Shecky’s Girls’ Night Out returns to Chicago, April 4th, 5th and 6th at Union Station.  Starts at 4:30 (’til 9:30), so take a break before taking the train. Shop the latest trends in emerging fashion and accessories, sip delicious included cocktails, sample fabulous products and services, and score one of Shecky’s famously overstuffed Goodie Bags. Products available include beauty products, jewelry, clothing, hairware, beverages, personal care and erotic goods. Shecky’s handpicks the best emerging designers and artisan jewelers for this event. Find something one-of-kind that expresses your personal style. It’ll be the best girls’ night out of the season.

Sorry, but this picture screams “San Francisco dance group” to me.  Stereotypical, but there it is… Half-price tickets are for performances next week.

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago’s Spring 2013 Series at the Harris Theater in Millennium Park features the world premiere of a multi-year collaboration with San Francisco-based Alonzo King LINES Ballet. Seeing these two renowned dance companies — one contemporary, one neoclassical — joining forces on one stage is a rare and special opportunity. New choreography by LINES Artistic Director Alonzo King pushes the dancers’ artistic and physical limits while showcasing their most unique and compelling qualities. Their style is a great contrast to Hubbard Street’s evenly weighted, earthy athleticism, as King experiments with pairing dancers from each group. Each company will perform separately before coming together on stage for this explosive collaborative performance.

Street Tempo Theatre takes La Ronde, Arthur Schnitzler’s famously provocative play of 1900, and performs it in repertory with a pair of its acclaimed adaptations — David Hare’s The Blue Room and Joe DiPietro’s F**cking Men. The shocking-for-its-time La Ronde twists through several different sexual encounters, taking on the fantasies and realities of love while scrutinizing the sexual morals and class ideology of Viennese society. The Blue Room, from award-winning writer/director David Hare, brings the action into the present, circa 1998. This time, the daisy chain of physical encounters reveals what’s changed between the sexes and social classes, and what remains painfully the same. Finally, in F**cking Men, Joe DiPietro’s funny and poignant take on the original from 2010, ten urban gay men search for love, sex and intimacy in current-day America. DiPietro is the Tony Award-winning writer of 2010’s Best Musical Memphis and the long-running Off-Broadway show, I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change.

Freebie tickets are available for all performances through March 24th.

The Occupy Movement took to the streets in 2011, now it takes to the stage in Occupy Dance 2013: Economic Chaos Becomes Choreography at the Josephine Louis Theater in Evanston. The turbulent economy has influenced every facet of life … and of art. Occupy Dance 2013 expresses ideas of “poverty,” “disparity,” and “resistance” through the movement of the human body. Choreography simply doesn’t get any more contemporary or relevant. Under the artistic direction of Annie Beserra, the acclaimed choreographer and producer, Occupy Dance 2013 explores various dance forms including dance theater, contact improvisation and hip-hop. Guests artists Jump Rhythm Jazz Project (praised for their “exuberant physicality” by The New York Times) will also perform the 20th anniversary revival of “Getting There.”

Two performance dates still available as a freebie.  Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller are virtually synonymous with pop-rock songwriting, having penned many of the greatest hits ever recorded. Smokey Joe’s Cafe collects almost 40 of their classic tunes from the ’50s and ’60s, including “Jailhouse Rock,” “Love Potion #9,” “Stand By Me,” and many more, and turns them into an unforgettable musical revue. A huge hit on Broadway, Smokey Joe’s Cafe was nominated for five Tony Awards, and the original Broadway cast recording won a Grammy.

Get tickets to 25 Saints for only $6.25 (75% off!).  Pine Box Theater Company presents 25 Saints, a gritty new play by Joshua Rollins. The night has not gone as expected for Charlie and Tuck. They’ve got a batch of meth to make before skipping town. The town sheriff wants them dead. The woman they both love has a secret. Oh, and there’s that dead body stuffed in a box. Scraping by in the hills of Appalachia just got a lot more complicated. 25 Saints takes an unflinching look at a world many of us choose to ignore. Susan Bowen directs.

Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller are virtually synonymous with pop-rock songwriting, having penned many of the greatest hits ever recorded. Smokey Joe’s Cafe collects almost 40 of their classic tunes from the ’50s and ’60s, including “Jailhouse Rock,” “Love Potion #9,” “Stand By Me,” and many more, and turns them into an unforgettable musical revue. A huge hit on Broadway, Smokey Joe’s Cafe was nominated for five Tony Awards, and the original Broadway cast recording won a Grammy.

I hear songs from this musical on the radio all the time – totally toe-tapping music…not something I’d recommend while driving.

The Building Stage is known for adapting and reinventing classic tales, like their 2011 award-winning Moby-Dick. Sticking with tradition, the company updates Miguel de Cervantes’ Spanish Golden Age masterpiece, Don Quixote, with a fresh coat of comedy. A cast of six men and women wearing fake beards, riding imaginary horses and playing ukuleles delivers a deliciously absurd adventure tale. More than their backsides are bruised as Don Quixote and his squire Sancho set out into the unknown in search of the self-proclaimed knight’s impossible dream. Amusing cowboy songs and plenty of psychotherapy tag along for the ride. Dawn, Quixote is a personal and poetic exploration of the cost of dreaming.

I see six performances in March still available as freebies.  This original production will be the final performance by The Building Stage.

The dangers of the workplace romance are explored with laughter and lots of fun in this revival of the 1954 Tony Award-winning Broadway musical comedy from the creators of Damn Yankees, presented by the Northwestern University Theatre Department. At the Sleep-Tite Pajama Factory, sparks fly between Sid Sorokin, the new factory superintendent, and Babe Williams, leader of the union grievance committee. Their stormy relationship explodes when the workers strike for a pay increase, setting off a conflict between management and labor as well as a battle of the sexes.

This is a wonderful musical with quite a few hits.  Free tickets to The Pajama Game are for the Thursday 7:30 (tomorrow) performance in Evanston.

For 27 years, Stars on Ice has brought the world’s best figure skaters to cities across the United States to deliver unforgettable ice skating moments in a show that’s perfect for all ages. This year’s tour makes history as skating icon Dorothy Hamill returns to the ice and World Champion Kurt Browning will be taking to the ice for his final tour with Stars on Ice. These two legends will be also joined by Olympic Medalists Ekaterina Gordeeva, Ilia Kulik, Joannie Rochette and more. Founded by Olympic gold medalist Scott Hamilton, Stars on Ice is a dramatic spectacle for the whole family, with innovative choreography, great music, stunning costumes and the best ice skaters in the world.

Goldstar has half-price tickets to Stars on Ice Featuring Olympic and World Champion Skaters for the March 8th 7:30 pm performance at the Allstate Arena.

Goldstar has performances of the Blue Man Group Wednesday and Sunday March performances for $34.50 (full price is $69) plus service charge.The entertainment phenomenon known as the Blue Man Group is better than ever in an updated show featuring all-new material that has the blue bald guys interacting with “GiPads,” taking a humorous look at contemporary communication vehicles, and performing a pulsating new finale with an original music score. Audiences worldwide have experienced and loved this wildly imaginative family-friendly stage show with its exuberant combination of comedy, art and science, along with fabulous visual effects and Grammy-nominated music.