With Broadway tours in town mostly consisting of reprise engagements of age-old blockbusters — “The Lion King,” “The Book of Mormon,” “Phantom of the Opera” — and some of the suburban theaters repeating each other’s programming, the theater spotlight this fall shines on Chicago’s venerable nonprofit theaters.
As compared with the last few fiscally challenged years, we’re finally seeing more shows with larger casts, more complex storytelling and greater ambitions. Two Chicago theaters, Northlight Theatre and TimeLine, are looking forward to new buildings coming soon. That’s just as well, since two venerable performance venues, the Briar Street Theatre and Stage 773, have fallen to condo developments, and there’s little life at the Biograph Theatre despite its prime Lincoln Park location, and zero life at the Mercury Theater, another important theater in a prime spot on the Southport Corridor.
But enough with the real estate angst, let’s get to the top shows this fall.
Here, with the usual seasonal caveat that my reviews are yet to come, are 10 productions I’m especially looking forward to seeing. You’ll find horror shows, period dramas, contemporary plays and at least one musical about revolutionaries.
See you at the theater.
“Mr. Wolf” at Steppenwolf Theatre
Commissioned by the South Coast Repertory Theatre and first seen in 2014, Rajiv Joseph’s psychologically focused “Mr. Wolf” tells the story of parents who have been reunited with their 15-year-old daughter, Theresa, who was abducted 14 years previously and who has changed to the point of being hard to recognize. K. Todd Freeman directs a blue-chip Steppenwolf cast including Kate Arrington, Namir Smallwood, Tim Hopper and Caroline Neff.
Sept. 11 to Nov. 2 at Steppenwolf Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted St.; 312-335-1650 and www.steppenwolf.org
Kate Arrington and Emilie Maureen Hanson in rehearsal for Steppenwolf Theatre’s Chicago premiere of “Mr. Wolf.” (Joel Moorman)
“Big White Fog” at Court Theatre
Court Theatre begins its first season under new artistic director Avery Willis Hoffman with Theodore’s Ward’s “Big White Fog,” a 1938 play that often is seen as a prototype for “A Raisin in the Sun.” Set on Chicago’s South Side and initially funded by the Federal Theatre Project, the piece looks at three generations of the struggling Mason family, torn between some members’ desire to return to Africa and others with an unshakeable belief in the American dream. Theater critic Charles Collins of this newspaper wrote an admiring review of the play’s first production in 1938. Ron OJ Parson, who was not around then, directs this revival of an oft-forgotten portrait of Chicago in the 1920s penned by a writer widely known as the “dean of Black dramatists” in his day.
Sept. 12 to Oct. 12 at Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis Ave.; 773-753-4472 and www.courttheatre.org
“Leo Lionni’s Frederick” at Chicago Children’s Theatre
Chicago Children’s Theatre has reached its 20th anniversary and its marquee fall production in the West Loop is a reprise of a show produced a decade ago, based on Leo Leonni’s book about a mouse preparing for winter. (Hint: the show posits that mouse does not live by nuts and berries alone but must also tend to community.) The musical’s book is by Suzanne Maynard Miller and the folk-rock-blues score is by the team of Sarah Durkee and Paul Jacobs is performed live. Here’s the big advantage always enjoyed by children’s theaters: There’s a whole new audience for “Frederick” now.
Sept. 27 to Nov. 16 at Chicago Children’s Theatre, 100 S. Racine Ave., 312-374-8835 and chicagochildrenstheater.org
Frederick (Richard Juarez) and Ernest (Shawn Pfautsch) in the 2014 world premiere of “Leo Lionni’s Frederick” by Chicago Children’s Theatre at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts. (Charles Osgood)
“Oak” at Raven Theatre
The talented Chicago writer-performer Terry Guest is a young artist (well, young to me) very much immersed in the gothic culture most familiar in points to our south. This fall, Raven Theatre will stage the first Chicago production of Guest’s “Oak,” directed by Mikael Burke, another important Chicago talent and his frequent collaborator. “Oak” is a horror piece about three Black kids stuck in a world where they cannot trust adults to protect them. All that and a “mysterious creek monster.”
Oct. 2 to Nov. 9 at Raven Theatre, 6157 N. Clark St.; 773-338-2177 and raventheatre.org
“Revolution(s)” at Goodman Theatre
One of the few brand new musicals on offer in Chicago this fall, “Revolution(s)” is penned by Northwestern professor Zayd Ayers Dohrn and features music and lyrics by Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine that are said to feature such styles as punk, metal and hip hop. The show is a portrait of political radicalism and a young man finding his voice, a subject that Dohrn (the son of the radical activists Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers of the Weather Underground), should be in a position to know very well. Steve H. Broadnax III directs.
Oct. 4 to Nov. 9. in the Goodman’s Owen Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St.; 312-443-3800 and www.goodmantheatre.org
Tom Morello speaks with Steve Broadnax III and Zayd Ayers Dorhn while announcing their new show “Revolution(s)” on Feb. 25, 2025, at the Goodman Theatre. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
“Paranormal Activity” at Chicago Shakespeare Theater
The made-in-Chicago writer Levi Holloway has established himself as a master of the horror genre; his “Grey House,” first seen at A Red Orchid Theatre, made it all the way to Broadway. His newest play is based on Paramount Pictures’ “Paranormal Activity” movie franchise (there are seven films) dating back to Oren Peli’s original movie in 2007. Holloway’s play is about a couple named James and Lou, who move from Chicago to London to escape their past. The director is Felix Barrett, founder and artistic director of Punchdrunk, who created the highly successful interactive piece “Sleep No More” which ran in New York for 14 years. The show premiered at the Leeds Playhouse in the U.K. and will tour elsewhere following its Halloween stand on Navy Pier.
Oct. 8 to Nov. 2 at Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier; 312-595-5600 and www.chicagoshakes.com
“As You Like It” at Writers Theatre
Writers Theatre in Glencoe was founded with a heavy emphasis on classic works but it’s been a hot minute since William Shakespeare came back to the classy theater building on the North Shore. This fall, Writers Theatre is presenting the 90-minute musical adaptation of this frolicsome comedy penned by Shaina Taub and Laurie Woolery with folk-rock music and lyrics by Taub, the rising star who created the recent Broadway musical “Suffs.” “As You Like It” was previously seen in the New York Public Theater’s community-oriented Public Works program at the outdoor Delacorte Theatre in 2017. Writers artistic director Braden Abraham directs this fresh, fall staging.
Oct. 30 to Dec. 14 at Writers Theatre, 325 Tudor Court, Glencoe; 847-242-6000 and writerstheatre.org
Writers Theatre in Glencoe in 2016, soon after the building designed by Studio Gang Architects was constructed. (Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune)
“Amadeus” at Steppenwolf Theatre
Peter Shaffer’s epic period drama about the bitter rivalry between Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri needs little introduction and forms a kind of centerpiece for Steppenwolf Theatre’s 50th anniversary season. Robert Falls, former artistic director of the Goodman Theatre, has taken over as director after Anna D. Shapiro withdrew for health reasons. So this show also will be Falls’ first post-Goodman comeback. The Steppenwolf cast includes Ian Barford as the jealous Salieri, as well as the veteran Steppenwolf performers Robert Breuler and Francis Guinan, who is having a busy fall.
Nov. 6 to Jan. 4 in Steppenwolf’s Ensemble Theater, 1650 N. Halsted St.; 312-335-1650 and www.steppenwolf.org
“Hell’s Kitchen” at Broadway in Chicago’s Nederlander Theatre
This jukebox musical, a hit on Broadway, takes its cue from “Girl on Fire” and features the songs and (to some degree) the life story of Alicia Keys, centered on the singer-musician’s coming of age in a Midtown Manhattan apartment building filled with the sounds and personalities of musicians, actors and other creative types. This is the first national tour and will be the first time the lively show, still playing on Broadway, will have been seen in Chicago.
Nov. 11-30 at Nederlander Theatre, 24 W. Randolph St.; www.broadwayinchicago.com
Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins speaks about his new work “A Night of Mellon Collie and Infinite Sadness” on March 11, 2025, as the Lyric Opera announces its upcoming season. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
“A Night of Mellon Collie and Infinite Sadness” at Lyric Opera
Tickets sold fast for the world premiere of Billy Corgan’s new opera, based on the ambitious and expansive Smashing Pumpkins conceptual double album of roughly the same title. “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness,” the band’s third studio album, was recorded in Chicago and released in 1995 with 28 tracks. Many see it as the emotional and philosophical peak of 1990s alternative rock. How did this fusion of alt rock and opera come to be? “This is to celebrate the compositional aspect of the work,” Corgan said last spring at a Lyric press conference. “We’re not trying to do opera-goes-rock.” Corgan, a self-described Lyric fan, also said he will “get a sing a few songs” but also that he wanted to “get out of the way” of the orchestrations and the operatic singers involved in the project.
Nov. 21-30 at Lyric Opera House, 20 N. Wacker Drive; 312-827-5600 and lyricopera.org
Chris Jones is a Tribune critic.
cjones5@chicagotribune.com
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/09/02/theater-top-10-fall-2025/
