AIN'T MISBEHAVIN' This ingenious revue of songs written and/or recorded by jazz great Fats Waller (a 1978 Broadway hit) receives a slick, rousing revival under the direction of Chuck Smith. Five immensely talented singers evoke the glory days of the Harlem Renaissance in a stream of great tunes. Most of the numbers are playfully sexy, others evoke the heartbreak of unrequited love, and a few point to Waller's demons--drinking, drug use, and weight--while the poignantly harmonized "Black and Blue" takes on the pain of racism in Andy Razaf's brilliantly understated lyric. Designer Linda Buchanan's sleek recreation of an Art Deco nightclub, complete with an onstage bandstand, provides the perfect setting for the witty, melodic, rhythmically diverse score. --Albert Williams Through 7/27: Wed 7:30 PM, Fri 8 PM, Sat 2 and 8 PM, Sun 2 and 7:30 PM, Thu 7/10 and 7/17, 2 and 7:30 PM, Thu 7/24, 7:30 PM, Sun 7/20, 2 PM only, no show Fri 7/4, Goodman Theatre, Albert Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn, 312-443-3800, $23-$78.

ALCYONE FESTIVAL Halcyon Theatre's celebration of "one thousand years of early female playwrights" is divided into six programs as follows. Through 7/13: Thu-Fri 8 PM, Sat 2 and 8 PM, Sun 2, 5, and 8 PM. Schedule follows. 7/3-7/6: No show Thu. Fri, The Massacre by Elizabeth Inchbald and Spreading the News by Lady Augusta Gregory. 2 PM Sat, Trifles by Susan Glaspell. 8 PM Sat, Callimachus by Hrosvitha, Safe by Georgia Douglas Johnson, and Aria da Capo by Edna St. Vincent Millay. 2 PM Sun, The Belle's Stratagem by Hannah Cowley. 5 PM Sun, Bold Stroke for a Wife by Susanna Centlivre. 8 PM Sun, Orra by Joanna Baillie. 7/10-7/13: Thu, The Belle's Stratagem. Fri, Triflesand The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. 2 PM Sat, Callimachus, Safe, and Aria da Capo. 8 PM Sat, Bold Stroke for a Wife. 2 PM Sun, Orra. No show 5 PM Sun. 8 PM Sun, The Massacre and Spreading the News. Peter Jones Gallery, 1806 W. Cuyler, 312-458-9170, $10-$15, festival pass $25.

THE AMERICAN GIRLS REVUE Gretchen Cryer and Nancy Ford's musical features characters from various historical periods as depicted in the American Girls Collection books. The show delivers positive messages about patience, resilience, and responsibility. But halfway through, this 75-minute sales pitch gets a bit tiresome. The anthemlike songs may feel overly earnest to adults, though perhaps they're just the thing for a youngster to belt into her hairbrush at home. (JG) Through 8/31: Thu 5:30 PM, Fri 5:30 and 7 PM, Sat 12:20, 2, and 4 PM, Sun 12:30 and 2 PM, American Girl Place, 111 E. Chicago, 877-247-5223, $28.

BE MORE CHILL Pygmalion, Faust, science fiction, and the films of John Hughes all come together in William Massolia's adaptation of Ned Vizzini's young-adult novel, about a nerdy teen who swallows a tiny supercomputer that transmits messages to his brain on how to be cool. Outlandish yet grounded in the harsh realities of high school, Jonathan Berry's lively production for Griffin Theatre avoids both the corny and the ultra-arch. As the teen, Northwestern undergrad Jake Cohen sweetly conveys the confusions and longings of adolescence. (ZT) Through 7/6: Thu-Sat 7:45 PM, Sun 2:45 PM, Theatre Building Chicago, 1225 W. Belmont, 773-327-5252, $24.

BEAST WOMEN--AFTER DARK The all-female variety show returns with another program of solo performances. Through 8/30: Sat 10:30 PM, Prop Thtr, 3502 N. Elston, 773-278-1212, $15.

BEGGARS IN THE HOUSE OF PLENTY John Patrick Shanley channels Christopher Durang's surreal, bizarrely comic style in a 1991 autobiographical play spanning multiple decades in the lives of "Johnny" and his family. The apocalyptic final scene, set in the hellish confines of the family basement, raises the stakes to operatic levels at the same time it trivializes the family relationships with psycho-drivel. At the eye of this overwrought storm are Karl Potthoff and Mary Jo Bolduc, monolithic and impenetrable as the parents. (LM) Through 7/6: Thu-Sat 8 PM, Sun 7 PM, Mary-Arrchie Theatre Company, Angel Island, 735 W. Sheridan, 773-871-0442, $18-$22.

BLOODY BESS: A TALE OF PIRACY AND REVENGE The premise of Bloody Bess sounds a lot like that of Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean series. A British colonial governor's daughter, Elizabeth Presberty, is captured by a band of buccaneers whom she initially despises but eventually accepts as her comrades. But from there Bloody Bess takes a much darker approach. Elizabeth doesn't merely join the crew; she becomes its leader. Sometimes playful and sometimes gripping, Bloody Bess is exciting enough to make even the most jaded viewer go "Arrrr!" (AW) Through 7/20: Thu-Sat 7:30 PM, Sun 3 PM, no show Fri 7/4, Storefront Theater, Gallery 37 Center for the Arts, 66 E. Randolph, 312-742-8497, $18-$20.

BLUE MAN GROUP Three silent guys in cobalt blue makeup, accompanied by a small but very loud rock band, perform a wordless, high-tech, highly visual work of participatory conceptual theater. Blue Man Group offers a visceral education in the tenuous division between art and trash. (NG) Open run: Thu 8 PM, Fri 7 PM, Sat 4, 7, and 10 PM, Sun 1, 4, and 7 PM, Briar Street Theatre, 3133 N. Halsted, 773-348-4000, $49-$59.

THE BOWERY BOYS David H. Bell directs his musical about 19th-century New York urchins. It's presented in a workshop production. 7/9-7/27: Wed-Fri 8 PM, Sat 2 and 8 PM, Sun 2 PM, Northwestern University, Hal and Martha Hyer Wallis Theater, 20 Arts Circle Dr., Evanston, 847-491-7282, $10-$25.

BUDDY: THE BUDDY HOLLY STORY Yeah, it's got all the requisite rock cliches: the bad record deal, the band breakup, the tragic accident at the height of great fame. But Alan Janes and Rob Bettinson's starry tribute to the bespectacled rock genius from Lubbock has the advantage of the great Holly songbook. Tammy Mader's spare-no-expense staging boasts Justin Berkobien's engaging performance as a laconic but confident Buddy, along with strong musical accompaniment from the rest of the 20-member cast. (KR) Through 7/27: Wed 1:30 PM, Thu 1:30 and 8 PM, Fri 8:30 PM, Sat 5 and 8:30 PM, Sun 2 and 6 PM, Drury Lane Oakbrook, Roosevelt and Butterfield, Oakbrook Terrace, 630-530-0111, $22-$41.50.

CADILLAC The survival methods of salespeople at a used car dealership are the subject of this engrossing drama by Bill Jepsen. Glengarry Glen Ross is an obvious influence but Jepsen's play distinguishes itself by a strong and poignant sense of loss; the older characters in particular seem drawn from a time before the profit motive reduced business to its brutal essentials. Edward Sobel's production deftly captures both the Darwinism and the nostalgia in the script, thanks in large part to a cast that manages to convey the desperation motivating the characters. (ZT) Opens Wed 7/9, 7:30 PM. Through 7/13: Thu-Sat 7:30 PM, Sun 6:30 PM, Theater on the Lake, Fullerton and Lake Shore Dr., 312-742-7994, $17.50.

CHICAGO DRAMATISTS SATURDAY SERIES This near-weekly program features staged readings of works in progress. Open run: Sat 2 PM. No show 7/5. For 7/12: Four short solo plays by Marsha Estell, Nambi E. Kelley, Tania Richard, and Tanya Saracho. For 7/19: Four new plays are read as part of the company's Many Voices Project. For 7/26: Fanny Then and Now by Susan Lieberman. For 8/2: Blue Straggler by Rebecca Bossen. For 8/9: Drinks at Griffey's by Chris Mann. For 8/16: Stage Black by Lydia R. Diamond. For 8/23: 10-Minute Workshop. No show 8/30. Chicago Dramatists, 1105 W. Chicago, 312-633-0630, $5.

CIRQUE SHANGHAI: GOLD The basic skills on display are real enough and the young performers have some inherent charm, but Cirque Shanghai's 16 acts are trite by current standards and the overall design is . . . well. Picture a very good but clueless cheerleading squad working a "Mysterious Orient" motif for homecoming. In 1974. Diabolo artists as China dolls. Contortionists whose gauzy bell-bottoms resemble goldfish fins. My wife had a 90-minute giggle fit. (TA) Through 9/1: Wed 2, 6, and 8 PM, Thu-Fri 2 and 8 PM, Sat 2, 6, and 8 PM, Sun 2 and 4 PM, Navy Pier, Skyline Stage, 600 E. Grand, 312-902-1500, $12.50-$29.50.

CO-ED PRISON SLUTS The Annoyance's flagship show, a spoof of prison flicks and old-fashioned musical comedies, was first produced in 1989 and ran at various spaces until 2000. Original director Mick Napier helms this remount. Previews Fri 7/4, 10:01 PM, $15. Opens Fri 7/11, 10:01 PM, $25. Through 8/29: Fri 10:01 PM, Annoyance Theatre, 4830 N. Broadway, 773-561-4665, $15.

DANTE DIES!! (AND THEN THINGS GET WEIRD) Walt McGough's lively, ambitious new play aims to retell Dante's Inferno using just one actor. With its parade of colorfully disagreeable characters, McGough's hell at times resembles Lewis Carroll's Wonderland more than Dante's nine circles. But what he gets exactly right is the poet's poignant and impossible wish to reunite with a loved one irrevocably lost. Playing all the parts, Matt Fletcher shows an engaging versatility as the various sinners, but is most compellin