Curtains, Drury Lane Oakbrook, through May 17. A snazzy love letter to musical comedy, this show is also touching as one of the final collaborations between composer John Kander and the late lyricist Fred Ebb. Better yet, Drury Lane delivers a smashing production of it. SCM
Magnolia, Goodman Theatre, through April 19. August Wilson endowed African Americans with the landed history necessary to multi-generational chronicles like those forged by Dickens or Chekhov—a mission carried on by Regina Taylor in her richly textured account of evolving conditions in our nation's South. MSB
Talk Radio, Gift Theatre, through May 31. Jeff Award winners Paul D'Addario and Michael Patrick Thornton respectively star in and direct Eric Bogosian's adrenaline-junkie drama or a pioneering shock jock and one long night's journey into a radio daze. CS
The Shape of a Girl, Pegasus Players, through April 19. Bradie is bright, attractive and part of a cycle of girl-on-girl violence in Joan MacLeod's one-woman play, exceptionally well-performed by Alice Wedoff. A deep psychological portrait unveils in just 90 minutes. JA
—By Abarbanel, Barnidge,
Morgan and Sullivan