Theater Spotlight
The year-long Shakespeare 400 Chicago celebration continues at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, 800 E. Grand Ave. which has imported the Oxford Playhouse production of Sancho: An Act of Remembrance. Royal Shakespeare Company actor Paterson Joseph portrays Charles Ignatius Sancho, an 18th-century composer, social satirist and friend of the great Shakespearean actor/manager David Garrick. Sancho also has the distinction of being the first British-African to vote in 1774. Tickets are $38 to $48; call 312-595-5600 or visit www.chicagoshakes.com for more information.
Photo by Robert Day
Critics' Picks
American Buffalo, Mary-Arrchie Theatre Company at Angel Island, through March 6. With the wrecking ball only months away, this 30-year-old Chicago theater company returns to its roots for one last all-star stand. MSB
Hairspray, Paramount Theatre, Aurora, through Feb. 21. The hit 2002 Tony Award-winning Broadway musical adaptation of John Waters' quirky 1988 film receives a dazzling production out in Aurora. Amid all the laughs are serious reminders of segregation in the early 1960s. SCM
Le Switch, About Face at Theater Wit, through Feb. 21. Frequent big laughs in always-sharp Philip Dawkins' new comedy about a love-challenged gay man, afraid of losing homo identity to hetero-normativity now that gay marriage is legal. JA
The Man Who Murdered Sherlock Holmes, Mercury Theater, through March 20. The game's afoot in this delightful new musical starring Nick Sandys as the supersleuth and Michael Aaron Lindner as the author whowell, you knowby the creative team that brought us the long-running Christmas Schooner. MSB
By Abarbanel, Barnidge and Morgan