America: All Better! ***1/2
The frightening, funny revue on the Second City mainstage is a darkly comic show about these yin-and-yang times in Chicago. Targets of Matt Hovde’s stellar revue include Rahm Emanuel, here described as a “really scary Precious Moments figurine.” Open run at Second City, 1616 N. Wells St.; $20-$25 at 312-337-3992.
Brother, Can You Spare Some Change? ***
The presidency of Barack Obama is still young, but his comedic muses at Second City e.t.c. are raising expectations. “Can he really turn Guantanamo into the next Six Flags?” sings the hopeful cast. “Can he turn every gun into a gumdrop?” And the show showcases Christina Anthony, who might soon find herself on “Saturday Night Live,” playing Michelle Obama. Open run at Second City e.t.c., 1608 N. Wells St.; $20-$25 at 312-337-3992.
Don’t Dress for Dinner ***1/2
The good times are back at the Royal George Theatre. I wouldn’t claim that the commercial production of the Marc Camoletti farce, starring Patricia Kalember of TV fame, qualifies as an economic stimulus package. And if you demand redeeming social purpose for your theater-going dollar, look elsewhere. But this is a terrific show, cheerfully retro and un-P.C., and it’s definitely a stimulus for the funny bone. Open run at the Royal George Theatre, 1641 N. Halsted St.; $49.50-$59.50 at 312-988-9000.
I Gotcha **1/2
Early in Act 2 of “Gotcha,” the entirely predictable and wholly entertaining new Black Ensemble Theater show in tribute to the late Joe Tex and the Soul Clan, the cast invites the audience onstage to assist in the performance of “Ain’t Gonna Bump No More (With No Big Fat Woman).” That’s the emblematic 1977 Tex hit with the immortal lyric: “Then she did a dip/almost broke my hip.” Much bumping, and no apparent hip-breaking, ensues. And there is a smile on every face in the joint. Through April 26 by Black Ensemble Theater, 4520 N. Beacon St.; $40-$45 at 773-769-4451.
Jersey Boys ****
As the music of the Four Seasons and the biographical stories of their rise from the streets of 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. Open run at the Bank of America Theatre, 18 W. Monroe St.; $30-$150 at 312-902-1400.
The Maids ***
Jean Genet is steaming up the North Shore. In “The Maids,” two role-playing servants fantasize and fetishize their desirable and detestable mistress. Jimmy McDermott’s Writers’ Theatre production is 100 intermission-less minutes, and it isn’t for all tastes. As the two fantasy-loving maids, Helen Sadler brings a cheeky, feral, fully invested quality to Claire, and Elizabeth Laidlaw forges a wound-tight Solange. Through April 5 at Writers’ Theatre, 664 Vernon Ave., Glencoe; $40-$85 at 847-242-6000.
Mariette in Ecstasy ***
If “Mariette in Ecstasy” were not about nuns, you’d call it a bodice ripper. Lifeline Theatre’s dramatization of Ron Hansen’s juicy but contemplative novel concerns the Sisters of the Crucifixion and an especially enigmatic postulate. What happens to a religious community in upstate New York in 1906 when a passionate, attractive outsider enters its walls and starts seeming closer to Jesus than some of her more mundane sisters? There are moments of quiet dignity in this show that capture the rhythms of monastic life, a genuinely seductive sexual tension, and even the occasional laugh. You never quite know which way things are going to go. With a strong cast led by Brenda Barrie and directed by Elise Kauzlaric, this is one of the best Lifeline productions I’ve seen. Through April 5 at Lifeline Theatre, 6912 N. Glenwood Ave.; $30 at 773-761-4477.
Million Dollar Quartet ***1/2
Great balls of fire! Here’s a hit. This commercial musical has the kind of jaw-dropping performances that lift your feet from the floor. It’s based on an actual night in 1956 when Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash showed up at Sam Phillips’ Sun Studios for a jam session — and contains two dozen iconic musical numbers. It’s directed by the artful Eric D. Schaeffer. Open run at the Apollo Theater, 2540 N. Lincoln Ave.; $49.50-$69.50 at 773-935-6100.
Old Glory ***1/2
This haunting and intensely moving new play from playwright Brett Neveu is about the impact of war on those left at home. And it’s surely his best script to date. Neveu’s style has never been to write plot-driven dramas so much as hanging human beings out to dry, letting their vulnerabilities twist in the wind. Two soldiers in Iraq (Steve Haggard and Marcus Truschinski) let rough-housing with a friend go wrong. And in a bar in Berlin, one of those soldiers’ fathers confronts the boy’s commanding officer (Tom McElroy and Philip Earl Johnson). Through the insightful direction of William Brown and his top-drawer Writers’ Theatre cast, you feel every ounce of the pain and anger of the bereaved, and the weight of being in a place of responsibility. Through March 29 at Writers’ Theatre, 325 Tudor Court, Glencoe; $40-$65 at 847-242-6000.
Our Lady of the Underpass ***
In April 2005, an apparent miracle took place on Fullerton Avenue when an image of the Virgin Mary emerged on the cracked concrete. “Our Lady of the Underpass,” a hugely entertaining new play by the Mexico-born Chicago playwright Tanya Saracho for Teatro Vista, tells the stories she gathered from interviews at the site. A Mexican woman with a prayer, an irritated Yuppie from nearby condos, a self-appointed guard. Saracho’s humor is incisive and inclusive, and she doesn’t take a position on whether the image is “real.” This is just the sort of hyper-local play this city richly deserves. Through March 29 at Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave.; $35 at 773-404-7336.
Our Town ***
Thornton Wilder’s classic play — his brilliant, direct, endlessly viewable American play — boils down to the message that our available time with those we love is perilously, agonizingly short. So the Lookingglass Theatre Company’s use of “Our Town” as a metaphor for its artistic journey from collegiate beginnings together to its complicated present-day existence works nicely. The play is executed with modesty, fidelity to the text, and quiet simplicity by a company that has always contained a great deal of craft and heart within its intellectually formidable confines. With the help of co-directors Anna D. Shapiro and Jessica Thebus, this cast of fortysomething American actors, including David Schwimmer, persuades the audience to forget that they are watching a play about generational change, performed by actors of the same generation. There are unsolved problems and risks not taken, but the work here is consistently honest, occasionally wondrous and, in the second act, quite moving. Through April 5 by Lookingglass Theatre at the Water Tower Water Works, 821 N. Michigan Ave.; $30-$60 at 312-337-0665.
Rod Blagojevich Superstar ***
“Rod Blagojevich Superstar, Are you as nuts as we think you are?” goes the opening lyric to the deliciously unsubtle show by Second City e.t.c. The former governor is played with surprising heart by Joey Bland, and writers Ed Furman and T. J. Shanoff come up with genuinely overachieving moments, like when Blago tells the clueless Roland Burris (Sam Richardson) that his technique of being black for courting the African-American vote was a stroke of genius. The show transfers from Piper’s Alley to Navy Pier on March 26 and gets a topical round of updates — $100,000 book deal, anyone? Through March 18 at Second City e.t.c, 1608 N. Wells St.; $14 at 312-337-3992. Then through May 3 Upstairs at Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier; $25 at 312-595-5600.
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HOTTEST TICKET
Stamps exact a steep price in Skokie
Mauritius *** Theresa Rebeck’s drama took some critical lumps on Broadway for being Mamet-lite. And don’t tell your neighbors you’re on your way to Northlight Theatre to see an edgy drama about a stamp deal gone bad. But the collectibles industry — with its fast-talking dealers, all-or-nothing valuations and eccentric obsessives — isn’t all the sweet-talking charm you see on “Antiques Roadshow.” “Mauritius,” which begins with a young woman carrying her stamp collection into a dealer and gets deliciously nasty from there, isn’t a great play. But it is a very clever, involving, fast-moving, funny and juicy one. And Rick Snyder’s production has a collection of lively and colorful performances, headlined by the terrific Anne Adams.
Through April 5 at Northlight Theatre, North Shore Center for the Arts, 9501 Skokie Blvd., Skokie; $25-$55 at 847-673-6300.
