Spotlight: Kokandy Productions revives 'The SpongeBob Musical'
Welcome to Bikini Bottom
Frankie Leo Bennett plays plucky sea sponge SpongeBob in Kokandy Productions' revival of the exuberant tuner "Nickelodeon's The SpongeBob Musical" based on the animated series and featuring songs from Yolanda Adams, The Flaming Lips, Sara Bareilles, Cyndi Lauper, John Legend, The Plain White T's and others. The musical centers around the efforts of SpongeBob and his pals Sandy Cheeks (Sarah Patin) and Patrick Star (Isabel Cecilia García) to save their Bikini Bottom community from a volcanic eruption.
Previews at 7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, June 22-24 and June 29-July 1 and July 6; and 5 p.m. Sunday, June 25 and July 2, at The Chopin Theatre, 1543 W. Division St., Chicago. The show opens July 7. $25-$40. Masks not required. kokandyproductions.com.
'Hair' revival
MadKap Productions revives "Hair," the 1967 "tribal love-rock musical" by writer/lyricists Gerome Ragni and James Rado and composer Galt MacDermot. Derek Von Barham directs this snapshot of the 1960s, which unfolds as a series of vignettes depicting issues that dominated the era including political upheaval, opposition to the Vietnam War, generational conflict, drug use and sexuality.
7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, June 23-24, and 2 p.m. Sunday, June 25, and through July 30 at 7924 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. $38, $45. Masks recommended. (847) 677-7761 or skokietheatre.org.
On stage at Zanies
Comedian, actor, podcaster and "WGN Morning News" co-host Pat Tomasulo headlines an early show this weekend at Zanies Rosemont.
5 p.m. Saturday, June 24, at Parkway Bank Park, 5437 Park Place, Rosemont. $30, plus a two-item minimum. Masks optional. (847) 813-0484 or rosemont.zanies.com.
Backyard Broadway
Porchlight Music Theatre kicks off its summer concert series "Broadway in Your Backyard" at Chicago's Unity Park. Now in its third year, Porchlight's partnership with the Chicago Park District's Night Out in the Parks series features Chicago-area musical theater veterans Adrian Aguilar, Bryce Ancil, Lydia Burke, Desiree Gonzalez, Lorenzo Rush Jr. and Ciarra Stroud performing the Broadway songbook - from shows including "Funny Girl," "Guys and Dolls," "Grease" and others - outdoors at public parks throughout the city.
6 p.m. Tuesday, June 27, at Unity Park, 2636 N. Kimball Ave., Chicago. Free. Performances continue Tuesdays through Aug. 8. See porchlightmusictheatre.org for a schedule.
Storefront opera
Thompson Street Opera Company, a Chicago storefront opera ensemble that produces works by living composers, concludes its 11th season with "Michigan Trees: A Guide to the Trees of Michigan and the Great Lakes Region." Grey Grant's folk opera is an examination of identity about a transfemme person trying to reconcile how she sees herself and how she believes the world sees her.
8 p.m. Thursday and Friday, June 22-23, and 3 p.m. Saturday, June 24, at PrideArts, 4139 N. Broadway Ave., Chicago. $15-$30. Masks optional. thompsonstreetopera.org.
Midwest premiere
Director/playwright Kareem Fahmy helms Writers Theatre's Midwest premiere of "A Distinct Society," a drama inspired by the 2017 travel ban and set at the real-life Haskell Free Library and Opera House that straddles the U.S.-Canada border. Although the travel ban sparked the idea, Fahmy - a Canadian of Egyptian descent - says the play became less about political events and more about the five characters (a librarian, a border agent, a teenager and an Iranian father and daughter) and how those events shape their experiences.
Previews at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, June 22 and 29, Friday and Saturday, June 23-24, and Wednesday, June 28; and 2 p.m. Sunday, June 24, and various times through July 23 at 325 Tudor Court, Glencoe. $35-$90. Masks recommended. (847) 242-6000 or writerstheatre.org.