Chicago’s been invaded by puppet people, and resistance is futile. If you wish to experience theatrical wonder — and who doesn’t? — surrender to these inventive invaders.

To get straight to the point: “Hitt Records,” the musical revue now receiving its world premiere at the Black Ensemble Theater, is an absolute knockout, writes WTTW News theater critic Hedy Weiss.

Billing itself as a farm-to-fable tale, “Shucked” reminds audiences that it’s OK to have a great time at the theater. It has hilarious and surprisingly heartfelt songs to go along with the bushels of cornball humor.

If you’ve made it to 2025, make a resolution to take a leap and dive deep into the cultural pool of Chicago. Here are a few ideas to start the year with a splash.

The holidays are hectic, so why not go eclectic? Here’s a wide-ranging shortlist of good bets for seasonal art, culture and discovery.

After you’ve experienced Joffrey Ballet’s Chicago-style “The Nutcracker” and the Goodman Theatre’s “A Christmas Carol” multiple times… what to do? Here are five solid ideas — some reverent and timely, some not so much.

This weekend brings an ensemble of enticing musical choices, and it’s not just holiday songs and show tunes. OK, much of it is, but the hardest part will be deciding what to see — and hear.

Brighten your Black Friday – and Saturday and Sunday – by taking part in a communal experience in the arts. Here are five picks. 

The show has been running at Briar Street Theatre in Lakeview since 1997.

“Blue” follows a Black family after they lose their son to police violence, all while the father serves as a police officer. The production explores injustice and finding healing through faith and community.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.