The Double, Babes With Blades at Lincoln Square, through Sept. 24. Its church-basement quarters may be shabby, but both the dialogue and the shiny rapiers dazzle in Barbara Lhota’s gender-flexing homage to the proto-feminist screwball comedies of the 1930s and ’40s. MSB
Sky’s the Limit (Weather Permitting), Second City e.t.c., in an open run. American aspirations get spoofed with sarcastic pessimism in this great new comedy revue that unabashedly leans left with its wit and humor. SCM
Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Drury Lane Theatre Oakbrook, through Oct. 9. It’s simple: this is the best Sweeney Todd you ever are likely to see. Don’t miss it. Greg Edelman and Liz McCartney are Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett. The ensemble, band and designs are astonishing. JA
A Walk In The Woods, Timeline Theatre at Theater Wit, through Nov. 20. The cold war may be over, but Lee Blessing’s Reagan-era speculations on the arms race acquire fresh meaning when the diplomats taking a stroll for a private word or two are played by David Parkes and Janet Ulrich Brooks. MSB
—By Abarbanel, Barnidge
and Morgan