Rarely do I see theater that feels truly unique, but Mary Zimmerman’s THE NOTEBOOKS OF LEONARDO DA VINCI at Goodman Theater is indeed unlike any other piece of theater. Zimmerman first mounted this production at the Goodman for the first time 29 years ago and now it returns — along with cast member Christopher Donahue, who appeared in that 1993 staging. 

TEATRO ZINZANNI has a new show at the Spiegeltent ZaZou in the Loop, and it’s the best edition of this circus cabaret dinner theater yet.

BLUES IN THE NIGHT is a quintessential Porchlight production that will have audiences feeling the opposite of the blues. 

Victory Gardens Artistic Director Ken-Matt Martin ushers in a new age for the company with a play that trods familiar territory. travis tate’s QUEEN OF THE NIGHT introduces a father and son duo who find themselves at a crossroads on a camping trip. tate’s script contains several references to incidents in Stephen (André Teamer) and Ty’s (Terry Guest) past, but the conversation often steers around topics rather than right into them. It’s evident that Stephen has struggled with his son’s identity as a Black, queer man in the past, and it’s also evident that Stephen had a falling out with Ty’s older brother, Marshall (who remains unseen). While tate’s dialogue isn’t really grounded in realism, the realism comes through in the sense that the characters talk around their issues and never arrive at the root of their familial tension. 

Mercury Theater’s WOMEN OF SOUL is a love letter to some of the most iconic female vocalists of the 20th and 21st centuries, both old-school and new-school. Writer and director Daryl D. Brooks’s musical revue incorporates a wide range of icons featuring an ensemble of nine (eight women and one man). Brooks’s book honors the true nature of the revue — WOMEN OF SOUL does not have a plot. Rather, ensemble members take turns introducing the show’s powerhouses with a few biographical facts before one of their counterparts tears into a solo number or medley of greatest hits. 

While BACHELOR: THE UNAUTHORIZED PARODY MUSICAL has no qualms about poking endless fun at all the tired tropes and well-trod dramatic arcs in ABC’s THE BACHELOR, director Tim Drucker’s cast makes the material fresh and milks the parody for all its worth. 

A Red Orchid Theatre returns with Jen Silverman’s THE MOORS, which overturns the conventions of a Victorian era-style drama by infusing commentary on gender roles and elements of absurdism. The play’s 100 minutes have a slow build, in which the earlier scenes feel like a traditional drama the likes of which the Brontës might have written. It becomes more absurd as the play moves on, and the material’s subversiveness recalls Jane Austen’s social satire. Silverman makes some bold, surreal, and bizarre choices in the play’s text. It’s an intriguing concept, but the play itself ends up messy. 

Queen Elsa has arrived in Chicago to “Let It Go” — and that famous song from the original FROZEN film now serves as the act one finale for Disney’s latest musical theater magic. Elsa (Caroline Bowman, belting within an inch of her life) sings the powerhouse number as an ice castle swirls around her in Christopher Oram’s set with lighting awash in Natasha Katz’s cool-tone color scheme and projections from Finn Ross. While the moment is a delight, the most spectacular moment comes from Elsa’s quick costume change — Oram also designed the costumes, and that’s the real moment of magic here.