Finishing the Picture, Goodman Theatre, through Nov. 7. Last week to see the stars in Arthur Miller's new play in which a collapsed film goddess is beset by vultures. When the most compassionate character is her producer, you know they're circling for the kill. MSB
Pyretown, Victory Gardens, through Nov. 14. Despite a split personality, Pyretown is a new play worth seeing for the 'good' part: a love story between two people crippled in more ways than one, sensitively played by Elaine Rivkin and Aaron Roman Weiner. RR
Sweeney Todd, Porchlight at Theatre Building, extended through Nov. 28. Now you have more time to see the tuneful best musical production in town, starring creepy Michael Aaron Lindner and funny Rebecca Finnegan. It's Porchlight's Sondheim masterpiece. RR
This Happy Breed, TimeLine, through Dec. 19. A troupe that generally does things well tackles Noel Coward's rarely-seen 1943 patriotic drama about British family life between the two World Wars. Coward staged and starred in the original, of course. JA
— By Jonathan Abarbanel, Mary Shen Barnidge and Rick Reed