The Brother/Sister Plays, Steppenwolf Theatre, through May 23. Fresh, original voice Tarell Alvin McCraney, who is Black and gay, has created a tale both modern and mythological told in a dazzling display of primal theater: music, movement and community storytelling. Don’t miss! JA
The Doctor’s Dilemma, ShawChicago, through May 10. Spotlighting medical and personal ethics, Bernard Shaw’s 1906 “dramedy” is as pertinent today as 104 years ago, especially in this lucid, well-acted concert staging in the cozy Chicago Cultural Center Studio Theater. JA
Ragtime, Drury Lane Oak Brook, through May 23. This leading candidate for the mantle of “The Great American Musical” receives a grand and glorious staging filled with strong performances and great stagecraft courtesy of director/choreographer Rachel Rockwell. SCM
Spring Awakening, Promethean Theatre Ensemble at the Artistic Home, through May 9. It’s not the Tony-winning musical, but the original 1891 sociodrama by Frank Wedekind on the dangers of adolescence without sex education, rendered with unexpected immediacy belying its age and bare-bones storefront setting. MSB
—By Abarbanel, Barnidge,
Morgan and Sullivan