Theater events: Paramount enchants with 'Disney's The Little Mermaid'

'Little Mermaid'

Paramount Aurora revives "Disney's The Little Mermaid," the stage adaptation of the 1989 animated musical about a mermaid who falls in love with a human prince and bargains with a sea witch to make her dreams come true. Kari Yancy plays Ariel opposite Devin DeSantis' Prince Eric in director/choreographer Amber Mak's production. Previews begin at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 23, at 23 E. Galena Blvd., Aurora. The show opens Nov. 27. $44-$59. (630) 896-6666 or paramountaurora.com.

Rare revival at Griffin

Griffin Theatre launches its season with the rarely produced "Winterset," Maxwell Anderson's 1935 drama inspired by the execution of Italian immigrant anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti for murder, despite conflicting evidence and witness recantations. Anderson's play centers on a son who attempts to clear his father's name. Ensemble member Jonathan Berry directs. Previews begin at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 19, at The Den Theatre, 1333 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago. The show opens Nov. 27. $28-$36. (866) 811-4111 or griffintheatre.com.

Sideshow premiere

Libertyville native Marti Lyons directs Sideshow Theatre Company's world premiere of "Give It All Back," Calamity West's dark comedy about artistic ownership. Set in the 1960s, it centers on a rock musician (Andrew Goetten) who gets the opportunity of a lifetime, then has to decide whether to take it. Previews begin at 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 20, at Victory Gardens Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. The show opens Nov. 25. $15-$30. (773) 871-3000 or victorygardens.org or sideshowtheatre.org.

Other theater events

• American Blues Theater presents its 15th anniversary production of "It's a Wonderful Life: Live in Chicago!" a 1940s radio version of Frank Capra's beloved holiday film about a man who experiences what his family and friends' lives would have been like without him. Previews begin Friday, Nov. 18, at the Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. The show, directed by Gwendolyn Whiteside with music direction by Michael Mahler, opens Sunday, Nov. 20. (773) 404-7336 or americanbluestheater.com.

• Red Tape Theatre opens its season with Henrik Ibsen's classic "Hedda Gabler," in a translation by Chicago-based playwright Nigel O'Hearn. Artistic director Max Truax directs this tale about a young bride who feels ensnared and oppressed by social convention and circumstance. Performances begin Friday, Nov. 18, at the Pride Arts Center, 4147 N. Broadway, Chicago. See redtapetheatre.org.

• The Raue Center for the Arts hosts its annual GALA fundraiser, the Stargazers Ball, on Friday, Nov. 18, at the Bull Valley Golf Club, 1311 Club Road, Woodstock. Tickets are $150 per person and include food, cocktails and entertainment. Proceeds go toward the center's arts outreach and the resident company, Williams Street Repertory. Call (815) 356-9010, ext. 10, for tickets.

• Joseph Jefferson Award-winner Larry Yando takes on the role of Ebenezer Scrooge for the ninth time in Goodman Theatre's annual production of "A Christmas Carol." Henry Wishcamper directs Goodman's time-honored holiday treat based on Charles Dickens' redemption tale. Previews begin Saturday, Nov. 19, at 170 N. Dearborn St., Chicago. The show opens Nov. 27. (312) 443-2800 or goodmantheatre.org/carol.

• The Athena Festival, Idle Muse Theatre Company's annual celebration of plays written and directed by women, runs Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 19-20, at Jackalope Theatre, 1106 W. Thorndale Ave., Chicago. Works by Chicago playwrights Tiffany Oglesby and Jenny Seidelman are among the festival's staged readings. (773) 340-9438 or idlemuse.org.

• Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning playwright Doug Wright ("I Am My Own Wife" and the Broadway-bound "War Paint") discusses his work Saturday, Nov. 19, at the Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 E. Chicago Ave., Chicago. About Face Theatre, where Wright developed "I Am My Own Wife" in 2003, hosts the Q&A, which accompanies the company's revival starring transgender actress Delia Kropp. That production runs through Dec. 10 at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. aboutfacetheatre.com.

• Court Theatre's Spotlight Reading Series continues with Douglas Turner Ward's satirical "Day of Absence" about a Southern town whose residents wake up one day to discover all the town's African-American residents have vanished. The free reading takes place at 3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 19, at the South Shore Cultural Center, 7059 S. South Shore Drive, Chicago. See courttheatre.org.

• An embittered television celebrity desperate for a comeback gets his shot with a 1982 holiday TV show in "The Rip Nelson Holiday Spectacular," a satire by David Cerda. Hell in a Handbag Productions' world premiere begins Sunday, Nov. 20, at Mary's Attic, 5400 N. Clark St., Chicago. Ed Jones plays Rip Nelson. (800) 838-3006 or handbagproductions.org.

• Former Second City cast members return Monday, Nov. 21, for The Second City's 15th annual improv and music marathon. "Saturday Night Live's" Cecily Strong and T.J. Jagodowski are among the alums returning. They'll be accompanied by Jeff Tweedy, Steve Albini and Nina Gordon among other local musicians. "24 Hour: You Can Always Come Home" begins at 5 p.m. Monday, Nov. 21, at Second City's e.t.c. Theater, 230 W. North Ave., Chicago. Proceeds support Onward Neighborhood House's annual letters to Santa program. See secondcity.com.

• The first national tour of "Finding Neverland," the Broadway play based on David Magee's film about J.M. Barrie and the family who inspired "Peter Pan," comes to Chicago for a brief run. Performances begin Tuesday, Nov. 22, at the Cadillac Palace Theatre, 151 W. Randolph St., Chicago. (800) 775-2000 or broadwayinchicago.com.

• Previews begin Wednesday, Nov. 23, for Remy Bumppo Theatre's revival of "Pygmalion," George Bernard Shaw's satire on equality and class in which a linguistics professor remakes a flower girl into an aristocrat as part of a social experiment. Shawn Douglass directs the production, which opens Nov. 28 at the Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. (773) 404-7336 or remybumppo.org.

• Performances continue for Prop Thtr's world premiere of "Beth in July," by horror playwright R.J. Tsarov. The play is about two peculiar people - dogged by violence and the lunar cycle - who meet on the internet. Performances run through Dec. 18 at 3502 N. Elston Ave., Chicago. (773) 742-5420 or propthtr.org.

• Cor Theatre opens 2017 with a revival of Maria Irene Fornes' "What of the Night?" It runs Jan. 8 to Feb. 12 at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. Co-produced with Stage Left Theatre, the adults-only play consists of four interwoven one-acts examining poverty, sex, power, betrayal and frailty in America through the lens of an extended family. That's followed by Jordan Tannahill's family drama "Late Company" about the impact a gay teen's suicide has on two suburban Chicago families. It runs in June 2017 at Pride Arts Center, 4147 N. Broadway, Chicago. (773) 975-8150 or cortheatre.org.

• Eclipse Theatre Company this week honored Goodman Theatre production stage manager Joseph Drummond with its 2016 Corona Award. The award recognizes an individual who has nurtured and supported small- and medium-sized Chicago ensembles. Drummond recently retired from Goodman after 42 seasons.