Metropolis to present 'Christmas Carol'

Metropolis Performing Arts Centre pairs its annual family-friendly, play-with-music production of Charles Dickens' “A Christmas Carol” with The Second City's seasonal satire, “Holidays in the Heights.” The Second City show is suitable for audiences high school age and older.

Previews for “A Christmas Carol” begin Friday, Nov. 26, at 111 W. Campbell St., Arlington Heights. The show opens Sunday, Nov. 28. “Holiday in the Heights” opens Nov. 26. (847) 577-2121 or metropolisarts.com.

‘Wicked' returns

“Wicked,” the musical spectacle about Oz's witches that dominated Chicago's theater scene for 3½ years, returns with two Chicago area stars reprising the roles they played during its initial Chicago run. Gene Weygandt plays the Wizard and Barbara Robertson plays Madame Morrible during the show's eight-week run.

Previews begin Wednesday, Dec. 1, at the Cadillac Palace Theatre, 151 W. Randolph St., Chicago. The show opens Friday, Dec. 3. (800) 775-2000 or broadwayinchicago.com.

Seasonal alternative

Steppenwolf Theatre ensemble members Amy Morton and Tracy Letts reunite, this time as Martha and George, the principal combatants in Edward Albee's blistering look at a dysfunctional marriage, “Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” Frequent Albee collaborator Pam McKinnon directs the revival, which also features Carrie Coon and Madison Dirks as the hapless duo who encounter the first couple.

Previews begin Thursday, Dec. 2, at 1650 N. Halsted St., Chicago. The show opens Saturday, Dec. 11. (312) 335-1650 or steppenwolf.org.

What's new

• American Blues Theater remounts its production of “It's A Wonderful Life: Live at the Biograph” beginning previews Friday, Nov. 26, at Victory Gardens, 2433 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. Marty Higginbotham directs the radio-play version of Frank Capra's classic film. The Nov. 26-28 performances are fundraisers for the Lynn Sage Foundation devoted to cancer research. The show opens Wednesday, Dec. 8. (773) 871-3000 or americanbluestheater.com.

• Previews begin Friday, Nov. 26, for American Theater Company's “It's a Wonderful Life: The Radio Play” directed by Jason W. Garace. The show opens Monday, Nov. 29, at 1909 W. Byron St., Chicago. (773) 409-4125 or atcweb.org.

• Provision Theatre Company follows up its bluegrass musical revue “Smoke on the Mountain” with “Sanders Family Christmas” featuring more than two dozen Christmas carols and hymns in a show punctuated by yuletide stories from the fictional family. The show opens Saturday, Nov. 27, at 1001 W. Roosevelt Road, Chicago. Also at Provision Theater: “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever!” based on Barbara Robinson's book about a family of unruly children whose participation in the local holiday pageant spells disaster. The show opens Wednesday, Dec. 1. (866) 811-4111 or provisiontheater.org.

• Samantha Martin and her Acro-Cats get into the spirit, performing seasonal tricks as part of their family-friendly “Meowy Christmas” shows Friday, Nov. 26, to Sunday, Nov. 28, at the Skokie Theatre, 7924 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. (847) 677-7761 or circuscats.com.

• “Black Peter,” an adults-only dark comedy about a disciplinarian elf who doles out punishment to naughty children, opens Friday, Nov. 26, at Gorilla Tango Theatre, 1919 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago. (773) 598-4549 or gorillatango.com.

• Former poet laureate Ted Kooser chronicled the lives of residents of the southeastern Nebraska community he called home in “Local Wonders: Seasons in the Bohemian Alps.” Chicago singer-songwriter Paul Amandes and theater professor Virginia Smith adapted Kooser's work for the stage several years ago. Full Sky Productions presents their play with music, “Local Wonders,” at Chicago Dramatists, 1105 W. Chicago Ave., Chicago. The show begins previews Saturday, Nov. 27, and opens Dec. 2. (630) 457-1074 or localwondersmusical.com.

• Mitchell Fain returns as Crumpet, David Sedaris' alter-ego elf, in Theater Wit's remount of “The Santaland Diaries,” Sedaris' darkly comic account of his tenure as a Macy's elf. The show opens Friday, Nov. 26, at 1229 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. (773) 975-8150 or theaterwit.org.

• Minnesota theater company Commedia Beauregard brings its “Star Trek”-inspired holiday show “A Klingon Christmas Carol” to the Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. In this version, three spirits help Scrooge become a warrior so that he may save Tiny Tim from a “horrible fate.” The show opens Saturday, Nov. 27. (773) 404-7336 or greenhousetheater.org or cbtheatre.org.

• The Annoyance Theatre presents a double bill of family-friendly holiday favorites as part of its annual Christmas pageant. Director Phil Meister and music director Lisa McQueen helm stage adaptations of “A Charlie Brown Christmas” and “The Year Without Santa Claus.” The shows open Saturday, Nov. 27, at 4830 N. Broadway, Chicago. (773) 561-4665 or theannoyance.com.

• A Manhattan security guard finds himself in the middle of a murder investigation in Kenneth Lonergan's comedy “Lobby Hero.” Keira Fromm directs company members Andrew Jessop, Maura Kidwell and Eric Hoffmann in redtwist theatre's production, which begins previews Monday, Nov. 29, at 1044 W. Bryn Mawr, Chicago. The show opens Thursday, Dec. 2. (773) 728-7529 or redtwist.org.

• The Theatre at the Center presents “The Story of the Nutcracker,” the musical play version of Tchaikovsky's ballet in which a young girl's favorite toys, including a nutcracker, come to life and embark on a journey to meet the Sugar Plum fairy. Performances begin Monday, Nov. 29, at 1040 Ridge Road, Munster, Ind. (219) 836-3255 or theatreatthecenter.com.

• For folks fed up with holiday frenzy, iO Chicago delivers a “Christmas Smackdown,” a sendup of the season featuring original music and lyrics by Mark Nutter and Cynthia Carle. The show opens Tuesday, Nov. 30, at 3541 N. Clark St., Chicago. (773) 880-0199 or ioimprov.com.

• The music of Queen meets science-fiction classic “Alien” in “Alien Queen,” a new musical parody from Scott Bradley (“Carpenters' Halloween”). The Scooty & JoJo Show production opens Wednesday, Dec. 1, at Circuit Nightclub, 3641 N. Halsted St., Chicago. (773) 325-2233 or bigtopjojo.com.

• Hell in a Handbag Productions remounts its holiday parody, “Rudolph, The Red-Hosed Reindeer,” the adults-only story about Rudolph and his quirky friends weathering a crisis at the North Pole, where Santa is about to welcome reality television. Previews begin Thursday, Dec. 2, at Mary's Attic, 540 W. Clark St., Chicago. The show opens Dec. 4, with a benefit for the Trevor Project, an organization that works to prevent suicide among gay, lesbian and transgendered youth. (800) 838-3006 or handbagproductions.org.

• Gorilla Tango Theatre, 1919 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago, hosts a year-end comedy revue titled “A Look Back in Anger,” beginning Dec. 2, and covering everything from oil spills to Sarah Palin. (773) 598-4549 or gorillatango.com.

• The Side Project Theatre's Midwest premiere of “Cherry Smoke,” James McManus' drama about the decline of the steel town, continues through Sunday, Dec. 19, at 1439 W. Jarvis Ave., Chicago. Lavinia Jadhwani directs. (773) 973-21150 or thesideproject.net.

• John Hartman brings his solo show “I'm Sorry I Missed You,” an examination of people who desperately want to be successful, to the Annoyance Theatre, 4830 N. Broadway, Chicago. The show runs through Sunday, Dec. 19. (773) 561-4665 or theannoyance.com.

• Performances of The Factory Theater's “The New Adventures of Popeye,” a show that grew out of the company's 3rd Shift performance series, returned with new episodes. The brief run concludes Friday, Dec. 17, at the Prop Thtr, 3502 N. Elston Ave., Chicago. (866) 811-4111 or thefactorytheater.com.

• Chicago Children's Theatre has added 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Nov. 26-27, performances of “The Hundred Dresses” at Centre East, North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie Blvd., Skokie. (847) 673-6300 or northshorecenter.org.

• Trap Door Theatre has extended its production of Pierre Notte's family drama, “Me Too, I am Catherine Deneuve,” through Saturday, Dec. 4, at 1655 W. Cortland St., Chicago. (773) 384-0494 or trapdoortheatre.com.

• “Traces,” a show that combines circus arts, music, dance and theater, has been extended through Saturday, Jan. 1, at the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place, 175 E. Chestnut St., Chicago. (800) 775-2000 or broadwayinchicago.com.

• Lookingglass Theatre Company's “Peter Pan (A Play),” adapted from J.M. Barrie's books about the boy who refused to grow up, has been extended. Performances continue through Sunday, Jan. 2, at the Water Tower Water Works, 821 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago. (312) 337-0665 or lookingglasstheatre.org.

• Signal Ensemble Theatre's “Aftermath,” the jukebox musical by co-artistic director Ronan Marra, has no performances Nov. 26-28. Additionally, the hit show about the final years of Rolling Stones co-founder Brian Jones will have a brief hiatus from Monday, Dec. 13, through Thursday, Jan. 6. However, the theater has announced the production will be return from Friday, Jan. 7, to Thursday, Jan. 23, at 1802 W. Berenice Ave., Chicago. (773) 347-1350 or signalensemble.com.