Theater events: Celebrate jazz giant Ella Fitzgerald at Metropolis

Comedy crank up

The Comedy Shrine hosts “Cranked Up,” a new weekly, stand-up showcase featuring up-and-coming local and touring comedians. Jack Baker and Adam Gulley emcee this week's show featuring Deanna Ortiz, Alan Grafton and Jeff Arcuri. 8 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 1, at 4034 Fox Valley Center Drive, Aurora. $20 plus a two-menu-item minimum. (630) 585-0300 or comedyshrine.com.

‘Boy from Oz'

Pride Films and Plays presents the Chicago area premiere of “The Boy from Oz,” the docu-musical about Australian singer/songwriter Peter Allen (“I Go to Rio,” “Don't Cry Out Loud,” “Arthur's Theme”), featuring music and lyrics by Allen and a book by Martin Sherman and Nick Enright. Directed by Lisle native David Zak, the show stars Chris Logan as Allen, Michelle Lauto as Allen's wife Liza Minnelli and Luke Meierdiercks as his lover, Greg. Previews begin at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 5, at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. The show opens Aug. 7. $25-$40. (773) 327-5252 or stage773.com or pridefilmsandplays.com.

At the artists lounge

Karen Marie Richardson channels jazz giant Ella Fitzgerald as part of Artists Lounge Live, the Metropolis Performing Arts Centre series established by Michael Ingersoll (Under the Streetlamp, “Jersey Boys”) to showcase musical theater artists in a cabaret setting. Richardson, who toured in Duke Ellington's “Queenie Pie,” performs such signature Fitzgerald tunes as “I Got Rhythm” and “It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got that Swing.” 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 6, at 111 W. Campbell St., Arlington Heights. $40, stage tables $45. (847) 577-2121 or metropolisarts.com.

What's new

• Jedlicka Performing Arts Center, 3801 S. Central Ave., Cicero, opens its 33rd season with “Miss Saigon,” by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg. The musical tells the story of Kim, a young Vietnamese bar girl who falls in love with Chris, an American G.I. in the chaotic days before the fall of Saigon. Shana Dagny stars as Kim and Eddie Sejda plays Chris in the production, which is directed by Dante J. Orfei. Performances begin July 31. (708) 656-1800 or jpactheatre.com.

• A Red Orchid Theatre's Incubator Series showcasing emerging theater artists returns with a “Celebration of Harold Pinter,” featuring music by Mauricio Kagel and directed by ensemble member Dado. An examination of “human disconnection” set on the eve of an anniversary party in an elite London restaurant, it runs Fridays and Saturdays from July 31 through Aug. 15 at 1531 N. Wells St., Chicago. (312) 943-8722 or aredorchidtheatre.org.

• Oracle Theatre presents the world premiere stage adaptation of a 1965 Cambridge Union Society debate between novelist and social critic James Baldwin and National Review founder William F. Buckley Jr. titled “This House Believes the American Dream is at the Expense of the American Negro.” Adapted and directed by Zachary Baker-Salmon, the 70-minute work examines the ongoing battle against racism and inequality. Previews begin Wednesday, Aug. 5, at Theater on the Lake, Washington Park Refectory, 5531 S. Russell Drive, Chicago. (312) 742-7994 or chicagoparkdistrict.com. The production moves to Austin Town Hall, 5610 W. Lake St., Chicago, from Aug. 12 to 15. The show opens Aug. 21, at Oracle, 3809 N. Broadway St., Chicago. Admission to the Oracle production is free, but donations are accepted. See publicaccesstheatre.org for more information.

• New Orleans pianist Tom McDermott performs at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 5, as part of Filament Theatre's House Concert Series. McDermott will share stories about New Orleans during the event, which includes a screening of a Buster Keaton film with live underscoring. See filamenttheatre.org.

• Citadel Theatre Company's production of William Shakespeare's “As You Like It” continues its outdoor performances in Lake County. From Aug. 6 through Aug. 9, the troupe performs at Prairie Crossing Farm, 32400 N. Harris Road, Grayslake. Performances take place Aug. 13 to 16 at the Grove Cultural Campus, 100 E. Mill Road, Lake Forest. Frank Farrell directs the comedy about a young woman, banished from court, who disguises herself as a man and finds love and community among fellow outcasts, including a deposed duke. (847) 234-3880, ext. 21 or citadeltheatre.org.

• Cirque du Soleil returns to Chicago after four years with “Kurios — Cabinet of Curiosities” Thursday, Aug. 6. Written and directed by Michel Laprise, this 2014 production is set during the 19th century and “transports audiences into a fantasy world where anything is possible.” Performances continue through Sept. 20 under the big top in the parking lot of the United Center, 1901 W. Madison St., Chicago. (800) 450-1480 or cirqueduesoleil.com/kurios.

• Dead Writers Theatre Collective stages a benefit chamber production of David Hare's “The Judas Kiss.” Ben Muller stars as Oscar Wilde in this drama about how Wilde's decision to accommodate a selfish young lover led to the writer's two-year imprisonment and exile. Performances run Thursday, Aug. 6, through Saturday, Aug. 8, at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. Admission is $40 per person and includes a wine ticket for the Stage 772 bar. Proceeds benefit Dead Writers Theatre. (773) 305-8221 or deadwriters.net.

• Overshadowed by her husband's success, the unstable Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald struggles to define herself as an artist in “Zelda at the Oasis” by Pat Lin. Genesis Theatrical Productions' Chicago-area premiere begins Thursday, July 6, at Raven Theatre, 6157 N. Clark St., Chicago. (773) 338-2177 or genesistheatricals.com.

• Representatives from the Arab, Christian, Armenian, Coptic, Muslim and Syrian communities will engage in a panel discussion commemorating the centennial of the Armenian, Aramaean/Assyrian and Greek genocides. The discussion is at 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 6, at the Historic Chicago Temple Building, 77 W. Washington St., Chicago. Admission is free, but reservations are required. (312) 857-1234 or silkroadrising.org.

• Improv duo Stephanie Weir (“The Comedians”) and her husband Bob Dassie typically call California's iO West home. But they return to Chicago for a one-night only performance at 10 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 6, at iO Chicago, 1501 N. Kingsbury St., Chicago. (312) 929-2401 or ioimprov.com.

• Barrel of Monkeys brings its revue “That's Weird, Grandma,” conceived and written by Chicago public school students, to Gladstone Park, 5421 N. Menard Ave., Chicago, as part of the company's summer neighborhood tour in conjunction with the Chicago Park District's Night Out in the Parks. The show is at 6:15 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 6. See barrelofmonkeys.org.

• Trap Door Theatre announced its 2015-2016 season will begin Aug. 20 with Joan Schenkar's dark, vicious take on “Little Red Riding Hood” titled “The Universal Wolf,” followed on Oct. 15 by “The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls,” Meg Miroshnik's drama about a 20-year-old girl who returns to her native Russia and discovers a world of evil stepmothers and ravenous bears. Following that is John Webster's 17th century tragedy “The Duchess of Malfi” (Jan. 14-Feb. 20, 2016), about a widowed young duchess who marries against her brothers' wishes and suffers their wrath. Next up is Matei Visniec's “How to Explain the History of Communism to Mental Patients” (March 10-April 16, 2016). Set in 1953, just before the death of Josef Stalin, it's a subversive examination of the ideology in which a writer attempts to explain communism to inmates at an asylum. The season concludes with Dorota Maslowska's “Not Matter How Hard We Try” (May 12-June 18, 2016), a dramedy about post-Communist Poland divided against itself. Subscriptions start at $75. Performances take place at 1655 W. Cortland St., Chicago. (773) 384-0494 or trapdoortheatre.com.

• Saint Sebastian Players open their 35th season with Joseph Kesselring's “Arsenic and Old Lace” (Oct. 23-Nov. 15), a classic comedy about a pair of elderly sisters whose nephew uncovers a secret: that his aunts are knocking off lonely, elderly men with arsenic-laced wine. That's followed by William Shakespeare's “The Tempest” (Feb. 19-March 13, 2016), about the efforts of Prospero, the wrongly ousted Duke of Milan who has found refuge on a near-deserted island, to reclaim his rightful position. The season concludes with Ira Levin's comedic thriller “Deathtrap” (April 29-May 22, 2016), about a struggling Broadway playwright and writing professor who — after reading a script by one of his students — decides to kill the student and claim the script as his own. Performances take place at St. Bonaventure, 1625 W. Diversey St., Chicago. Subscription packages are $40. (773) 404-7922 or saintsebastianplayers.org.

• About Face Theatre opens its 20th season Jan. 15, 2016, with the world premiere of “Le Switch,” a romance by artistic associate Philip Dawkins. It's about a commitment-shy gay man, unsure how he feels about marriage equality, who's swept off his feet by a young florist. “after all the terrible things i do,” about “second chances and the price of forgiveness” by A. Rey Pamatmat, begins previews March 11, 2016. It centers on a young gay writer who returns home after college and discovers an unlikely connection with his female boss. The season concludes May 6, 2016, with the Chicago area premiere of “The Secretaries,” a dark, campy comedy by The Five Lesbian Brothers (Maureen Angelos, Babs Davy, Dominique Dibbell, Peg Healey and Tony Award-winner Lisa Kron). The story centers on a woman who lands the job of her dreams only to discover her co-workers in the secretarial pool are killers. Performances take place at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. For information on the flexible ticket package see aboutfacetheatre.org.

• The Second City announced a new production venture with producer Kelly Leonard to develop new works. Kelly Leonard Productions (KLP) will launch plays, musicals and collaborations of the kind that resulted in works such as “Death of a Streetcar Named Virginia Woolf,” launching next year with Writer's Theatre in Glencoe. In addition, Erica Daniels has been named president of Second City Theatricals.

• After five years as Waltzing Mechanics founding artistic director, Thomas Murray is stepping down to attend graduate school. Zachary Florent will take over the leadership role for the company responsible for the ongoing El Stories, inspired by real tales from people taking public transportation. The current incarnation, “El Stories: Stranger Danger,” runs at 11 p.m. Saturdays at the Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. (773) 404-7336 or greenhousetheater.org or waltzingmechanics.org.

• WildClaw Theatre announced that Josh Zagoren will become the company's new artistic director while Moira Begale takes over as managing director. The company also announced the addition of new associates: Krista D'Agostino, Sarah D. Espinoza, Norine McGrath and Christopher Walsh. Founded in 2007 and named for Chicago actor Ray “The Claw” Wild, WildClaw brings horror to Chicago stages by presenting tales of dread, suspense and terror.