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Music director emeritus for life Riccardo Muti leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in a program of works by Donizetti, Verdi, Golijov, Chabrier and Falla. (Amy Aiello Photography)

Something entirely magical took place at Symphony Hall in a recent concert that featured a breathtaking world premiere of composer Osvaldo Golijov’s fascinating, grand-scale work, “Megalopolis Suite,” along with four additional and wholly beguiling works by Donizetti, Verdi, Chabrier and de Falla.

A still from Theatre Y’s production of “Rhinoceros.” (Karl Soderstrom)

If plays were read as commonly as books, “Rhinoceros” would have been banned long ago in those countries that ban books. Imagine such places! First staged in 1959, it was written by the Romanian playwright Eugène Ionesco and has become a classic of the theater of the absurd.

Mitsuko Uchida, Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on Oct. 31, 2024. (Credit: Anne Ryan)

Not only was there a packed house for Thursday evening’s concert at Symphony Hall, but Riccardo Muti, along with the program’s two works by Beethoven, and guest artist, pianist Mitsuko Uchida, were winningly celebrated.

(Carter B. Smith)

Chicago’s Auditorium Theatre has more than 3,800 seats, and almost every last one of them was filled this past Monday night as Sting took to the stage for two hours of his terrific music.

(L-R) Charles Andrew Gardner and Namir Smallwood in “Primary Trust” at the Goodman Theatre. (Liz Lauren)

Eboni Booth’s deeply moving 2024 Pulitzer Prize-winning play “Primary Trust” is now receiving its Chicago premiere at the Goodman Theatre.

“The Golden Girls Meet the Skooby Don’t Gang: The Mystery of the Haunted Bush” from Hell in a Handbag Productions runs through Nov. 3. (Credit: Rick Aguilar Studios)

For 23 years and through more than 80 productions, Hell in a Handbag has brought slightly raunchy but good-humored fun to a variety of stages. They’ve dragged themselves from the tiny space in Mary’s Attic to the mainstage at the Chopin Theatre, 1543 W. Division St.

The Joffrey Ballet ensemble performs in “Atonement.” (Credit: Cheryl Mann)

Joffrey Ballet’s U.S. premiere of “Atonement” tells the impassioned story of a lie that alters the course of love and history. Cathy Marston, the acclaimed British choreographer behind “Atonement,” is best known for narrative ballets.

Linda Reiter in Shattered Globe Theatre’s “Becky Nurse of Salem.” (Credit: Liz Lauren)

Despite its breezy title, “Becky Nurse of Salem” is a full-blown tempest of irony and righteous anger. It ponders the witch as both a powerful being and an object of scorn. Here, witches can be genuine or kooky – sometimes all in the same witch.

Pianist Lukáš Vondráček in a performance of Chopin’s “Piano Concerto No. 2” with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and conductor Marin Alsop. (Todd Rosenberg Photography)

Thursday evening’s concert at Orchestra Hall was another knockout performance by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and it marked the brief return of conductor Marin Alsop, who clearly adores the CSO. It also was a program comprised of three radically different but splendid pieces of music.

Playwright Lani Montreal performing “Leaving Mother: Anak ni Tapia” on June 22-23, 2024, at Links Hall Festival of New Works. (Courtesy of Michelle Reid)

The Chicago Filipino American Theatre Festival coincides with Filipino American History Month in October. Performances and readings will be held Fridays and Saturdays from Oct. 11-26 at PrideArts and Rizal Center.

Steve Key and Wandachristine in “Misery” at American Blues Theater. (Michael Brosilow)

American Blues Theater sets the bar high for Halloween season, delivering a tightly focused fever dream version of Stephen King’s novel “Misery.” The psychological thriller is made more unnerving by the humorous touches in this stage adaptation by William Goldman (“Marathon Man,” “The Princess Bride”).

Aurora Penepacker and Joseph Anthony Byrd in “Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812” at Writers Theatre in Glencoe. (Liz Lauren)

Having missed the opening, I saw the glowing reviews for this Chicago-area premiere and trekked up to Writers Theatre in Glencoe. I went with a skeptic’s eye and my arms folded. “Critics think it’s good, huh? What do they know?” Well, they know enough to have the good sense to embrace this irresistible production.

Elijah Jones plays the titular king in “Henry V” at Chicago Shakespeare Theater. (Jeff Sciortino)

Elijah Jones must have impressed Chicago Shakespeare Theater with the same charisma he projects onstage as the titular king in “Henry V,” a lively production of Shakespeare’s history play about war between France and England. WTTW News spoke with the Juilliard-trained actor about his past, present and future.

The Company of “Rigoletto” at the Lyric Opera. (Todd Rosenberg)

The music is familiar and downright catchy — Verdi famously forbade his cast from singing the songs or even humming the score until after its 1851 premiere in Venice.  Acclaimed Verdi specialist Enrique Mazzola conducts.

Musician Ian Maksin. (Photo: Visata Rupeika)

Ian Maksin is a master cellist, guitarist, composer, recording artist, superb vocalist and multilinguist who can finesse more than 30 languages. In addition to everything else, he is a formidable world traveler. 

“The Audience” at Drury Lane Theatre features Janet Ulrich Brooks as Queen Elizabeth II and Alex Goodrich as Tony Blair. (Credit: Brett Beiner)

Drury Lane Theatre launched its fall season with “The Audience,” a lively and entertaining drama that imagines private conversations between Queen Elizabeth II and the prime ministers who served during her reign. Here, Her Majesty acts as both therapist and sparring partner for the heads of Parliament.