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THREE TO SEE: This Week's Theater Recommendations

By Melody Udell in Arts & Entertainment on Nov 1, 2013 4:00PM

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The Paramount Theatre's production of Miss Saigon. Photo by Liz Lauren.

A smart Irish saga competes with a blockbuster suburban show and the-little-musical-that-could on the Chicago stage this week.

Miss Saigon

Aurora-based Paramount Theatre is staging the classic mega-musical that chronicles a love story between an American marine and a local prostitute during the Vietnam War. The show runs through Sunday, Nov. 24.

Paramount Theatre, 23 E. Galena Blvd., Aurora, 630-896-6666 or online.

Port Authority

Playwright Conor McPherson weaves together stories of three everyday Irishmen—a young man in love, a middle-aged worker and a widower. But poetry, it seems, can be just as easily found in the ordinary. The show runs through Sunday, Feb. 16.

Writers Theatre, 664 Vernon Ave., 847-242-6000 or online.

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Chicago is no stranger to this quirky little underdog of a show about a group of misfits competing for their livelihoods at a regional spelling bee. We’re excited to see what a smaller venue can do for this sweet, funny little musical. The show runs through Sunday, Dec. 15.

Griffin Theatre Company at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont, 773-975-8150 or online.