Ghost Quartet, Black Button Eyes Productions @ Stage 773, through Aug. 17—Dazzling vocal and instrumental musicianship in the town’s most unique musical; a mash-up of fantasy, gothic horror and fairytale with Dave Malloy’s melodic and diverse score. JA
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Lookingglass Theatre, through Aug. 18. David Catlin’s richly-textured multi-dimensional adaptation of the classic horror story employs every item in the catalogue of this endlessly creative Chicago company. MSB
The Music Man, Goodman Theatre, through Aug. 18—Mary Zimmerman’s buoyant, festive staging of one of America’s most festive musicals celebrates a more optimistic and big-hearted USA; a perfect summer show and antidote for today’s inglorious bastards. JA
Heroes (We Can Be Us Just For One Day), Shakespeare’s Motley Crew at Winnemac Park, through Aug. 25. The Bard meets Bowie (David, that is) in the SMC’s seventh Midsummer Madness mashup of cross-generic Greatest Hits. MSB
By Mary Shen Barnidge, Jonathan Abarbanel and Scott C. Morgan