Spotlight: Buffalo Theatre’s ‘Birthday Candles,’ Goodman’s suspenseful ‘Covenant’ and TimeLine’s new home

Happy birthdays

Buffalo Theatre Ensemble concludes its season with a revival of “Birthday Candles,” Noah Haidle’s dramedy about a Michigan woman named Ernestine Ashworth, whose life we observe over a series of birthdays spanning 80 years. Steve Scott directs BTE ensemble members Connie Canaday Howard as Ernestine, as well as Lisa Dawn, Robert Jordan Bailey and Rebecca Cox.

The preview is at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 7, at the McAninch Arts Center, College of DuPage, 425 Fawell Blvd., Glen Ellyn. The show opens May 8. $48. (630) 942-4000 or AtTheMac.org.

The superstar and the super fan

American Blues Theater concludes its 40th anniversary season with “Always … Patsy Cline,” the jukebox musical that chronicles the unlikely friendship between the country western superstar and Texas superfan Louise Seger. Harmony France directs the revival, which stars Liz Chidester as Patsy and Molly Hernández as Louise.

Previews are at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, May 1-2, and Wednesday and Thursday, May 6-7, and 2:30 p.m. Sunday, May 3, at 5627 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. The show opens May 8. $34.50-$64.50. (773) 654-3103 or americanbluestheater.com.

A pair of premieres

• City Lit Theater premieres its musical adaptation of “Scaramouche,” based on the clown character from 16th-century commedia dell’arte. Written by City Lit artistic associate Kingsley Day and James Glossman, with music and lyrics by Day, “Scaramouche” is an adventure tale about a lawyer radicalized by his friend’s murder, who responds by adopting new identities: an orator, a comic actor and a swordsman.

Previews at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, May 1-2, and May 8, and 3 p.m. Sunday, May 3, at the Edgewater Presbyterian Church, 1020 W. Bryn Mawr Ave., Chicago. The show opens May 9. $37, $45. (773) 293-3682 or citylit.org.

• On a hot August night in 1992, a few weeks before school starts, teens navigate the path to adulthood in “Do Something Pretty,” a new play by Melissa Ross. The Rivendell Theatre Ensemble production marks the Rivendell debut of Evanston Township High School senior Katherine Mallen Kupferer, daughter of artistic director Tara Mallen and ensemble member Keith Kupferer.

Previews at 8 p.m. Saturday, May 2; 3 p.m. Sunday, May 3; and 8 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, May 5-8, at 5779 N. Ridge Ave., Chicago. The show opens May 11. $28, $38. (773) 334-7728 or at rivendelltheatre.org/dosomethingpretty.

Real sports

A talented but troubled semi-pro soccer player, his ambitious agent and an aging equipment manager wrestle with contradictions within the world of sports in Patrick Marber’s dark comedy “The Red Lion.” Eclectic Full Contact Theater’s revival features ensemble members Daniel Houle and Andrew Pond, along with Octavio Montes De Oca.

7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, May 1-2, and 3 p.m. Sunday, May 3, and through May 16 at the Bramble Arts Loft, 5545 N. Clark St., Chicago. $30. eclectic-theatre.com.

A Southern gothic tale

South suburban playwright York Walker’s “Covenant” gets its hometown premiere courtesy of the Goodman Theatre. Artistic producer Malkia Stampley directs the suspense thriller about a struggling guitarist who leaves his Georgia home and returns a blues star. However, his newfound fame raises questions from his family and friends as rumors of a dark bargain emerge.

Previews at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 2; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday, May 3; 7:30 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, May 6-8; and 2 p.m. May 9-10 at 170 N. Dearborn St., Chicago. The show opens May 11. $24-$63. (312) 443-3800 or GoodmanTheatre.org/Covenant.

‘Chicago’ returns to Chicago

“Chicago the Musical,” composer John Kander and writer/lyricist Fred Ebb’s ever-popular tuner about a couple of murderous, fame-seeking dames in 1920s Chicago, returns for a brief run.

7 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday, May 5 and 7; 1 and 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 6; 7 p.m. May 8; 2 and 7:30 p.m. May 9; and 1 p.m. May 10 at The Auditorium, 50 E. Ida B. Wells Drive, Chicago. $40-$125. broadwayinchicago.

TimeLine inaugurates new home

TimeLine Theatre inaugurates its new Chicago home with Amy Herzog’s adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s classic “An Enemy of the People.” Ensemble member Will Allan plays a doctor whose discovery threatens the health of everyone in the village. But when he raises the alarm, local authorities — his brother, the mayor, among them — try to silence him in order to protect their own interests, making him an enemy of the community he’s trying to protect. Ensemble member Ron OJ Parson directs.

Previews at 8 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, May 6-8; 2 and 7 p.m. May 9; 4 p.m. May 10; and 7 p.m. May 12-13 at 5035 N. Broadway, Chicago. The show opens May 14. $40-$95. (773) 281-8463, ext. 1, or timelinetheatre.com.

Dostoevsky in 90 minutes

The Utopian Theatre Asylum (TUTA) stages a 90-minute, three-actor adaptation of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel “Crime and Punishment” by Marilyn Campbell and Curt Columbus. The adaptation, which premiered at Writers Theatre in 2003, centers on the relationship between Raskolnikov, a student who believes he can decide who lives or dies, and Inspector Porfiry, who is determined to elicit a confession from Raskolnikov. Co-artistic director Jacqueline Stone directs Clifton Frei, Huy Nguyen and Felix.

Previews at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, May 7-9, at 4670 N. Manor, Chicago. The show opens May 10. $20-$60. tutatheatre.org.