Spamalot, A Flea in Her Ear.
'It's so stupid, but spring is—like—this HUUUUUGE time for theater, dude. I mean, I know this guy at the Windy City Times who counts up shows? How many open and how many close? Yeah, I know, man, get a life. Whatever, he says that—like—50 shows are opening just this month. Y'know, it's like everyone wants to run around with costumes on and it's not even Halloween. And—like—Mardi Gras is over, OK? I mean, it's awesome but it's sooooo queer! Anyway, the guy at the Windy City Times? He says these are the shows not to miss, y'know? So—like—I know it's lame, dude, but I was wondering if you'd, y'know, see one of them with me? And then—like—I'll put out for you after? I know you want my booty, dude, and—like—I think you're way cute, y'know? Cool!'
Angels in America, Parts I and II, The Hypocrites at Bailiwick, through May 7. Tony Kushner's 'gay fantasia on national themes' remains one of the great achievements in late 20th-century American playwriting; a cogent, entertaining, gripping and still-timely exploration of politics, passion and faith.
A Flea in Her Ear, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, March 20-April 23. Multiple award winner Gary Griffin, director of The Color Purple on Broadway, returns to his home base to stage one of the funniest of all French boulevard farces by Georges Feydeau, in a new translation by David Ives. If they hit it right, it will be wonderful.
Monty Python's Spamalot, Cadillac Palace, April 19-June 4. The music never will win awards, but this outrageously funny show adapts and explodes the popular film in a kind-of British pantomime-meets-Hellzapoppin-way. 'Always Look on the Bright Side of Life' takes pride of place among the noodling tunes.
Three Tall Women, Apple Tree Theatre ( Highland Park ) , April 26-May 21. Playwright Edward Albee won his third Pulitzer Prize for this semi-autobiographical play, in which an adolescent boy comes out to the three older, dominant women in his life. It's exquisite, sometimes funny and moving. It's Albee's most personal work.
The Old Curiosity Shop, Lookingglass Theatre Company, May 6-June 4. Perhaps the most pathos-riddled and bathetic of all Charles Dickens novels, famous for its description of the death of Little Nell. Said Oscar Wilde of the tearjerker, 'A man would need a heart of stone to read the Death of Little Nell and not laugh.' Lookingglass generally does a bang-up job with such material. Bring an extra hankie.
The Retreat from Moscow, Northlight Theatre ( Skokie ) , May 10-June 16. As with Napoleon's disastrous retreat through the Russian winter, no one escapes intact in William Nicholson's literate, acerbic drama about the disintegrating marriage of a middle-aged couple. Steppenwolf Ensemble colleagues John Mahoney and Rondi Reed star, and you will not find two better actors anywhere.
Fiorello!, Timeline Theatre, May 6-June 18. This award-winning Off-Loop company never has done a Broadway musical. They've picked a good one, but a tricky one: a biography of ebullient half-Italian/half-Jewish Fiorello LaGuardia, the reform-minded mayor of New York City in the 1930's and 1940's, of beloved memory.
Nixon in China, Chicago Opera Theater, May 17-27. Unbelievably, it's taken almost 20 years for a Chicago company to stage John Adams' ground-breaking opera ( libretto by Alice Goodman ) , inspired by the 1972 meeting of President Richard Nixon and Chairman Mao Tse-tung. It's a major musical and theatrical event.
The Sweet Smell of Success, Circle Theatre ( Forest Park ) , May 17-June 25. Based on the 1950s film noir about a powerful New York gossip columnist, this musical has a dazzling and challenging jazz-influence score by Marvin Hamlisch, perhaps his best work. Opening just weeks after 9/11, the show was savaged by Broadway critics unwilling to tolerate its dark vision of their city in those dark days. It richly deserves another look.
The Duchess of Malfi, Writers' Theatre ( Glencoe ) , May 23-July 16. The recipe is three parts blood, two parts lust and one part deceit, all served on a skewer in this classic Jacobean ( 1612 ) revenge tragedy by John Webster. Seek no redemption here, just excesses of passion, gore and a strong streak of very dark comedy.
'Hey, dude, was it good for you? It was good for me, y'know? So—like—you wanna' go see another one?'
