Fooling Buddha

Milwaukee-born magician and monologist David Kovac weaves together autobiography and prestidigitation in this sweet, unpretentious coming-of-age story. The child of hippie parents who converted to Buddhism, Kovac amuses us with his tales of being a double outsider—a non-Christian nerd boy in love with doing magic—growing up in the 1970s. Kovac is a likable and engaging storyteller, and his magic is impressive (and always supports the narrative). The show has one, very midwestern flaw, however: Kovac holds back emotionally, never allowing himself to appear too vulnerable, and avoids discussing anything that might make anyone—himself or others—uncomfortable, with the result that while often amused and even delighted by his work, we’re never deeply moved. Still, the show’s a nice evening

of theater and magic. — JACK HELBIG Through 4/24: Thu 3 PM, Fri-Sat 8 PM, Sun 3 PM; also Sat 4/16 and 4/23, 4 PM, First Folio Theatre, Mayslake Peabody Estate, 31st and Rt. 83, Oak Brook, firstfolio.org, $29-$39, $25-$35 students and seniors.

Matilda: The Musical This musical version of Roald Dahl’s dark children’s tale (book by Dennis Kelly, music and lyrics by Tim Minchin) is packed with spectacle: wall-to-wall singing and dancing, acrobatics and loud music, colorful costumes, clever set pieces, cartoonishly over-the-top acting. That would be great if the show were the length of a music video rather than a production that’s two and a half hours long. After a while, I found myself yourself yearning for some of the other things I go to theater for—like witty, well-delivered dialogue, nuanced character development, audible lyrics, and a story that moves me, or at least makes sense. Audiences familiar with Dahl’s popular 1988 book (or the 1996 movie) may be less bothered by the show’s awkward storytelling—they’ll know the plot already. But for the uninitiated, it’s noisy, baffling, and very, very long. — JACK HELBIG Through 4/10: Wed 2 and 7:30 PM, Thu-Fri 7:30 PM, Sat 2 and 8 PM, Sun 2 and 7:30 PM, Ford Center for the Performing Arts, Oriental Theatre, 24 W. Randolph, 800-775-2000, broadwayinchicago. com, $40-$270.

Moby Dick These are good days for those who happen to have overlapping interests in theater, American literature, and 19thcentury cetology. Lookingglass Theatre Company recently announced plans for a remount in summer 2017 of David Catlin’s Moby-Dick adaptation (first staged last year), in which gravity-defying acrobatics turn the air into a substitute for the sea. And in the meantime, puppeteer Blair Thomas presents an even sparer and more abstract distillation of Herman Melville’s shaggy masterpiece, retold in Thomas’s version by “a monastic order of ancient mariners” reconstructing Ishmael’s tale as if from memory. Only scraps of the original text remain, replaced by the bass drumming of percussionist Michael Zerang and new compositions performed by folksinger Michael Smith (his previous experience scoring a watery tragedy was Lookingglass’s haunting 2012 musical about the Eastland disaster). The mariner monks also have at their disposal the expressive creations of Thomas and fellow puppeteer Michael Montenegro, who has an uncanny ability to make the plainest materials speak volumes. Here, those objects include a table, tiny rod puppets, oversize masks with stony expressions, and a big, translucent, papery blimp that could be the whale, the night sky, the sea, or any other immense unknowable. —ZAC THOMPSON Through 4/3: Fri-Sat 7:30 PM, Sun 3:30 PM, Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 E. Chicago, mcachicago.org, $30, $10 for students.

That’s Weird, Grandma: The Musical What’s genius in That’s Weird Grandma: The Musical is how Barrel of Monkeys takes the various stories written by CPS students and creates silly, campy, yet often profound theater without altering or expanding much at all. It reveals what we already know: children have easy access to the weird, unexpected, and revelatory—as in Untitled, a playlet that links three basketball players wearing hats to a guest appearance by Michael Jordan to a dog having puppies in the basement. Ionesco has nothing on this theater of the absurd, and the musical format allows for drama even where the story is simple, as in a moving ballad in praise of and longing for “That Waterpark.” Though some members of the large cast are clearly more vocally skilled than others, everyone knows how to belt, emote, and sidestep. It’s good fun. — SUZANNE SCANLON Open run: Sun 2 PM, Mon 8 PM, Neo-Futurarium, 5153 N. Ashland, 773-275-5255, barrelofmonkeys.org, $12, $6 kids.

35 MM: A Musical Exhibition Ryan Scott Oliver based each of the 21 tuneful, insubstantial numbers in this 2012 song cycle on a Matthew Murphy photograph. Those marginally interesting images, projected upstage in Circle Theatre’s intimate production, have little to do with one another, making for an evening of songs about, um, stuff: a happy couple, a lousy date, an abused wife, a vengeful prom queen. Director Cameron Turner attempts to unify the material by staging almost every number as if it were the show’s emotional climax, all scrunchy-faced exuberance or teary-eyed anguish. The five cast members have fine voices, and musical director Ryan Brewster’s six-piece band delivers the goods. But incessant emoting turns middling lyrics into insupportable melodrama and by the time it’s over, it all feels a bit silly. — JUSTIN HAYFORD Through 4/10: Thu-Sat 8 PM, Sun 2 PM, Flat Iron Arts Build- ing, 1579 N. Milwaukee, 312-335-3000, flatironartists.org, $35.