Patrick O'Brien

An appealing cast. Bluegrass. A campfire. Nothing could possibly go wrong in this new musical thriller.

The unquestioned immortality of Mamma Mia! took a hit last year when its Broadway run came to an end after playing fourteen years, two theatres and 5,773 performances. Now comes the question of its unavoidability. Somehow, I've managed to - okay, maybe not avoid it, which implies snobbishness on my part - but Mamma Mia! has just never been on my radar. It'll be around forever - or at least as long as Boomer nostalgia sells - so that leaves plenty of time to catch up on other things, my thought process went. But now begins what will presumably turn into a licensing blitz, and Aurora's Paramount Theatre leads the bell-bottomed charge into Chicagoland. So here we go again for the first time, I guess.

A daring company takes it easy this summer, which may just be OK.

Lifeline gives new musical life to Austen obscurity.

Woody Allen's film is promising source material for a musical. This is what we got.

Don't change a thing, HIGH FIDELITY; you make the list.

By jove, Mercury Theater cracks the case in adapting a Sherlock Holmes musical!

Like its blessed branch, take it and pass it on.

Alban Berg's opera Wozzeck is not the first to swirl with immortal themes like power play, lust, betrayal, and death (far, far from it), but thanks to the circumstances of its composition - further emphasized by Sir David McVicar's new production at the Lyric Opera - it is prominent in its search to question the meaning of it all. So, whether or not philosophizing about the inherent nature of man gets you up and out in the morning, a visit to the Civic Opera House would very much be in order for a beguiling production that, while leaving one starved for melody, makes for cracking drama and discussion.

Based on the 1999 Universal film, this new musical flies, and will surely fly again soon.

Underscore Theatre's Musical Theatre Festival is back with a bumper crop of new and original musicals. What's chaff and what's wheat? Read on!