Theater spotlight: National tour of ‘Suffs’ stops at Chicago’s CIBC Theatre

‘Suffs’ marches into Chicago

The national tour of the Tony Award-winning “Suffs,” composer/lyricist/writer Shaina Taub’s musical chronicling the early days of women’s suffrage in America, stops in Chicago for a brief run. Chicago-area favorite Marya Grandy plays suffrage leader Carrie Chapman Catt, who founded the League of Women Voters and pressured Congress to pass and state legislatures to ratify the 19th Amendment.

The preview is at 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 7, at the CIBC Theatre, 18 W. Monroe St., Chicago. The show opens at 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 8. $38-$133. BroadwayInChicago.com.

Over the rainbow

The Scarecrow, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion join Dorothy on her journey to the Emerald City in Metropolis Performing Arts Centre’s revival of “The Wizard of Oz.” Adapted from L. Frank Baum’s “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” the family-friendly tuner features music and lyrics by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg, with background music by Herbert Stothart. Tor Campbell directs and choreographs.

Previews at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, July 8-10, and 2 p.m. July 11 at 111 W. Campbell St., Arlington Heights. The show opens at 7:30 p.m. July 11. $35, $49. (847) 577-2121 or MetropolisArts.com.

Backyard Broadway

Porchlight Music Theatre’s free summer concert series “Broadway in Your Backyard” resumes next week at Chicago parks with Porchlight artistic associates performing Broadway and Hollywood favorites.

6:30 p.m. Monday, July 6, at Northcenter Town Square, 4100 N. Damen Ave.; 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 7, at Welles Park, 2333 W. Sunnyside Ave.; 6:30 p.m. July 13 at Berger Park, Waterfront Cafe, 6205 N. Sheridan Road; 6:30 p.m. July 14 at Washington Square Park, 901 N. Clark St.; and 12:30 p.m. Sept. 19 at Navy Pier, 600 E. Grand Ave., Chicago. PorchlightMusicTheatre.org.

Backstage Broadway

Broadway performers and 2022 “Amazing Race Canada” winners Craig Ramsay and Catherine Wreford bring their Broadway cabaret show “Behind the Curtain: Untold Stories From Canada’s Team Broadway” to the Hoover-Leppen Theatre at the Center on Halsted. The duo will share songs and behind-the-scenes stories from “Fiddler on the Roof,” “42nd Street,” “Oklahoma!” and other Broadway shows in which they appeared.

7:30 p.m. Monday, July 6, at 3656 N. Halsted St., Chicago. $35. (773) 661-0770 or pridarts.org.

‘Hedwig’ reimagined

Three performers share the role of the titular character in director Arlo Kiss’ reimagined staging of “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” an adults-only, 1998 rock musical by Stephen Trask and Cameron Mitchell about a genderqueer East German singer, her husband and assistant, Yitzhak, and rock star Tommy Gnosis, who stole Hedwig’s songs. “Hedwig is about fragmentation and wholeness, and no single performer can contain all of that,” said Kiss in a prepared statement. “This rotating cast lets us explore the many contradictions inside Hedwig, while celebrating the individuality each actor brings to the role.”

7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, July 9-11, and 5 p.m. July 12, and through July 26, at Catalyst Ranch, third floor, 648 W. Randolph St., Chicago. Jkentertainment.org.

Chicago premiere

Theatre Y presents the Chicago premiere of “The School of Memory,” a multimedia theater piece written and performed by Spanish artist Héctor Alvarez (in collaboration with Chilean designer and technology artist Attilio Rigotti) that examines his great-grandfather’s death at the hands of fascists during the Spanish Civil War.

7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, July 9-11, and 5 p.m. July 12, and through July 19, at 3611 W. Cermak Road, Chicago. Free. Theatre-y.com.