Be Here Now, Shattered Globe Theatre at Theater Wit, through Oct. 19. By rejecting romcom clichés, Deborah Zoe Laufer’s mostly comedy leads to a smarter, quirkier and even MORE romantic happy ending in this well staged production. MSB
Something Rotten! Marriott Theatre, Lincolnshire, through Oct. 20—Musicals and Shakespeare blend in this unashamedly derivative, anachronistic and irreverent comedy, in which Shakespeare’s rivals try gaming the system by acting on predictions from a relative of Nostradamus. SCM
The Great Leap, Steppenwolf, through Oct. 20—A 5’5″ Chinese-American basketball star, Tiananmen Square, international politics and rival coaches shape Lauren Yee’s imaginative, impossible Tank Man origin myth. Gregg Obrero dazzles as the b’ball prodigy. JA
The Color Purple, Drury Lane Theatre, Oakbrook Terrace, through Nov. 3—Director Lili-Anne Brown allows this speedy musical adaptation of Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning to properly breathe with great emotional performances and gorgeous singing. SCM
—By Mary Shen Barnidge, Scott C. Morgan and Jonathan Abarbanel