Shock-Headed Peter, Black Button Eyes Productions at The Athenaeum, through Sept. 16. Heinrich Hoffmann’s cruel, deadly 1845 moral lessons for children are visually and musically stunning in this 65-minute production using masks, stilts, puppets, Grand Guignol and The Tiger Lillies’ lilting, sarcastic songs. Kevin Webb scores as the crafty MC. It’s not for kids. JA
Aladdin, Cadillac Palace Theatre, through Sept. 10. This national tour is a corporate Disney product, no doubt. But most audiences nostalgic for the blockbuster 1992 animated feature probably won’t care since Aladdin delivers as a wowing, big-budget stage spectacle. SCM
The Fair Maid of the West, Oak Park Festival Theatre, through Sept. 2. The season of “Swashbuckling in the Suburbs” continues amid leafy-green Austin Gardens with this home-grown seagoing adventure yarn of a woman captain in search of her lost sweetheart. MSB
Fight City, Factory Theater, through Aug. 26. Why wait for a fight to break out at the post-show discussion? Summer’s here and the time is right for a fight-filled futuristic fable (with a social commentary) at the Factory. MSB
—By Abarbanel, Barnidge and Morgan