Robert Falls is back! Well, the director’s "Don Giovanni" at the Lyric Opera of Chicago actually is a 12-year-old production making a reprise engagement, but it's still another chance to see the famous Falls maximalism as originally conceived in 2014. 

Also this last week, the Goodman Theatre opened its production of "Dead Girl’s Quinceañera," a lively staging of a new play that combines Nancy Drew-style detective tropes with a drama about a missing Miami teenager. Meanwhile, contributing critic Emily McClanathan caught A Short Leap Theatre's production of Amy Herzog's “4000 Miles."

This week, look for new reviews of shows at the Trap Door Theatre, Gift Theatre and the start of Chicago Shakespeare Theater's plan to produce two of the Bard's titles utilizing the same repertory company of Chicago actors. I'll also have a Broadway review of "Other Desert Cities" with Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Billy Crystal is coming up soon too, along with Bill Irwin in "The Imaginary Invalid."

Plus, look out for my weekly theater news column, filled with exciting scoops!

See you at the theater

— Chris Jones, chief theater critic

Chris Jones Recommends: “Theater of the Mind” in an open run by the Goodman at the Reid Murdoch Building; “Pandemonium, Please Hold” in an open run on the Second City Mainstage; “Vape! The Grease Parody” through Jan. 3 at Apollo Theater; "Sunday in the Park with George" by Kokandy Productions through Nov. 29 at Chopin Theatre; “Come From Away” through Oct. 25 at Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire; “Jekyll & Hyde” through Nov. 8 at the Broadway Playhouse; “Play On!” through Oct. 18 in The Yard at Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier; “Kowalski” through Nov. 8 at Lookingglass Theatre in the Water Tower Water Works; “The Front Page” through Oct. 25 at Northlight Theatre in Evanston; “Topdog/Underdog” through Nov. 1 at Steppenwolf Theatre; “Don Giovanni” through Nov. 1 at Lyric Opera of Chicago.