Theater events: Princesses power Marriott's 'Cinderella ... After the Ball'

By Barbara Vitello

Girl power

Cinderella achieves her happily ever after with help from fellow fairy tale maidens Rapunzel and Sleeping Beauty in Marriott Theatre's young audiences production of "Cinderella ... After the Ball," a musical about princesses exercising their girl power. Scott Weinstein directs the show by composer Jihwan Kim and writer/lyricist Eddie Sugarman and starring Marriott veteran Dara Cameron in the titular role. Previews continue at 10 a.m. Friday, March 11, at 10 Marriott Drive, Lincolnshire. The show opens Saturday, March 12. $17.23. (847) 634-0200 or marriotttheatre.com.

Moral dilemma

When three escaped slaves seek sanctuary at a Union fort during the Civil War, its controversial commander faces a moral dilemma: return them to their owners as the law requires or free them as morality demands in "Butler," by former Victory Gardens Theater playwright Richard Strand. Stuart Carden makes his Northlight Theatre directorial debut with this production, which marks the return of Greg Vinkler to Northlight's stage. Previews begin at 8 p.m. Friday, March 11, at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie Blvd., Skokie. The show opens March 18. $25-$79. (847) 673-6300 or northlight.org.

'West Side Story'

Paramount Theatre concludes its season with a revival of the Leonard Bernstein-Stephen Sondheim masterwork "West Side Story." Artistic director Jim Corti directs the production, which features a 19-member orchestra, Paramount's largest of the season, under music director/conductor Tom Vendafreddo. Zoe Nadal and Will Skrip star as Maria and Tony. The show is choreographed by William Carlos Angulo. Previews begin at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 16, at 23 E. Galena Blvd., Aurora. The show opens March 19. $41-$56. (630) 896-6666 or paramountaurora.com.

Other theater events

• Interrobang Theatre Project revives Craig Wright's dark comedy "Recent Tragic Events." Set on Sept. 12, 2001, in Minneapolis, the play centers on Andrew whose first date with advertising executive Waverly goes awry when she tries to reach her sister who's been unaccounted for since the attacks the previous day. Co-artistic director Georgette Verdin directs. Previews begin Friday, March 11, at The Athenaeum Theatre, 2936 N. Southport Ave., Chicago. The show opens Sunday, March 13. (773) 935-6875 or interrobangtheatre.org.

• Previews begin Friday, March 11, for About Face Theatre's Chicago-area premiere of "after all the terrible things I do," A. Rey Pamatmat's play about second chances. It centers on a young, gay writer who returns home and takes a job at a local bookstore owned by a Filipina woman whose discovers they share a connection more profound than literature. The play opens Thursday, March 17, at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. (773) 404-7336 or aboutfacetheatre.org.

• Young singer-actors with ties to Metropolis Performing Arts Centre, Drury Lane, Marriott and Paramount theaters star in Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre's revival of "Rent" beginning previews Friday, March 11, at No Exit Cafe, 6970 N. Glenwood Ave., Chicago. Scott Weinstein directs the musical about a group of New York City twentysomethings grappling with love, AIDS and a depressed economy. The show opens March 14. See theo-u.com.

• The House Theatre of Chicago presents the world premiere of "United Flight 232," about the Chicago-bound flight that crashed outside Sioux City, Iowa, in 1989. Vanessa Stalling adapted and directed the production based on the book by Laurence Gonzales titled "Flight 232: A Story of Disaster and Survival." Previews begin Friday, March 11, at the Chopin Theatre, 1543 W. Division St., Chicago. The show opens March 20. (773) 769-3832 or thehousetheatre.com.

• The Chicago Mammals remount their show "Clay Continent - Jekyll and Hyde" an examination of villainy drawn from stories by Robert Louis Stevenson, Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Edgar Allan Poe. Performances begin Saturday, March 12, at Zoo Studios, 4001 N. Ravenswood Ave., Chicago. See chicagomammals.com.

• The Annoyance Theatre, 851 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago, previews its new adults-only comedy-horror musical (whose name is not printable in a family newspaper) on Saturday, March 12. The show is about two best friends with financial troubles who are promised as much money as they desire providing they perform certain sexual acts. Opening Wednesday, March 16, at The Annoyance is "Insecurity Breach," an adults-only examination of the dark side of the human psyche. Continuing at the theater is "Hideous," a solo show with music written and performed by Mary Catherine Curran that examines what it's like to be hideous inside and out. It runs at 8 p.m. Thursdays. Lastly, Annoyance will extend through March 30 the show "Obits," which uses real obituaries to inspire sketches. (773) 697-9693 or theannoyance.com.

• Red Theater hosts a staged reading of Rae Binstock's "We Are the Light of the World," at 1 p.m. Sunday, March 13, at The Den Theatre, 1333 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago. Binstock's play about a young couple struggling to survive in a post-apocalyptic United States city won the theater's 2016 playwriting competition. Sunday's event will also include readings of excerpts from the runners up. See redtheater.org.

• Theatre Y brings its production of "Underneath the Lintel," Glen Berger's solo play about a librarian desperate to uncover the identity of the person who returned a book 113 years overdue, to Links Hall, 3111 N. Western Ave., Chicago. The performance takes place at 7 p.m. Monday, March 14. See theatre-y.com.

• Writers Theatre inaugurates its new space at 325 Tudor Court, Glencoe, with a revival of Tom Stoppard's time-jumping drama "Arcadia," about the conflict between love and intellect and the nature of knowledge. Greg Matthew Anderson stars as Septimus Hodge and Elizabeth Stenholt plays his precocious student in artistic director Michael Halberstam's production. Previews begin Wednesday, March 16. The show opens March 23. (847) 242-6000 or writerstheatre.org.

• Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St., Chicago, will hold a college night on Wednesday, March 16, for its performance of "2666," Robert Falls and Seth Bockley's adaptation of Roberto Bolano's sprawling novel rooted in the hundreds of unsolved murders of women that have taken place in Mexico's Ciudad Juárez since 1993. Tickets are $10 with a valid student ID. (312) 443-3800 or goodmantheatre.org.

• Previews begin Thursday, March 17, for Cole Theatre's Chicago-area premiere of "The Bachelors," a black comedy by Caroline V. McGraw about four former college roommates who reunite to examine their life choices. The show runs through April 10 at the Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. (773) 747-6821 or coletheatre.org.

• Toya Turner stars as Queen Christina of Sweden in Cor Theatre's U.S. premiere of French playwright Michel Marc Bouchard's 2012 play "Christina, The Girl King" beginning previews Thursday, March 17, at Frontier Theatre, 1106 W. Thorndale, Chicago. The play, translated by Linda Gaboriau, is a based on the real-life story about the 17th-century monarch who was a feminist ahead of her time. The adults-only production includes nudity, sexual content and violence. (866) 811-4111 or cortheatre.com.

• Mary-Arrchie Theatre has extended its final production, a revival of David Mamet's "American Buffalo," about a trio of would-be thieves scheming to steal a rare coin. Co-founder and artistic director Richard Cotovsky plays junk shop owner Donnie, Spenser Davis plays street urchin Bobby and Stephen Walker plays Don's buddy Teach through March 20, when Mark Vallarta takes over the role. Performances run through April 17 at Angel Island, 735 W. Sheridan Road, Chicago. (773) 871-0442 or maryarrchie.com.

• "Mind Over Chicago," showcasing mentalist Marc Salem, has additional performances on March 18, 24 and 25, at the Apollo Theater, 2540 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. (773) 935-6100 or apollochicago.com.

• Filament Theatre has extended its family-friendly show "Pinocchio: A Folk Musical." Performances run through Sunday, March 13, at 4041 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago. Also, the theater hosts a screening of the 1928 silent comedy "Speedy," starring Harold Lloyd, at 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 11. Tickets cost $15. See filamenttheatre.org.

• Porchlight Music Theatre announced its 2016-2017 season will open Sept. 9 with "In The Heights," about a tight-knit New York City neighborhood, by composer/lyricist Lin-Manuel Miranda ("Hamilton") and writer Quiara Alegria Hudes. That's followed by a staged concert performance of John Kander and Fred Ebb's "The Rink" (Oct. 4-6), about the imminent demolition of a family-owned roller rink. Performances begin Nov. 4 for "End of the Rainbow" examining Judy Garland's 1968 London comeback and featuring some of her most beloved songs. The Kander-Ebb musical "The Scottsboro Boys" (Feb. 3-March 12, 2017) tells in minstrel show-style, the story of nine African-American teens wrongly convicted on charges of sexually assaulting two white women in 1931 Alabama. The Porchlight Revisits series continues with the Neil Simon-Cy Coleman musical "Little Me" (Feb. 28-March 2, 2017) about a big-hearted woman and her numerous husbands and lovers. The rarely staged Stephen Sondheim musical "Marry Me a Little" about two lonely strangers living in an apartment building who would be perfect soul mates if only they knew the other existed. Porchlight's re-imagined version of the show runs April 14 to May 21, 2017. The season concludes with a staged concert performance of the Alan Jay Lerner and Burton Lane musical "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever" (May 9-11, 2017) about a scatterbrained young woman who is transformed under hypnosis into a woman who lived 100 years earlier. Performances take place at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. Season subscriptions are available at porchlightmusictheatre.org. Single tickets will be available May 1 online and by phone at (773) 327-5252.

• Season subscriptions for Strawdog Theatre's 29th season go on sale April 5. The season will be staged at the new Factory Theatre, 1621 W. Howard St., Chicago. It begins Aug. 25 with the world premiere of "Distance," a drama by Jerre Dye about a woman battling Alzheimer's disease running Aug. 25 to Oct. 1. William Shakespeare's "Cymbeline" about a princess who sets off in search of her banished husband, runs Jan. 12-Feb. 25, 2017. A third show will be announced at a later date. For season subscriptions, call (773) 528-9696 or see strawdog.org.

• Artemisia, a Chicago theater specializing in female-centered plays, opens its 2016-2017 season Sept. 22, with its annual festival of staged readings of unproduced plays. That's followed on Nov. 4 by Barbara Zahora's "Shrewish," a modern re-imagining of William Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew" in which Katherina is a man and Petruchio is a woman. The season concludes with the world premiere of "Visiting" (April 14-May 7, 2017), Ed Proudfoot's look at a high school senior struggling with depression. Performances take place at the Edge Theatre, 5451 N. Broadway Ave., Chicago. For tickets, call (312) 725-3780 or see artemisiatheatre.org.