'South Pacific' a triumph in Lincoln Center staging here
The timing could not be more ideal. The Lincoln Center Theatre revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's masterful musical "South Pacific" is making its brief national touring stop at the Rosemont Theatre at the very moment that President Obama is weighing the perilous pros and cons of sending tens of thousands of additional American troops into battle in Afghanistan.

'Vep' guys don't drag their heels

Think of it as a triathlon for two actors in drag. And then imagine "Rebecca" fused with bits of "Dracula" and "Frankenstein" (with a nod to Caryl Churchill's "Cloud Nine," too), all played out as a traditional knock-about Victorian gothic horror melodrama.

Shame on the Rosemont Theater

It must be said: The Rosemont Theatre does not deserve to host a show of the caliber of "South Pacific." True, no commercial theater in this city could replicate the mix of spaciousness and intimacy of New York's Lincoln Center's mainstage thrust-style space, where this grand revival was originally produced. But the Rosemont, with its barnlike interior, is a particularly unwelcoming place in which to see such a show. And its seating policies are abominable.

'Don't Give Up' stuck in the middle
Hedy Weiss: Needs work. That's the verdict on actor Peter Gallagher's one-man show, "Don't Give Up On Me," which mixes affectionate show biz anecdotes with songs, and is running Sunday and Monday nights at the Drury Lane Theatre Water Tower Place through Dec. 14.

Redmoon's 'Winter' warms your heart

Early on in Redmoon Theatre's 2009 Winter Pageant, a girl arrives onstage carrying an old-fashioned suitcase. As she carefully lifts its locks and raises its lid the sound of birdsong fills the air. And inside the case we see strange grass-like balls -- birds' nests perhaps -- that make you believe it just might be spring again.

'South Pacific' cast meets veterans of modern wars
Hedy Weiss: As soon as director Bartlett Sher began rehearsals for the 2008 Lincoln Center revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "South Pacific" -- which, amazingly, marked the musical's only Broadway production since its debut in 1949 -- he arranged for the cast to meet veterans and military historians of both World War II and the war in Iraq. But why did it take six decades for the show to find its way back to Broadway?

'Souvenir' deftly stays right on key
Consult the Wikipedia entry for Florence Foster Jenkins (1868-1944) and you will find this blunt assessment: "An American soprano who became famous for her complete lack of rhythm, pitch, tone, and overall singing ability."

Felder fully on as Ludwig van
Hedy Weiss: Hershey Felder is an altogether remarkable polymath -- an exceptional actor, writer, pianist, singer and teacher. And all his prodigious talents are on grand display in his latest work, "Beethoven, As I Knew Him," now in a hypnotic production at the intimate Drury Lane Theatre Water Tower Place.

Star-studded 'Christmas Carol' canceled

From the start, with its announcement in October of a large, exceptionally starry cast, the production of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” scheduled to run Dec. 22-27 at the Civic Opera House looked iffy at best.

Viva variety: Cirque's 'Banana Shpeel' reinvents vaudeville
Hedy Weiss: Attention ladies and gentlemen, and all the rest of you, too. Are you ready for a return to vaudeville? Well, send in the clowns. And the comics. And the acrobats. And the eccentric dancers. And the actors. And the musicians. And don't forget to kick nostalgia back into the wings. That's "Banana Shpeel."

American Ballet Theatre schedule plays it safe

American Ballet Theatre, now celebrating its 70th anniversary, is headed back to Chicago, but it's taking few risks at the box office.

Backstage at the opera, in cinema-verite style

What Edgar Degas, that master of French Impressionism, did for the little "ballet rats" of the Paris Opera in the late 19th century, Frederick Wiseman, a master of American documentary filmmaking, has done for the radically different world of the same company in the early 21st century. In fact, he has done far more.

American Ballet Theatre schedule plays it safe

American Ballet Theatre, now celebrating its 70th anniversary, is headed back to Chicago, but it’s taking few risks at the box office.

'G.I.F.T.' should be returned to sender
Hedy Weiss: Collaboraction's heart might be in the right place with its new holiday season production, "G.I.F.T." But the company's art is woefully lacking. And not even the opportunity to explore the vast, empty, frosty recesses of its special performance space, Firehouse Square can justify a visit to the show.

Eclipse has a hoot over two centuries
Hedy Weiss: Playwright Romulus Linney wrote "Democracy" (based on an 1880 novel by Henry Adams) just in time for this country's bicentennial back in 1976. Set a century earlier, during the post-Civil War administration of President Ulysses S. Grant, the play deals with nearly all the matters that continue to bedevil us to this day.

3 choreographers' pieces almost in lockstep
Hedy Weiss: Choreographic style can be contagious. Consider the three pieces by three different dancemakers that comprised the program performed at the Auditorium Theatre this weekend by the bravura dancers of New York-based Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet. Had any one of them been on a more varied program it would have been astonishing.

An 'Addams Family' musical by the numbers
Hedy Weiss: Many years in the dreaming, and three in the making, “The Addams Family” stage  musical — developed by Chicago-based producers Stuart Oken and Michael Leavitt, and rooted in the cartoons and an original script rather than the television or movie versions — brings together a unique group of creative talents.

Hip-hop tragedy 'Hopera' overcomes flaws in story
Here is the bitter irony: The tragic story that unspools in "Hopera: A Fallen Hero" --the "hip-hop opera" that is a fiery blend of grand opera and hip-hop riffs -- plays out for real in neighborhoods just a short walk from the stage of the DuSable Museum of African American Art, where the work will have its final performances tonight and Sunday afternoon.

Cedar Lake pushes the envelope on contemporary ballet
Hedy Weiss: You might never have heard of Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet. But the very fact that Canadian choreographer Crystal Pite has created one of the three works on the company’s program at the Auditorium Theatre this weekend should send you to the box office.

A 'Little Women' in need of music and inspiration

While "A Christmas Carol" continues to remain a reliable holiday season cash cow (with various takes on "It's a Wonderful Life" close behind in popularity), many theaters are testing alternatives for making the box office sing "Noel."

Mira Hermoni-Levine's ‘Red Dress’ girl a secret no longer
My first encounter with Israeli artist Mira Hermoni-Levine was several years ago when I became intrigued by the painting of a young girl on the cover of a theater playbill here. Was the girl a real child or a doll? She certainly looked European, and was both haunting and haunted. And though still small, she made a powerful impression.

Company raising its Profile with new hits

Profiles Theatre, the intimate storefront operation at 4147 N. Broadway that has been selling out two productions in recent months (it had to rent a second storefront three doors down from its home to accommodate the success), seems to have developed an uncanny knack for keeping its box office hot.

Jewish family gets holiday pounding

“Goys have friends; Jews have family,” says Nate Roman, the angry Jewish father in Alan Gross’ play “High Holidays,” now in its world premiere at the Goodman’s Owen Theatre. And the only conclusion one can reach by the end of this often offensive and painfully overlong drama is that with such a family, friends might indeed be preferable.

Stage notes: Company raising its Profiles with winning works

Profiles Theatre, the intimate storefront operation at 4147 N. Broadway that has been selling out two productions in recent months (it had to rent a second storefront three doors down from its home to accommodate the success), seems to have developed an uncanny knack for keeping its box office hot.

Those flitting around Isadora
Hedy Weiss: Martin Sherman's play "When She Danced" takes a glimpse at a turbulent moment in the twilight years of that American modern dance pioneer, Isadora Duncan. Along the way it poignantly suggests how difficult it is to conjure the magic of live dance.

'Million Dollar Quartet' one year old -- and still rock solid

Who knows what really happened on that legendary December afternoon in 1956 when Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley all happened to show up at producer Sam Phillips' Sun Studios in Memphis, Tennessee?

Grande dame

The mother of American modern dance? A poster child for pursuing "la vie boheme"? The model of the liberated woman in the early decades of the 20th century? A cautionary tale about the perils and pitfalls of celebrity?

Bernstein's 'Mass' is celebrated

In 1971, while the Vietnam War was still raging, Leonard Bernstein wrote "MASS: A Theatre Piece for Singers, Players, and Dancers," a work commissioned by Jacqueline Kennedy for the opening of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. Though it drew on liturgical passages from the Roman Catholic mass that were sung in Latin, it had additional English lyrics penned by Bernstein, Broadway composer Stephen Schwartz (now of "Wicked" fame) and Paul Simon, and it drew on elements of rock, jazz, blues, hymns, opera and Broadway.

Fresh life breathed into 'Young Frankenstein'
Hedy Weiss: Talk about reanimating a seemingly dead thing. In "Young Frankenstein," Mel Brooks and his crackerjack collaborator, director-choreographer Susan Stroman, have reached back to the days when true musical comedy -- complete with catchy tunes, impossibly leggy chorus girls, giggle-inducing one-liners and non sequiturs, nutty characters, eye-popping dance routines and plain old vaudeville sex jokes and shtick -- ruled the Broadway stage.

American Theater Company making big plans
Fresh from huge box office successes with its past two shows — “Yeast Nation” and “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” — the American Theater Company, led by artistic director, PJ Paparelli, is making big plans.

With 'End' result, Next affirms human nature
Hedy Weiss: They are four people in various states of spiritual hunger, with one of them binging on faith, another forgetting to eat, a third secretly snacking on science and a fourth happily omnivorous. Yet whatever the state of their "appetites" might be, the characters in "End Days" provide plenty of food for thought and an array of bittersweet side dishes.

Some dazzling surprises launch Dance Chicago
Hedy Weiss: Dance Chicago, the annual festival of all things danceworthy from inside (and just beyond) this city, is the variety pack of dance programming. Every taste, texture and style of movement is on display during this monthlong event that, for the first time this year, is being staged at several different venues in the city and suburbs.

Drury Lane assembles a thoroughly delightful 'Millie'
If you look closely, many of the people who find the greatest success in New York have actually fled there from small towns in the Midwest and beyond. Determined to satisfy all their pentup dreams and appetite for discovery and prosperity, they will need all the grit and delusional thinking they can muster to survive.

Brooks turns 'Young Frankenstein' into monster smash
Hedy Weiss: Mel Brooks' fixation on "Frankenstein" began when he was still in kneepants. "I must have been just five or six when I first saw the movie [James Whale's 1931 classic, "Frankenstein"], and it left an indelible impression on me," Brooks recalled during a recent chat. "I still remember that it was summertime, and after I got home I told my mother to close the window. ... I was convinced that Frankenstein's monster was going to climb up and eat me."

'Silk Road Cabaret' leads to triumph of diversity

In 1991, when "Miss Saigon" was headed for its Broadway debut, a huge controversy erupted over the use of British actor Jonathan Pryce, who is white, in the role of the Eurasian pimp dubbed the Engineer.

Irish stage traditions fold into 'Farce'

They clearly are bonkers. Or perhaps they have been ingesting some insane blend of steroids and amphetamines. Or maybe they are just penniless actors using their shambles of an apartment as a place to rehearse.

Redmoon's White House plans become less ghostly

The initial invitation came a little more than a month ago in the form of a phone call to Chicago's Redmoon Central from Washington, D.C., but nothing can be said officially, even now.