New dramas, time-tested musicals among fall's theater offerings

You can't please everybody with theater.

Play things too safely and a theater audience becomes bored and complacent. Take too many artistic risks and audiences will flee up the aisles.

Luckily for theater fans in and around Chicago, there are plenty of options for the upcoming fall season. Brand-new comedies and dramas are on offer, as are many old favorites that practically guarantee your live entertainment dollars will be well-spent.

Here are some - but by no means all - of the highlights of the local fall theater season.

Local Tony winners

Chicago is home to four Tony Award-winning regional theaters: Steppenwolf Theatre, the Goodman Theatre, Victory Gardens Theater and Chicago Shakespeare Theater. That's more than any other city in the U.S., so it makes sense to check out what's going on at these nationally recognized stages.

Steppenwolf Theatre moves from the world premiere of Bruce Norris' "A Parallelogram" (closing Aug. 29) to another. Ensemble member Austin Pendleton directs Lisa D'Amour's new dark comedy "Detroit" (Sept. 9-Nov. 7, steppenwolf.org), which shows neighborly suburban behavior spinning out of control. The cast might just scare you into never inviting your neighbors over for a barbecue again. Look for Gurnee native Kevin Anderson and "Roseanne" alum Laurie Metcalf along with fellow ensemble members Kate Arrington, Ian Barford and Robert Brueler.

Leonard Bernstein's comic operetta "Candide" (Sept. 17-Oct. 24, goodmantheatre.org) dates from 1956, but it has been changed and altered so much that you never know exactly what you're going to get each time you see it. Tony Award-winning director Mary Zimmerman puts her unique spin on the Voltaire-inspired material this fall at the Goodman Theatre. Also on tap at the Goodman is Tony Award-winning artistic director Robert Falls' new take on Chekhov's "The Seagull" (Oct. 26-Nov. 14).

"At Home at the Zoo" (Oct. 1-31, victorygardens.org) is the new title for Edward Albee's 1958 drama "The Zoo Story" and the regional premiere of his recently added 2009 prequel "Homelife." Find out what spurs publishing executive Peter to make a deadly park bench encounter with the unstable Jerry when Victory Gardens performs both one-act plays by a man many consider to be America's greatest living dramatist.

Acclaimed Australian director Gale Edwards directs a new production of the tragedy "Romeo and Juliet" for Chicago Shakespeare Theater (Sept. 15-Nov. 21, chicagoshakes.com). Meanwhile, Chicago Shakespeare co-founder Barbara Gaines makes her operatic directing debut with Verdi's take on Shakespeare's "Macbeth" for the Lyric Opera of Chicago (Oct. 1-Oct. 30, lyricopera.org).

Broadway in Chicago

In addition to the long run of "Billy Elliot The Musical," there are plenty of Broadway national tours to catch this season.

Audiences who love jukebox musicals will probably want to see the 2009 Broadway hit "Rock of Ages" (Sept. 25-Oct. 3, broadwayinchicago.com). "American Idol" finalist Constantine Maroulis stars in this campy 1980s hair-metal nostalgia trip, which launches its national tour from the Bank of America Theatre complete with tunes by Styx, Bon Jovi, Journey and more.

When Broadway in Chicago took over the Drury Lane Theatre Water Tower Place earlier this year, they planned renovations and re-christened it as the new Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place. "An Evening with Sutton Foster" (Sept. 23-26, broadwayinchicago.com) opens up the newly renovated modernistic space with a cabaret revue featuring the Tony Award-winning Broadway star of "Thoroughly Modern Millie" and "The Drowsy Chaperone." Then the French Canadian troupe 7 Fingers moves into the Broadway Playhouse with its acrobatic "Traces" (Oct. 26-Dec. 19).

Also filling up real estate at the Cadillac Palace Theatre are return engagements by two worldwide smashes: Disney's "The Lion King" (Sept. 29-Nov. 27) and "Wicked" (Dec. 1-Jan. 23).

Yet another Broadway show making a return is "Legally Blonde The Musical," but this time in Rosemont under the auspices of the Rosemont Theatre (Dec. 3-5, rosemonttheatre.com).

Close to home

Not everybody wants to deal with the hassles of schlepping into the city to see great theater - and with a number of fine suburban theaters you don't have to.

Once the longest running show in Broadway history, "A Chorus Line" (Sept. 1-Oct. 31, marriotttheatre.com) follows 17 dancers trying to get a job as they undergo an emotionally draining audition. The award-winning 1970s masterpiece will be staged in the round at the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire.

Michael Hollinger's film noir mystery "Red Herring" received rave reviews back when Skokie's Northlight Theatre staged it in 2005. Now Noble Fool Theatricals artistic director John Gawlik gives this comic tale of Cold War espionage a St. Charles spin (Sept. 2-Oct. 24, noblefool.org).

Also in St. Charles, Steel Beam Theatre celebrates its 10th anniversary with a revival of its 2006 world premiere golf-related musical "Fairways" (Sept. 10-Oct. 10, steelbeamtheatre.com).

After garnering national press acclaim for its dramatic productions of "Picnic" and "A Streetcar Named Desire," Writers' Theatre in Glencoe lightens up with a new production of the critically beloved 1963 romantic musical comedy "She Loves Me" (Sept. 14-Nov. 21, writerstheatre.org).

"The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" appears yet again, but this time the quirky 2005 musical sings at the Metropolis Performing Arts Centre in Arlington Heights (Sept. 23-Nov. 6, metropolisarts.com).

Also making a return is First Folio Theatre's acclaimed staging of David Rice's "The Madness of Edgar Allan Poe: A Love Story" (Oct. 6-Nov. 7, firstfolio.org). It is sure to make good spooky use of Mayslake Hall at Mayslake Peabody Estate Forest Preserve in Oak Brook.

Expect plenty of dazzling choreography when Bill Jenkins directs the 1980s stage adaptation of "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" for Drury Lane Oak Brook in Oakbrook Terrace (Oct. 14-Dec. 19, drurylaneoakbrook.com).

Page to stage

Chicago's celebrated tradition of transforming great works of literature for the stage continues this season.

Lookingglass Theatre scored an oft-revived hit with its "Lookingglass Alice," so it makes sense for them to turn their attention to J.M. Barrie's "Peter Pan" (Oct. 20-Dec. 12, lookingglasstheatre.org). Adapter Amanda Dehnert is sure to stage an acrobatic take on the tale of the boy who refused to grow up.

Emily Brontë's "Wuthering Heights" is a towering achievement of English romantic literature. See if Christina Calvit's world premiere adaptation for Lifeline Theatre (Sept. 10-Oct. 31, lifelinetheatre.com) brings out all of the pent-up passion of the stormy Yorkshire moors.

Jean Webster's novel "Daddy Long Legs" (Sept. 16-Oct. 24, northlight.org) gets some vocal chops at Northlight Theatre in Skokie as they present a new musical adaptation by the composer/lyricist Paul Gordon ("Jane Eyre") and John Caird ("Les Miserables"). Watch what happens when the orphan Jerusha Abbott gets funds and a chance to study at college from a mysterious benefactor.

Theatre in Glencoe stages an adaptation of Graham Greene's novel "Travels with My Aunt" (Nov. 9 through March 27, writerstheatre.org), about a retired banker and his wildly eccentric aunt. It should be a very intimate experience in the back of the Glencoe store Books on Vernon.

New to these parts

Audiences looking for something new should check out these world and regional premieres.

Profiles Theatre courts controversy with its Midwest premiere of Deirdre O'Connor's "Jailbait" (Aug. 27-Oct. 17, profilestheatre.org). It's the story of two 15-year-old girls posing as college students to get into a dance club, only to meet up with a pair of older men.

Chicago Dramatists' world premiere of Steven Peterson's "The Invasion of Skokie" (Sept. 2-Oct. 10, chicagodramatists.org) is set in the late 1970s when neo-Nazis are threatening to march on Skokie. So it's probably not the best time for a gentile guy to meet a nice Jewish family to ask for their daughter's hand in marriage.

Redmoon Theatre unveils two outdoor spectacles in September: "J. O. E" (Sept. 3-6, redmoon.org) is a big Labor Day weekend event near Belmont Harbor, while "The Astronaut's Birthday" (Sept. 9-26) plays weekends outside the Museum of Contemporary Art where the building's facade becomes a living and breathing comic book adventure.

Paul Mullin's "Louis Slotin Sonata" (Sept. 10-Oct. 24, aredorchidtheatre.org) theatrically dramatizes the tragic outcome of bomb-builder Louis Slotin and his encounter with a plutonium core. A Red Orchid Theatre stages the regional premiere.

Four longtime pals have their patience (and friendships) severely tested on a cross-county drive in Crystal V. Rhodes' comedy "The Trip" (Sept. 23-Nov. 14, etacreativearts.org). eta Creative Arts Foundation stages this world premiere to launch its 40th anniversary season featuring entirely new works.

Bartlett native Stef Tovar's Route 66 Theatre Company returns with Scott T. Barsotti's new dark comedy "McMeekin Finds Out" (Oct. 7-Nov. 14, route66theatre.org) at the Richard C. Christiansen Theatre at the Victory Gardens Biograph Theater. Broadway veteran Kate Buddeke and Jeff Award-winner Randy Steinmeyer star as a married coupled whose convalescence from a car accident is interrupted by a startling secret.