. By Prop Thtr, 3504 N. Elston Ave.; $40, 773-539-7838. Also March 22 at York High School, 355 W. St. Charles Rd., Elmhurst.
Jersey Boys: The music of the Four Seasons wasn’t made for uptown girls or flowery Anglophiles dreaming of British Invasions. As the slick and thrilling Broadway musical “Jersey Boys” proudly declares from its industrially themed stage, the straight-from-the-‘hood boys in the Seasons forged an all-hit jukebox for working-class guys and their girlfriends. As the biographical story of Frankie Valli, Bob Gaudio, Tommy DeVito and Nick Massi and their rise from Newark to the top of the pop-music charts, this Chicago production delivers a smash-hit adult night out for a city that understands Jersey better than most. Nothing pretentious or politically correct will keep you from the story. Open run at LaSalle Bank Theatre, 18 W. Monroe St.; $30-$150, 312-902-1400.
Our Enemies: Lively Scenes of Love and Combat: This world premiere reveals an exceedingly smart, sophisticated and compelling exploration of Arab-American identity — and the opportunities as well as perils of assimilation. Not only does playwright Yussef El Guindi probe the dilemma of being Arab in a culture with little understanding of the Middle East, he’s also willing to explore the advantages of leaving your past behind in America. Silk Road shows it has real guts behind its genial facade. Through March 30 in the Chicago Temple Building, 77 W. Washington St.; $28-$32 at 866-811-4111.
The Trip to Bountiful: Harris Yulin’s exquisite revival of Horton Foote’s “Trip to Bountiful” is one of those rare productions that feel like they’re closing the book on a play for good. “I can now die,” one muses during the final bows, “without ever needing to see that play again.” Lois Smith is Miss Carrie Watts, the elderly lady who, to the chagrin of her daughter-in-law, wants to take one last look at her hometown. The unsentimental Smith plays Watts as Mother Courage; her trip has nothing to do with memory and everything to do with raw survival. Through April 6 at the Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St.; $35-$75 at 312-443-3800.
Uncle Vanya: As its many fans know, TUTA’s great strength is the theatrical representation of intense intimacy. And if you see Anton Chekhov’s tragicomedy as mostly a series of pointlessly intimate moments — and you’d have a good case — you’ll love this take, performed in a Wicker Park basement. The intense director Zeljko Djukich minimalizes the visuals, reducing the design elements to their skeletal frames: Djukich is the kind of theater artist who just throws his loyal actors into a room and works a scene to within an inch of its life. Through April 13 by TUTA at Chopin Theatre, 1543 W. Division St.; $25 at 847-217-0691.
Wicked: Blond girl. Green girl. Love interests. Goat. Wizard. All are in fine Midwestern fettle. And Glinda the Good Witch is now played by the remarkable, 20-year-old Erin Mackey. 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.” Open run at the Oriental Theatre, 24 W. Randolph St.; $32-$90 at 312-902-1400.
SUBURBS
As You Like It: In myriad beautiful ways — really beautiful — the director William Brown pitches this tonally tricky Shakespearean comedy as a contemplative, elegiac piece that’s as wise and mournful as it is sprightly and amusing. He achieves this in the intimate setting of Writers’ Theatre in concert with superlative design work and a fine, cohesive and experienced ensemble of Chicago-based actors. You sense here both an end point to all the courtship shenanigans and, as we age, our growing reliance upon them. And that only deepens the play. Through April 13 at Writers’ Theatre, 325 Tudor Court, Glencoe; $45-$58 at 847-242-6000.
The Turn of the Screw: Nothing gooses up a ghost story like the presence of a child. The Victorian writer Henry James knew that; his 1898 novel “The Turn of the Screw” is a ghost story set in the requisite remote, gothic mansion and features not one, but two, kiddies. In Glencoe, Writers’ Theatre offers a decently acted and genuinely creepy new dramatic adaptation by Jeffrey Hatcher, taking full advantage of a story that’s a good deal more than pulp. “The Turn of the Screw” is not only an exceedingly scary yarn, it’s an academically worthy text that can be read for its Freudian themesand its lingering sense of gothic sexual guilt. Through March 30 by Writers’ Theatre at Books on Vernon, 664 Vernon Ave., Glencoe; $45-$58 at 847-242-6000.
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Hottest ticket
A Steady Rain: Keith Huff’s “Steady Rain” is a rich, poetic and gripping tale of two Chicago police officers whose need to serve and protect both consumes them and rips them apart. Sweating under the lights and fighting to tell their side of the story, actors Randy Steinmeyer and Peter DeFaria look, feel and sound exactly like what they claim to be: cops, rather than actors. Their inner conflicts are expressed with such articulate humanity, your throat constricts as you watch. Through July 31 at the Royal George Theatre, 1641 N. Halsted St.; $35-$45 at 312-988-9000.
