An Inspector Calls, Remy Bumppo Theatre Company, through Jan. 12. A wealthy family gets a lesson in communal responsibility from a mysterious visitorplayed with unflinching candor by Nick Sandysin J.B. Priestley's social-protest play from 1945. MSB
The Merry Wives of Windsor, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, through Jan. 19. Smart women, clueless men, 1940s fashions, swing dancing, Looney-Tunes foreign accents, full-stage laundry-fights, chases down the aisles, an adorable boy singing to his adorable dogand it's Shakespeare! MSB
Port Authority, Writers Theatre, through Feb. 16. Exquisite acting, and commonplace speech elevated to poetry, infuse this tender and introspective piece about three Irishmen of different generations who bare their rueful souls about the women who got away. JA
We Three Lizas, About Face Theatre at Stage 773, through Jan. 5. Though the setting isn't as nearly as cozy ( or audible ) as last year, this queer revisionist take on A Christmas Carol with various guises of Liza Minnelli serving as a supernatural inspiration is even better in its new, thoroughly revamped version. SCM
By Abarbanel, Barnidge
and Morgan