The Goodman concludes its 99th season with the musical revival featuring a 29-member company of many Chicago musical theater all-stars

THE COLOR PURPLE THE MUSICAL is a portrait of Celie, a young Black woman living in a small Georgia town, as she goes on a journey of pain, resilience, and self-discovery. With direction by Lili-Anne Brown, music direction by Jermaine HIll, and choreography by Breon Arzell, Goodman Theatre’s revival of the 2004 musical based on Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize winning-novel takes audiences along for Celie’s emotional story. 

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The Chicago premiere of Noah Diaz’s affecting and unusual play runs through July 20, 2025

Noah Diaz’s YOU WILL GET SICK is an affecting and unusual play. With direction from Steppenwolf Co-Artistic Director Audrey Francis, it closes out the season in a moving and intriguing manner. The “will” in the play’s title is pivotal to the proceedings — the central character, identified only in the script as “#1,” has an unnamed degenerative disease. Although #1’s experience with his body’s failings is paramount, Diaz doesn’t explore sickness through the lens of blood or body horror. 

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The 49th revue plays an open run at The Second City e.t.c.

The Second City e.t.c.’s CHAOS THEORY OF EVERYTHING is a potpourri of comedy. While some past e.t.c. revues have loosely unified around a theme, CHAOS describes this one well. It’s a little bit of everything. As with past Second City revues, that means some of the jokes really land…and some don’t. With direction from Anthony LeBlanc, returning company members Meghan Babbe, Jenelle Cheyne, Javid Iqbal, and Tim Metzler are joined by newcomers Spencer Hodges and Max Thomas. This ensemble mixes it up with some topical/political sketches and some evergreen ones.

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The Chicago engagement of the 2023 Tony Award winning musical runs through June 22, 2025

KIMBERLY AKIMBO is as oddball of a musical as its name. But ironically the protagonist Kimberly Levaco, who has an extremely rare, unnamed condition (perhaps similar to progeria) that causes premature aging at 4-5x the normal rate, is the least weird of the people around her. The national tour of director Jessica Stone’s 2023 Tony Award winning production has arrived in Chicago; it’s often strange, sometimes heartfelt (particularly when accomplished Broadway veteran Carolee Carmello takes the stage as Kimberly.)

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U.S. premiere production of Jack Godfrey’s new musical about “Lawn Chair Larry” plays through June 29 

“What makes a man try to fly in a lawn chair?” is 42 BALLOONS most repeated lyric. It’s on the nose — and it’s repeated across six interludes in Jack Godfrey’s new musical. Based on the real-life story of Larry Walters, who in 1982 reached a height of 16,000 feet flying a lawn chair accompanied by 42 leather balloons, the musical is squarely focused on that answer. It’s ambitious and charming to make a musical about one plotline (there’s no “B” storyline). The musical endears audiences to Larry (played as a true charming nerd by Charlie McCullagh). 

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DIANA, the titular musical about the beloved late princess now in its Chicago premiere at Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre, has three songs dedicated to her wardrobe. This seems only fitting for the style icon. I was most eager to hear a particular lyric from her 11 o’clock number “The Dress,” in which Diana takes dressing for revenge to new heights. The lyric may have been mocked on Broadway, but let me tell you, Diana’s assistant and royal advisor Burrell (here played by Jon Parker Jackson) milks the lyric about her “f*ckity f*ckity f*ck you dress” for all its worth. (I think it helps that surely Jackson was aware of the lore around this lyric by the time this production was staged). It’s not subtle, but it works.

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This co-production with Playwrights Horizons and Vineyard Theatre of Jordan Harrison’s new play r runs through June 1

Jordan Harrison’s new play THE ANTIQUITIES asks the question, “What does it mean to be human?” It opens with two museum curators inviting the audience to tour a museum displaying relics from the late human era…with the implication that said place exists in a post-human one. This is the first play I’ve seen that specifically tackles A.I. and technology…and the potential ramifications of letting that go unchecked. 

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The co-production with Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre runs through May 18, 2025

Zora Howard’s BUST: AN AFROCURRENTIST PLAY opens with a mystery. In Huntsville, Alabama, Retta (Caroline Stefanie Clay) and Reggie (Ray Anthony Thomas) witness an all too familiar interaction between their friend Randy (Keith Randolph Smith) and two police officers — Tomlin (Mark Bedard) and Ramirez (Jorge Luna). But in the wake of Randy’s rage at the officers, something mysterious and surprising happens…keeping him safe from harm. It’s tough to write about the specifics of BUST because to reveal some of the play’s secrets is to ruin the mystery for audiences. But Howard’s set-up essentially asks the question: What happens when Black rage is repackaged into a magical force and potentially one to keep the person experiencing it safe? 

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The Chicago-area premiere of Joshua Harmon’s 2024 Tony-nominated play runs through May 25 at Northlight Theatre 

Joshua Harmon’s sprawling and ambitious PRAYER FOR THE FRENCH REPUBLIC is a searing and inquisitive look at contemporary Judaism and anti-Semitism. Harmon’s play spans multiple generations of the Salomon family, French Jews grappling with questions of safety and Jewish identity. The action alternates between the mid-2010s and the 1940s. 

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The Chicago premiere of Suzan-Lori Parks’s play runs through May 18, 2025 

I usually appreciate when plays show and don’t tell, but THE BOOK OF GRACE really needs more exposition. Directed by Steve H. Broadnax III. Steppenwolf’s production is a new version of Parks’s 2010 play, expanded from its original 100-minute run-time to two and a half hours. Even with the extra run time, playwright Suzan-Lori Parks relies far too heavily on subtext that isn’t revealed to the audience.

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