An Evening at the Talk House, A Red Orchid Theater, through Nov. 19. We’ve all shivered at plays about thugs and death squads coming for the artists, but how do we watch our backs when the thugs and death squads ARE the artists? MSB
The Consul, Chicago Opera Theater at Studebaker Theater, through Nov. 12. Menotti’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway opera feels especially timely for our current political times. Lesbian opera soprano Patricia Racette bravely tackles the emotionally taxing role of the desperate political asylum seeker Magda. SCM
Upstairs: The Musical, Pride Arts Center, through Nov 26. The arsonist who torched the gay bar in New Orleans in 1973 was never identified, but Wayne Self’s historical whodunit speculates on the circumstances behind the hate crime (before the term existed). MSB
Billy Elliott, Porchlight Music Theatre @ Ruth Page Center, through Nov. 26. Porchlight’s new venue provides space for this big dance show and it’s gangbusters! Excellent cast, outstanding band, fine choreography and Elton John’s finest theater score in the tale of a Brit coal miner’s son who discovers ballet. JA
—By Abarbanel, Barnidge and Morgan