Current shows we think are hot, or soon-to-open shows that should be!
Balm in Gilead, The Hypocrites at Chopin through Nov. 2. This whip-smart staging of Lanford Wilson's cutting tale—set in an all-night NYC diner—could put one of our best small troupes, the Hypocrites, on the map, as it did Steppenwolf in the 1980s. (Reed)
Judgment at Nuremberg, Shattered Globe at the Loop Theater, through Oct. 12. For visitors to Chicago looking for serious drama, the downtown theatre district now offers a home-grown remount of a contender for this year's Top Jeff Award. (Barnidge)
The Secret in the Wings, Lookingglass Theatre, Sept. 29-Nov. 23. Star director Mary Zimmerman's newest project recounts unfamiliar European fairy tales. If true to form, it should be a garden of visual and aural delights, highly physical and exotic. (Abarbanel)
The Taming of the Shrew, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre through Nov. 23. The daily rags gave this tepid reviews. What do they know? A luminous ensemble shines in this un-PC, but fiercely funny, classic; placed by director David Bell in a lively 1960's piazza. (Reed)
by Jonathan Abarbanel, Mary Shen Barnidge and Rick Reed.