Spotlight: BrightSide stages 'A Little Night Music,' Chicago Shakes sets 'Twelfth Night' in Caribbean
Sondheim revived
BrightSide Theatre begins its season with the Stephen Sondheim-Hugh Wheeler musical "A Little Night Music." Set during the start of the 20th century, the romantic tuner centers on a famous actress whose encounter with an old flame sets up a series of romantic misadventures during a weekend sojourn at a country estate. Artistic director Jeffrey Cass directs.
8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, Oct. 20-21, 27-28 and Nov. 3-4, and 2 p.m. Sundays, Oct. 22, 29 and Nov. 5, at the Theatre at Meiley-Swallow Hall, North Central College, 31 S. Ellsworth, Naperville. $35-$40. (630) 447-8497 or brightsidetheatre.com.
Gothic horror
City Lit Theater premieres "The Night of the Hunter," Davis Grubb's 1953 thriller set in Depression-era West Virginia about Henry "Preacher" Powell, who preys on a widow and her two children who he believes know where their late father hid $10,000. Brian Pastor directs the new adaptation by Chicago actress/playwright Shawna Tucker.
Previews at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, Oct. 20-21 and 27-28, and 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 22, at 1020 N. Bryn Mawr Ave., Chicago. The show opens Oct. 29. $25-$34. Masks required for Sunday performances, recommended for other performances. (773) 293-3682 or citylit.org.
Urban folk tale
Alice and Ben live in an apartment building where a grieving Alice is struggling to hold on to reality in "Right Now," an unsettling modern folk tale by Catherine-Anne Toupin in its U.S. premiere at The Facility Theatre. Artist and A Red Orchid ensemble member Dado directs.
Previews at 7:30 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, Oct. 23-25, at 1138 N. California Ave., Chicago. The show opens at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 26. $25 suggested donation. facilitytheatre.org.
Caribbean dream
Director Tyrone Phillips sets Chicago Shakespeare Theater's production of William Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" in the Caribbean. The play centers on Viola, who, following a shipwreck, washes ashore in a strange land, disguises herself as a boy and finds herself in the middle of a love triangle. First-generation Jamaican American Phillips aims to bring "the freedom I feel when I step off the plane in the Caribbean - the vibrancy, the music, the climate - into this production."
Previews start at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 25, and shows run through Nov. 26 at Navy Pier, 800 E. Grand Ave., Chicago. $38-$92. (312) 595-5600 or chicagoshakes.com.
A classic updated
On the heels of its Jeff Awards triumph, Teatro Vista - in cooperation with Steppenwolf Theatre - stages "Bernarda!," Emilio Williams' new take on Federico Garcia Lorca's classic "The House of Bernarda Alba." Charín Álvarez plays the titular widow who, after the death of her husband, imposes a strict mourning period on her mother and daughters. The young women bristle under their authoritarian mother as jealousies and rivalries mount leading to tragic results. Wendy Mateo directs the all-Latina cast.
Previews at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 25, through Oct. 28 at the Steppenwolf 1700 Theater, 1700 N. Halsted St., Chicago. The show opens Oct. 29. $25-$40. teatrovista.org.
Direct from Broadway
As a public-relations nightmare unfolds at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., a cadre of brilliant and beleaguered women try to take charge of the man in charge of the free world in "POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumb*** are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive." Steppenwolf Theatre's Chicago premiere of Selina Fillinger's farce is helmed by co-artistic director Audrey Francis and features ensemble members Celeste M. Cooper, Sandra Marquez, Caroline Neff and Karen Rodriguez, along with Karen Aldridge, Chloe Baldwin and Meighan Gerachis.
Previews at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 26, through Oct. 28; 3 p.m. Oct. 29; 7:30 p.m. Nov. 1-3; and 3 and 7:30 p.m. Nov. 4 at 1650 N. Halsted St., Chicago. The show opens Nov. 5. $20-$114. (312) 335-1650 or steppenwolf.org.
- Barbara Vitello, bvitello@dailyherald.com