A Christmas Carol, Goodman Theatre, through Dec. 29. Are there no workhouses? Well no, but with Larry Yando as Scrooge even the scarifying Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come must crack a smile. William Brown directs the best Carol at Goodman in a decade. CS
Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead, Rubicon Theatre Project at Oracle Theatre, through Dec. 15. This unauthorized spoof of Charles M. Schulz’s Peanuts sarcastically and touchingly imagines teenage CB (Charlie Brown) and gang dealing with drugs, sexuality and violence. SCM
Ella, Northlight Theatre, through Jan. 6. Jeffrey Hatcher is a clever writer and E. Faye Butler is a formidable diva. Regardless of whether or not Ms. B. looks or sounds anything like Ella Fitzgerald, the show’s subject, the music making should be superb. JA
A Prayer for My Daughter, Mary-Arrchie Theatre, through Dec. 15. It’s the familiar cops-and-crooks head-games, but in Si Osborne’s directorial debut, Ron Wells makes the most seductive psychopathic perv ever to grace the gritty Mary-Arrchie stage. MSB
—By Abarbanel, Barnidge,
Morgan and Sullivan