While Donna Summer may be “Hot Stuff” when it comes to iconic songwriting and singing, SUMMER: THE DONNA SUMMER MUSICAL is a lukewarm entry in the genre of biographical jukebox musicals. The musical features many of Donna Summer’s notable hits—and this national touring cast has the talent to take them all on—but the storyline gave me whiplash. With a book by Colman Domingo and Robert Cary and direction from Des McAnuff, SUMMER careens between the major events of Donna Summer’s life at an often breakneck pace. 

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Paul Gordon’s musical adaptation EMMA, now making its Chicago debut at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, is lovely, whimsical, and thoroughly grounded in the Victorian England period in which Austen’s original 1815 novel is set. Under the direction of Chicago Shakespeare’s Artistic Director Barbara Gaines, the whole production has an airiness to it. Gordon’s score and lyrics seem to float up from the performers. The score exudes a charm befitting Austen’s particular kind of sly social commentary and satire. Music director Roberta Duchak ensures that the band performs the music with this same lightness of being. Scott Davis’s set design, which is sparse and flanked by billowing curtains and chandeliers that dangle from the ceiling, and Mariann Verheyen’s pastel costume designs, further inform the overall loveliness of EMMA. 

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Lisa Loomer’s ROE offers a timely exploration of the history behind the 1973 Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade and the ongoing political debate around abortion and a women’s right to choose. While Loomer’s text is not necessarily nuanced in the way that it presents the argument around abortion, ROE does consider both sides of this divisive issue. The play is perhaps most compelling in its capacity to pull back the curtain around the original Roe v. Wade case and reveal the case’s history. ROE centers on two critical women, the lawyer Sarah Weddington, who was only in her mid-twenties when she brought this case before the Court, and Norma McCorvey, the plaintiff under the pseudonym “Jane Roe.” Before I saw this play, I had never heard these women’s names before. But now, thanks to Loomer’s work, I won’t soon forget them. For Loomer interestingly not only presents both sides of the United States’ debate over a woman’s right to choose but also puts forth Sarah and Norma’s two differing perspectives on the events that transpired before and after Roe v. Wade was decided. 

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The national tour of Michael Arden’s Tony Award-winning revival of ONCE ON THIS ISLAND has arrived in Chicago in a blaze of color and light. While Arden’s production makes clear that the tropical island in the French Antilles where the musical takes place is no stranger to the devastating effects of natural disasters, it’s also a staging filled with joy and rich visuals. Dane Laffrey’s found objects aesthetic for the scenic design also conveys the musical’s occupancy between the nebulous space of reality and the mystical world of the four gods that guide the musical’s protagonist Ti Moune on her journey. 

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The Chicago premiere of Clare Barron’s DANCE NATION, now at Steppenwolf with direction and choreography from Lee Sunday Evans (who also helmed the original production at Playwrights Horizons), is alternately wild, messy, and confusing—much like the experience of early adolescence for the play’s characters. Some moments of Barron’s script beautifully capture the growing pains of what it’s like to be 12 or 13 years and learning how to navigate the terrain of changing bodies and the shifting dynamics of pre-teen friendships. Stylistically, DANCE NATION is all over the place. The play’s opening scene features the cast tap dancing in sailor suits, transporting audiences to the fierce world of competitive pre-teen dance. It’s heightened and satirical, seemingly a mockery of shows like DANCE MOMS. 

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