Spotlight: ‘Some Like It Hot’ heats up Cadillac Palace, BrightSide scares up thrills with ‘Dracula’
‘Hot’ times in Chicago
The national tour of the Tony Award-winning musical “Some Like it Hot” stops briefly in Chicago. Adapted from Billy Wilder’s hit 1959 screwball comedy, the musical by composer/lyricist Marc Shaiman and lyricist Scott Wittman and writers Matthew Lopez and Amber Ruffin is about a pair of musicians who, after witnessing a mob hit, escape by disguising themselves as women and joining an all-female band. Matt Loehr plays Joe/Josephine, Tavis Kordell plays Jerry/Daphne and Leandra Ellis-Gaston plays Sugar. Performances are at 7 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, Oct. 22-24; 7:30 p.m. Oct. 25; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Oct. 26; and 1 and 6:30 p.m. Oct. 27 and through Nov. 3, at the Cadillac Palace Theatre, 151 W. Randolph St., Chicago. $26.50-$146.50. broadwayinchicago.com.
A thriller in Naperville
BrightSide Theatre opens its 13th season with Steven Dietz’s adaptation of “Dracula,” Bram Stoker’s tale about the Transylvania vampire who’s pursued by fearless people determined to halt his reign of terror. Danny Parrott plays the bloodthirsty count and Mike Boyna plays his nemesis Van Helsing in this revival, which features original music by Paul Scherer. 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Oct. 18-19, and 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 20, and through Nov. 3, at the Theatre at Meiley-Swallow Hall, North Central College, 31 S. Ellsworth, Naperville. $32, $37. (630) 447-8497 or brightsidetheatre.com.
August Wilson revival
Recently released from jail, blues guitarist Floyd Barton (who had a hit song before he was incarcerated) is eager to further his career. He returns home to a Pittsburgh tenement in 1948 to collect his girlfriend Vera and several musician buddies to go to Chicago to record his first album. But fate has other ideas in August Wilson’s “Seven Guitars,” one of the works making up Wilson’s 10-play cycle chronicling the African American experience in the 20th century. City Lit Theater’s 30th anniversary production is directed by Manny Buckley. Previews at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, Oct. 18-19 and 25-26, and 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 20, at 1020 W. Bryn Mawr Ave., Chicago. The show opens Oct. 27. $25-$35, $12 for students and military. (773) 293-3682 or citylit.org.
Divine comedy retooled
The Conspirators remount the retooled “Commedia Divina: It’s Worse Than That,” whose run was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic. Sid Feldman’s satire is about a Georgia business heiress escorted by Father Virgil through Dante’s updated Nine Circles of Hell. Opens at 7 p.m. Friday through Sunday, Oct. 18-20, and through Nov. 10 at Otherworld Theatre, 3914 N. Clark St., Chicago. $30. conspirewithus.org.
Royal Shakespeare Company returns
The Royal Shakespeare Company returns to Chicago for the first time in 30 years with its production of William Shakespeare’s “Pericles,” about a man forced to leave his homeland after uncovering incest within the royal family. His subsequent adventures include winning the hand of a princess, then losing her and their newborn child during a storm at sea. Previews at 6 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 20, and 7 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, Oct. 22-24, at Chicago Shakespeare Theater at Navy Pier, 800 E. Grand Ave., Chicago. The show opens Oct. 25. $58-$120. (312) 595-5600 or chicagoshakes.com.
Another timely tuner
Music Theater Works’ season continues with a revival of “Little Shop of Horrors,” the Howard Ashman-Alan Menken musical based on Roger Corman’s 1960 horror comedy about nebbishy Seymour, a flower store employee who nurtures an unusual plant that has an appetite for human blood. Jimmy Hogan plays Seymour and Kayla Shipman plays his beloved Audrey, the murderous plant’s namesake. The preview is at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 24, at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie Blvd., Skokie. The show opens Oct. 25. $19.50-$106. (847) 673-6300 or musictheaterworks.com.
Steppenwolf premiere
Steppenwolf Theatre’s 49th season continues with the premiere of “Leroy and Lucy,” a play-with-music by Ngozi Anyanwu. Inspired by the Robert Johnson legend about how the bluesman sold his soul at the crossroads in exchange for guitar mastery, the play centers on two lost souls who meet, flirt and make sweet music. Ensemble member Jon Michael Hill and Brittany Bradford star in director Awoye Timpo’s production. Previews at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, Oct. 24 and 31; 7:30 p.m. Oct. 25, 29, 30 and Nov. 1; 3 and 7:30 p.m. Oct. 26; and 3 p.m. Oct. 27 at the Ensemble Theater, 1646 N. Halsted St., Chicago. The show opens Nov. 3. $20-$92. (312) 335-1650 or steppenwolf.org.