From left, Scott Aiello plays Eddie, Mike Cherry is Marco, Eileen Niccolai plays Beatrice, Harrison Weger is Rodolpho, who has his eye on Catherine, Isabelle Muthiah is Catherine in Shattered Globe Theatre’s “A View From the Bridge.” (Credit: Liz Lauren)

Shattered Globe Theatre’s vividly acted and deeply disturbing revival of the Arthur Miller classic “A View From the Bridge” could not have been revived at a more ideally timely moment.

Anthony Freud, general director of the Lyric Opera of Chicago, poses on the mezzanine overlooking the foyer at the Lyric on Dec. 11, 2014. (AP Photo / M. Spencer Green, File)

 Anthony Freud will retire as general director of the Lyric Opera of Chicago at the end of the season, ending a 13-year tenure.

KC Bevis (from left), Logan Howell (front), Diamond Burdine, Jack Halbert and Monternez Rezell perform with Chicago Dance Crash. (Credit: Ashley Deran)

The pieces were brilliantly danced by five men and two women. Founded in 2002, Dance Crash continues to develop intriguing works that are a unique and seamless fusion of hip hop and contemporary dance.

Britt Edwards performs in “A Taste of Soul.” (Darin M. Gladfelter)

Featuring nearly 40 hit songs, “A Taste of Soul” takes an exceptionally clever approach to celebrating the irrepressible exuberance and heartache of soul music, WTTW News theater critic Hedy Weiss writes.

Ryan Opera Center Ensemble performing at “Sunday in the Park With Lyric.” (Kyle Flubacker)

Lyric Opera’s free outdoor concert in Millennium Park served as an ideal introduction to the six operas to be performed during the 2023-24 season. The absence of scenery and costumes only put the focus entirely on the singers, but also made the characters come fully to life.

Alisa Weilerstein, left in gold gown, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra are conducted by Joshua Weilerstein on Aug. 17, 2023, at the Ravinia Festival. (Emily Waler / Ravinia Festival)

For the second half of its Ravinia Festival concert this past Thursday the Chicago Symphony Orchestra delivered a bravura performance of Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich’s extraordinary “Symphony No. 5” and it couldn’t have been more timely in subtle way.

Roman Banks as “MJ” and the cast of the “MJ: The Musical.” (Matthew Murphy / MurphyMade)

Michael Jackson was an iconic singer, dancer, songwriter, producer, philanthropist and intensely complex (and controversial) figure who transformed pop culture in the second half of the 20th century.

Roman Banks as “MJ” and the cast of the “MJ: The Musical.” (Matthew Murphy / MurphyMade)

Last year it was a hit on Broadway. Now it’s opening a North American tour in Chicago. “MJ: The Musical” tells the story of Michael Jackson in flashback. It begins in 1992 as he prepares his Dangerous Tour.

Donovan Hoffer and the cast of “Rock of Ages.” (Liz Lauren)

“Rock of Ages” is a funky, feverish, hard-driving musical that is now storming across the stage of the Mercury Theater. A large, fearless and very talented cast, along with an exceptional band, capture the tumultuous beat of a decidedly “rocky” decade.

(left to right) Ensemble member Jeff Perry and Mark Ulrich in Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s revival of “No Man’s Land” by Harold Pinter, directed by Les Waters, playing now through Aug. 20, 2023. (Michael Brosilow)

Four lost souls are the variously screwed-up men living in “No Man’s Land,” Harold Pinter’s strange, angry, status-conscious and somewhat absurdist talkathon of a play. It first opened in London in 1975 and is now on stage at Steppenwolf Theatre in a production directed by Les Waters.

“Marie and Rosetta” at Northlight Theatre. (Michael Brosilow)

“Marie and Rosetta” tells the tale of singers Marie Knight and Sister Rosetta Tharpe. The play is a story of personal liberation as achieved through a hybrid of musical styles and the friendship of opposites.

Heather Headley performs at the Ravinia Pavilion on July 16, 2023. (Patrick Gipson / Ravinia Festival)

Whether she is performing songs from a Broadway musical, a familiar hymn or a gospel classic, Heather Headley possesses a voice and personality that can easily mesmerize an audience. And so she did with a grand-scale performance at Ravinia Pavilion.

Footage of “The Who’s Tommy, the Musical” at the Goodman Theatre. (Courtesy of Goodman Theatre)

Back in 1993, the musical version of “Tommy” won five Tony Awards. Now, that director is re-imaging the stage production at the Goodman Theatre with input from Pete Townshend.

Music director Riccardo Muti leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in a program including music by Florence Price and Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony at the free Concert for Chicago in Millennium Park. (Todd Rosenberg)

With an audience approaching about 8,500 people, Maestro Riccardo Muti led the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the “Concert for Chicago” in Millennium Park. He ended his 13-year tenure as CSO music director but will continue to conduct some performances.

Riccardo Muti and guest chorus director Donald Palumbo onstage following performance of Beethoven’s “Missa solemnis.” (Todd Rosenberg)

Maestro Riccardo Muti chose Beethoven’s “Missa solemnis” as the work he wished to conduct to mark “the official end” of his glorious 13-year tenure as music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He has been named music director emeritus for life and will continue to lead occasional CSO performances.

CSO principal tuba Gene Pokorny and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra perform Lalo Schifrin’s “Concerto for Tuba and Orchestra.” (Todd Rosenberg)

The tuba may be one of the largest instruments in a symphony orchestra and an important source of the brass sound, but it is rarely celebrated in a work that puts it front and center by way of a masterful composer and musician.