Listings for Thursday, July 4, through Wednesday, July 10, 2008

CHICAGO TAP THEATREWith a bam! and a zowie! choreographer Mark Yonally slam-dunks his most recent fusion of comic books and tap dance, The Hourglass and the Poisoned Pen. Conceived as a "reinvention" of last summer's The Hourglass in the Stop-Time Chronicles, this show reprises a few characters -- notably our superhero, the Hourglass, and her sidekick, the Secondhand, played with more verve than ever by Kendra Jorstad and Jennifer Pfaff. But most of the elements are new, and the few recycled scenes have benefited from a stronger, tighter context. Written with comic-book artist Andrew Pepoy (whose The Adventures of Simone & Ajax series appears online at www.ComicMix.com), the story pits an evil music critic, the Poisoned Pen, against a conductor named Von Auffke in a struggle for control of a powerful writing quill/baton. The ins and outs of who's fighting whom can get confusing, but ultimately the work's pleasures come not from the tale but from the tapping, which provides emotional, musical, and dramatic nuance. Yonally's Poisoned Pen is malice incarnate, for example, in a solo whose forceful contrapuntal dancing brings home his power and intelligence. Fluffy yet smart, the piece lets you kick back without going brain-dead. Through 7/20: Fri-Sat 8 PM, Sun 3 PM, no show Fri 7/4, Athenaeum Theatre, 2936 N. Southport, 312-902-1500, $18-$30. --Laura Molzahn