Local theater: 'Dracula: The Musical' opens in Palatine

Frightful nights

Theatre Nebula and Music on Stage team up to produce “Dracula: The Musical” inspired by Bram Stoker's novel, with music by Frank Wildhorn and lyrics and book by Don Black and Christopher Hampton. The musical follows the famous count as he moves from his Transylvania estate to London where he encounters Mina, who he believes is his long-lost love reincarnated.

Opens at 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 7, and runs at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sunday through Nov. 6 at Cutting Hall Performing Arts Center, 150 E. Wood St., Palatine. (847) 202-5222 or draculathemusical.net.

More chills

Halloween inspired Steel Beam Theatre's annual fundraiser, which consists of a haunted house dubbed The Kane County Scaregrounds. Designed by former Walt Disney World artist R. J. Ogren, the 4,000-square-foot facility was built by members of Steel Beam's board of directors, some of whom may do double duty as Larry the Hairy Werewolf, Howard the Angry Comic Butcher and other residents of the scary domicile.

Weekends only from Friday, Oct. 7, through Sunday, Oct. 30, at the Kane County Fairgrounds, South Randall Road and Route 38 in St. Charles. See kcscaregrounds.com or steelbeamtheatre.com.

Comedy at Paramount

Standup comedian and impressionist Frank Caliendo takes a break from poking fun at Terry Bradshaw on “Fox NFL Sunday” to headline a show at Aurora's Paramount Theatre.

8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 7, at 23 E. Galena Blvd., Aurora. (630) 896-6666 or paramountaurora.com.

New this week:

Ÿ Redtwist theatre hosts Karen Vaccaro's one-woman show “And I Remember” for two weekends, beginning Saturday, Oct. 8, at 1044 W. Bryn Mawr, Chicago. Inspired by oral histories from three senior citizens, the show is about a poet, a pianist and an actress reflecting on their lives and is accompanied by big band music from the 1940s and 1950s. (773) 728-7529 or redtwist.org.

Ÿ Previews begin Saturday, Oct. 8, for Sideshow Theatre Company's Chicago-area premiere of “The Ugly One,” Marius von Mayenburg's play about a happily married, successful man who discovers he's the ugliest man in the world and seeks help from an unusual surgeon to improve his appearance. The show opens Thursday, Oct. 13, at the Oracle Theater, 3809 N. Broadway, Chicago. (773) 809-4782 or sideshowtheatre.org.

Ÿ Suburban newcomer The Music Theatre Company salutes Stephen Sondheim during a free concert at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 9, at 1850 Green Bay Road, Highland Park. The event includes songs by and about Sondheim along with performers discussing the composer's life and early works. (847) 579-4950 or themusictheatrecompany.org.

Ÿ Performance artist, author and NPR radio personality Joe Frank performs his show “Too Close To Home” at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 10, at Steppenwolf Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted St., Chicago. Guitarist James Harrah joins Frank for this evening of spoken word and music in which he unflinchingly recounts his parents' troubled marriage. (312) 335-1650, steppenwolf.org or joefrank.com.

Ÿ Raven Theatre opens its 2011-2012 season with William Inge's classic drama “Bus Stop,” about a group of travelers stranded by a snowstorm at a Kansas City diner. JoAnn Montemurro directs the production, which features Jen Short, a Janus Theatre veteran in her Raven Theatre debut, Michael Stegall, Jon Steinhagen and Dean La Prairie among others. Previews begin Tuesday, Oct. 11, at 6157 N. Clark St., Chicago. The show opens Oct. 16. (773) 338-2177 or raventheatre.com.

Ÿ Rebecca Gilman's adaptation of Carson McCullers' “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter” marks the opening of Steppenwolf Theatre's 2011-2012 young adults series. Previews begin Tuesday, Oct. 11, for the play about a deaf and mute man who offers solace and understanding to the disenfranchised residents of a Georgia boardinghouse during the 1930s. Hallie Gordon directs the production, which opens Oct. 16 at 1650 N. Halsted St., Chicago. (312) 335-1650 or steppenwolf.org.

Ÿ Once popular country star Doyle Mayfield — one half of the Doyle and Debbie duo — attempts to revive his career after 30 years, several marriages and at least three different Debbies in “The Doyle & Debbie Show.” Bruce Arntson plays Doyle and Jenny Littleton plays his latest Debbie, a single mother who dreams of making it big in Nashville, in the show, which begins previews Tuesday, Oct. 11, at the Royal George Cabaret, 1641 N. Halsted St., Chicago. The good-hearted parody features all original songs that celebrate and send up country music. It opens Oct. 17. (312) 988-9000 or doyleanddebbie.com.

Ÿ Erasing the Distance, an ensemble that uses theater to dispel myths surrounding mental health issues, and OCD Chicago, a group that helps people dealing with obsessive compulsive disorder, team up to present “OCD: Real Voices — Real People,” featuring actors from the Erasing the Distance ensemble performing the stories of three people living with OCD. The event takes place from 7 to 10 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 11, at Ann Sather Restaurant, 909 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. (773) 880-1635.

Ÿ Goodman Theatre expands its play development efforts with New Stages Amplified, an offshoot of the theater's New Stages series, which has aided the development of 47 new works over the last 10 years. Among the plays selected for New Stages Amplified is “Dartmoor Prison,” by Carlyle Brown, which runs Oct. 13-23, at 170 N. Dearborn St., Chicago. Chay Yew directs the play, which is set in a British prison during the War of 1812 and centers around an African-American sailor named King Dick whose career has afforded him personal freedom that most other African-Americans do not enjoy. (312) 443-3800 or goodmantheatre.org.

Ÿ Signal Ensemble Theatre opens its season with a double-bill consisting of one-act plays by Canadian writer Hannah Moscovitch and directed by co-artistic director Ronan Marra. “East of Berlin” centers on a young man named Rudi who, along with his family, escaped from the Nazis seven years earlier and is now confronting his past. Signal's production marks the play's Chicago-area premiere. The darkly comic “The Russian Play” centers on a flower show girl who falls in love with a gravedigger. Previews begin Thursday, Oct. 13. The double-bill opens Oct. 15 at 1802 W. Berenice Ave., Chicago. (773) 698-7389 or signalensemble.com.

Ÿ The Broadway hit “Mary Poppins” — the practically perfect mega-musical inspired by P.L. Travers' stories and the 1964 Walt Disney film starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke — returns to Chicago for a four-week run beginning Oct. 13 at the Cadillac Palace Theatre, 151 W. Randolph St., Chicago. (800) 775-2000 or broadwayinchicago.com.

Ÿ Previews begin Thursday, Oct. 13, for The Gift Theatre's production of Caryl Churchill's “Cloud 9,” a gender-bending farce in which the first act satirizes Victorian conventions and colonialism and the second act transports the characters to 1970s London where those restrictions no longer apply. The show opens Oct. 17 at 4802 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago. Ensemble member Maureen Payne-Hahner directs. (773) 283-7071 or thegifttheatre.org.

Ÿ Citadel Theatre opens its ninth season with the thriller “Wait Until Dark” about a blind woman menaced by a psychopathic criminal who thinks she has hidden a doll containing smuggled heroin somewhere in her apartment. The show opened this week at the West Campus Theatre, 300 S. Waukegan Road, Lake Forest. (847) 735-8554 or citadeltheatre.org.

Ÿ Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago, presents 45-minute improvisations inspired by Jane Austen novels on Thursdays through Oct. 27, with the Oct. 20 and 27 performances incorporating a zombie theme in honor of the season. (773) 327-5252 or stage773.com.

Ÿ Genesis Theatrical Productions opened “The People's Choice,” a sendup by Philip Pinkus of politics and the spin meisters who control the messages, this week at National Pastime Theater, 4139 N. Broadway, Chicago. (773) 327-7077, ext. 502, or genesistheatricals.com.

Ÿ Kurt Vonnegut's stories from his collection “Welcome to the Monkey House” inspired Open Face Theatre's new theater piece, “Drupelets,” running at 8 p.m. Thursdays in October, at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. (773) 327-5252 or openfacetheatre.com.

Ÿ Goodman Theatre has extended its Chicago premiere of John Logan's “Red,” chronicling the struggles of abstract expressionist painter Mark Rothko during a significant point in his career when he was commissioned to create murals for New York's Four Seasons restaurant. Performances continue through Oct. 30 at 170 N. Dearborn St., Chicago. (312) 443-3800 or goodmantheatre.org.

Ÿ “Pinkalicious: The Musical,” Emerald City Theatre's adaptation of the children's story inspired by Elizabeth Kann and Victoria Kann's picture books, has been extended. Performances will continue through Jan. 7, 2012, at the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place, 175 E. Chestnut St., Chicago. (800) 775-2000 or broadwayinchicago.com.

Ÿ Annoyance Theatre announced an extension of its hit show, “(Expletive), I Love You, Bye: The Rahm Emanuel Story.” Performances continue through Nov. 26 at 4830 N. Broadway, Chicago. (773) 561-4665 or theannoyance.com.

Ÿ American Theater Company and About Face Theatre have announced that acclaimed director David Cromer (who earned Obie and Lucille Lortel awards for his off-Broadway production of “Our Town,” originally produced in Chicago by The Hypocrites) will return to Chicago next spring to direct their joint production of “Rent,” Jonathan Larson's rock musical centered around a group of artist friends struggling with romance, relationships, jobs and AIDS in late 1980s New York City.

Ÿ Goodman Theatre recently announced that it had raised $10 million of its proposed $15 million endowment for what is Chicago's oldest and largest not-for-profit theater. The theater, which celebrated its 10th anniversary at its Dearborn Street location, continues to seek donations from the community to achieve its fundraising goal.