CHICAGO is still the one musical with everything that makes Broadway shimmy-shake: a universal tale of fame, fortune, and all that jazz, with one showstopping song after another and the most astonishing dancing you've ever seen. In the whirlwind of Chicago's Jazz Age, two of the Cook County Jail's most notorious murderesses-vaudeville star Velma Kelly and chorus girl Roxie Hart-become fierce rivals as they compete for headlines amidst a media frenzy.

This tender, touching story follows Ernestine Ashworth as she celebrates her birthday from age 17 to 101-all while baking her birthday cake. Through a seamless montage of moments, Ernestine grapples with love, loss, family and the passage of time, continually asking the timeless question: "What's it all about?" The Chicago Sun-Times calls it "emotionally rich;" and the Chicago Tribune says, "'Birthday Candles' is precisely why people go to the theater...It's a personal piece but you'd swear it was about you." BTE Managing Artistic Director Emeriti and Ensemble Member Connie Canaday Howard, who starred in Steve Scott's staging of BTE's 2020 production "The Cake," reteams with Scott as she takes on the lead role of Ernestine.

Based on the rip-roaring novel by Rafael Sabatini. Radicalized by his friend's brutal murder on the eve of the French Revolution, a sardonic provincial lawyer repeatedly evades disaster by taking on a series of new identities-first an insurgent orator, then a traveling comic actor, and finally a master swordsman.

The story follows the titular orphan, who, after having been raised in a harsh workhouse, escapes to 1830s London where he's taken in by a gang of pickpockets, led by the elderly criminal Fagin, who discovers the secret of Oliver's parentage. Through it all, Oliver never loses his innocence as he dreams of a better life. Featuring themes of courage, determination, and the enduring power of love, "Oliver!" is a heartwarming show with a classic Golden Age score, featuring standards such as "Where Is Love," "I'd Do Anything," and "As Long as He Needs Me" that you'll be sure to love all over again.

Evanston playwright Gloria Bond Clunie's sweet, funny, and energetic adaptation follows three Harlem girls as they vie for the crown of Hula-Hoopin' Queen! Championed by Oprah Winfrey, this Chicago Public Library's "Best of the Best" award-winner is a joyful reminder of the essentials that bind our communities.

Cameron Mackintosh's acclaimed production of Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg's Tony Award-winning musical phenomenon, Les Miserables, makes a triumphant return to Chicago. Set against the backdrop of 19th century France, Les Miserables tells an enthralling story of broken dreams and unrequited love, passion, sacrifice and redemption - a timeless testament to the survival of the human spirit. This epic and uplifting story has become one of the most celebrated musicals in theatrical history.

Le Bal is a newly commissioned adaptation of Ettore Scola's iconic film-a sweeping, dialogue-free production that tells the story of political and personal transformation through dance, music, and fashion. Set to a score composed and curated by Danny Rockett, Le Bal uses movement and sound to capture the emotional pulse of a changing world. From intimate moments to global shifts, this immersive theatrical experience brings decades of U.S. and world history vividly to life.

Beloved humorist and perennial New York Times best-seller David Sedaris has been bringing his signature self-deprecation to both the page and the stage ever since his comic debut in the late-'70s. Sedaris's live shows are equal parts touching and uproarious, taking his childhood trials and tribulations as a starting point and going on to tackle everything from his eccentric family to American politics. Fans of witty, irony-laden anecdotes are in for a treat as Sedaris hits concert halls around the country with his latest show An Evening with David Sedaris.

SPAMALOT, which first galloped onto Broadway in 2005, features a book & lyrics by Eric Idle and music by John Du Prez and Eric Idle. The original Broadway production was nominated for fourteen Tony Awards and won three, including best musical. The musical comedy lovingly ripped off from the film classic, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, SPAMALOT features well-known song titles such as "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life," "The Song That Goes Like This," "Find Your Grail" and more that have become beloved classics in the musical theatre canon.

Wyoming 1963: a wild landscape of extreme rural poverty and insular conservative communities. When Ennis and Jack take jobs on the isolated Brokeback Mountain, all their certainties of life change forever as they flounder in unexpected emotional waters of increasing depth. This intense tale of an irresistible and hidden love spans twenty years and is interwoven with soulful, original Country Western songs, performed live onstage.

When a prodigal son returns to blue collar New England, his homecoming sets off a spiraling crisis for two families, threatening not only their relationships but their very identities. In Mia Chung's wildly inventive Catch as Catch Can, three actors take on six roles, bridging generation and gender, in a theatrical tour-de-force that upends the kitchen sink drama and asks what happens when we refuse to play the roles we're prescribed. Spanning hilarity, stunning virtuosity and outright horror, this ferocious Chicago premiere - featuring an all-ensemble cast - must be witnessed to be believed.

At the dawn of the 20th century, Vienna is the heart of European culture. While an extended family gathers in the elegant Merz home for the holidays, two brothers-in-law passionately debate their conflicting visions for the future of their family and the Jewish people--a tension that will echo through the generations that follow. Traversing decades of joy and strife, from 1899 to 1955, the latest Tony and Olivier Award-winning masterpiece and most personal play from Tom Stoppard follows one family's reckoning with a past it cannot escape and a future it cannot control.

Two out of Three Falls is a gritty wrestling drama about a woman's ill-advised match up against her father's killer.

Straight from Broadway, Jason Robert Brown's musical masterpiece The Last Five Years comes to Oil Lamp Theater. This widely beloved show takes audiences on the romantic rollercoaster of Jamie and Cathy as they fall in and out of love over the last five years. Told from each individual's perspective - one chronologically and one backwards - audiences will be swept into the unique storytelling and find an anti-love story full of humor and heart. Hailed as a powerful and intimate production, this Drama Desk Award-winner for Outstanding Music is not to be missed.

Based on true events, Kinky Boots follows the journey of two people with nothing in common- or so they think. Charlie Price reluctantly inherits his father's shoe factory, which is on the verge of bankruptcy. Trying to live up to his father's legacy and save his family business, Charlie finds inspiration in the form of Lola, a fabulous entertainer in need of some sturdy stilettos. As Charlie and Lola work together to turn the factory around, this unlikely pair finds that they have more in common than they realized... and discover that you change the world when you change your mind.

New York City, 1938-Broadway's brightest star, Vera Vimm (Megan Mullally), is at the top of her game. But when she adopts a 40,000-year-old Neanderthal discovered frozen in the Arctic, the spotlight begins to shift. As Iceboy thaws, he unexpectedly becomes a theatrical sensation, inspiring the "father of the American drama" and challenging his legendary mother for center stage. It's All About Eve...if only Eve was a caveman. Three-time Tony Award-winner Kathleen Marshall directs and choreographs the newest musical from the creators of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and Urinetown.

Get ready to laugh the summer away with nuns from the Little Sisters of Hoboken. This beloved revue will have you in stitches as the five sisters stage a variety show fundraiser filled with outrageous musical numbers and zany comedy.