Theater events: 'Brigadoon' revived at Goodman

‘Brigadoon' revival

Jeff Award-winning director/choreographer Rachel Rockwell makes her Goodman Theatre directing debut with a revival of “Brigadoon.” The 1947 musical by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe is about two 20th century American men who stumble upon an 18th century Scottish village that appears one day every 100 years. Roberta Duchak serves as music director for the production, which features a slightly revised libretto by Brian Hill.

Previews begin at 8 p.m. Friday, June 27, at 170 N. Dearborn St., Chicago. The show opens July 7. $25-$98. (312) 443-3800 or goodmeantheatre.org.

Cirque's ‘Immortal'

Cirque du Soleil brings its production of “Michael Jackson The Immortal World Tour” to the Sears Centre Arena for two shows this weekend. Presented in rock concert format with Jackson video clips, the show features dancers, musicians and acrobats performing Cirque's trademark tricks and stunts.

8 p.m. Friday, June 27, and Saturday, June 28, at 5333 Prairie Stone Parkway, Hoffman Estates. $53-$178. (847) 649-2270 or searscentrearena.com.

‘Qualms' premiere

Status, power and sex underscore “The Qualms,” the latest by Pulitzer Prize winner Bruce Norris (“Clybourne Park”) in its world premiere at Steppenwolf Theatre. Tony Award-winning ensemble member Pam MacKinnon directs the play about a group of friends whose regular, beachside, partner-swapping get-together is upended by newcomers Chris (Greg Stuhr) and Kristy (Diane Davis).

Previews begin at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 3, at 1650 N. Halsted St., Chicago. The show opens July 13. $20-$86. (312) 335-1650 or steppenwolf.org.

What's new

• In honor of Independence Day, Broadway in Chicago is offering a number of half-price tickets to the Broadway-bound “The Last Ship” and the national tour of “Motown the Musical” for select performances July 1 through 10. Tickets are available at League of Chicago Theatre's Hot Tix booths at 72 E. Randolph St., Chicago; 108 N. State St., Chicago; and 63 E. Pearson St., Chicago, or at hottix.org. “Motown the Musical” plays through Aug. 9 at the Oriental Theatre, 24 W. Randolph St., Chicago. “The Last Ship” plays through July 13 at the Bank of America Theatre, 18 W. Monroe St., Chicago. (800) 775-2000 or broadwayinchicago.com.

• Gorilla Tango, 1919 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago, remounts a couple of shows this weekend. Storyteller Rob Ruiz performs his autobiographical, unscripted, one-man show “The Spanglish Memoirs” — inspired by his childhood, his family members and his various careers. He performs at 7:30 p.m. Friday, June 27, and Saturday, June 28. Also, Thorpedo Productions presents “Build-A-Tale,” a family-friendly, improvised show, opening at 3 p.m. Saturday, June 28 and running through Aug. 30. (773) 598-4549 or gorillatango.com.

• The Neo-Futurists celebrate Pride Month with a special performance of “Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind,” featuring “30 queer plays in 60 straight minutes.” Performances are at 11 p.m. Friday, June 27, and Saturday, June 28, and 7 p.m. Sunday, June 29, at 5153 N. Ashland Ave., Chicago. The company will collect money for Project Fierce, a volunteer organization working to reduce LGBTQ youth homelessness, at each performance. Tickets are $20. Reservations recommended. (773) 275-5255 or neofuturists.org.

• Comedian Shawn Bowers — who spent time “goldfishing” or pretending to be a woman on online dating sites — used the experience and the conversations, emails and texts he collected to create “The Goldfish Project: Rejection.” The New Colony presents the adults-only show at 10 p.m. Friday, June 27, and Saturday, June 28, at Dank Haus, 4740 N. Western Ave., Chicago. See thenewcolony.org.

• American Blues Theater presents a staged reading of “Comden Hall Community Activists,” by Douglas Post, at 4:30 p.m. Sunday, June 29, at Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. The play won ABT's 2014 Blue Ink Playwriting Award recognizing a new work. Ensemble members Jim Leaming, Ian Paul Custer, Dara Cameron and Kate Buddeke will take part in the reading of the play set in the backroom of a library where neighbors have gathered to discuss a recent fatal shooting and in the process, confront their own prejudices and perceptions. See americanbluestheater.com for more information.

• The Gift Theatre hosts a fundraiser from 4 to 10 p.m. Sunday, July 29, at Fischman Liquors and Tavern Back Lot, 4780 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago. Tickets are $25 for the Season Release Bash, which features music by the Lawrence Peters Outfit and unlimited beer courtesy of Left Hand Brewing Co. Guests who subscribe during the fundraiser can see the remaining two shows of this season and all three 2015 shows for $125. (773) 283-7071 or thegifttheatre.org.

• New Orleans singer/songwriter Paul Sanchez, a regular on HBO's “Treme,” performs at 7 p.m. Sunday, June 29, at 4041 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago, as part of Filament Theatre's concert series. Tickets are $10. (773) 270-1660 or filamenttheatre.org.

• Sideshow Theatre Company hosts an Independence Day rooftop party from 6 to 11 p.m. Friday, July 4, at #105, 2251 W. Wabansia Ave., Chicago. The party includes food, beverages and a view of Chicago fireworks. Tickets are $25 in advance, $35 at the door. See sideshowtheatre.org/4th.

• Chicago's longest-running Broadway musical “Million Dollar Quartet,” a fictionalized account of the December 1956 jam session between Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley at Memphis' Sun Records, has been extended again. Performances continue through Jan. 4, 2015, at the Apollo Theater, 2540 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. Discounted family performances are at 5 p.m. July 6 and August 10. (773) 935-6100 or milliondollarquartetlive.com.

• Discounted season subscriptions are available through Monday, July 1, for Citadel Theatre's 2014-2015 season, which begins Sept. 5 with Ira Levin's “Deathtrap,” about a fading playwright who tries to appropriate a former student's play for his own use. Citadel presents a holiday double bill of O. Henry's “The Gift of the Magi” and Truman Capote's “A Christmas Memory” from Nov. 21 to Dec. 21. Jon Robin Baitz's “Other Desert Cities,” about a woman who pens an autobiographic novel that could upend the lives of her Reagan Republican parents, plays Feb. 13-March 13, 2015. The season concludes with Marc Camoletti's sex farce, “Don't Dress for Dinner,” April 24-May, 24, 2015. Performances are at 300 S. Waukegan Road, Lake Forest. (847) 735-8554 or citadeltheatre.org.

• Chicago Shakespeare Theater announced recently that its 2014-2015 World's Stage Series will feature productions from Australia, South Africa, France, England, Scotland and Belgium. Melbourne, Australia's one step at a time like this returns to Chicago on Aug. 28, with a CST commission titled “Since I Suppose,” based on Shakespeare's “Measure for Measure.” Next up is the U.S. premiere of a re-imagined “The Magic Flute” (Sept. 25-28), by the Isango Ensemble, from South Africa. “Ionesco Suite,” a celebration of the work of absurdist playwright Eugene Ionesco from Paris' Theatre de la Villa, runs Oct. 15-19. The setting is a dinner party that “descends into an absurdist nightmare.” CST participates in Chicago's first International Puppet Festival in January with performances of the adults-only “The Table,” starring the cantankerous Moses, from Britain's Blind Summit, and “Freeze!” which consists of Belgium artist Nick Steur performing a balancing act. These performances complete the previously announced schedule, which includes the Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre of Scotland's world tour of “Hamlet” (July 28-30). The companies return Feb. 26, 2015, for “Dunsinane,” David Greig's sequel to “Macbeth” July 28-30, which examines the aftermath of Macbeth's death. Performances take place at Navy Pier, 800 E. Grand Ave., Chicago. For information on season subscriptions or single tickets, call (312) 595-5600 or chicagoshakes.com.

• Female spoken-word poets will address the topic of violence against women before performances at 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 1 and 8, and Thursday, July 10, of “Death and the Maiden” at Victory Gardens Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. The play runs through July 13. (773) 871-3000 or victorygardens.org.

• Goodman Theatre artistic director Robert Falls brings his world premiere of Rebecca Gilman's “Luna Gale,” starring Mary Beth Fisher as a social worker trying to determine where to place an infant born to drug-addicted teenagers, to the Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles this fall. Additionally, Falls will direct the Lyric Opera of Chicago's season-opening production “Don Giovanni.”