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Anyone who has ever enjoyed a bedtime story owes it to themselves to catch this play.

Saturday May 05, 2001.     By

Theater Feed

Steppenwolf Studio Theatre
December 5 - January 4

Anyone who has ever enjoyed a bedtime story owes it to themselves to catch the return engagement of Lookingglass Theatre Company's 1992 hit The Arabian Nights. Just returned to Chicago after a successful tour of Los Angeles and New York, the show is a delight -- fabulously conceived and brilliantly executed.

Based on the ancient book "One Thousand and One Nights," The Arabian Nights tells the story of the bride Scheherezade who keeps her husband, the vicious King Shahryar, from murdering her by telling a series of entrancing tales that postpone her inevitable death one dawn at a time.

The interconnected stories -- stacked like Chinese boxes one within the other -- range from moral tales to absurd comedies, from religious to hilariously irreverent, from tragedies to lighthearted stories about farts. All, though, share one feature -- each story expresses the dreamlike magic of storytelling, and its power to change people. In one yarn after another, an honorable but troubled sheik permits a prisoner to tell a story in exchange for freedom. Each story lifts a weight from both sheik and King, and by the 1001st morning, King Shahryar is cured of his madness, and agrees to let his imprisoned wife return to her family.

Lookingglass' original 1992 production was the recipient of 5 Jeff Citations (including "best production," "best ensemble," "best director," "best adaptation," "best original music," and a nomination for "best lighting"), all of which are again extraordinarily strong.

The acting is excellent in ways less-acrobatic companies could never even attempt -- the stage bursts with exuberant movement, dance and effortless gymnastics. Versatile actors weave themselves seamlessly into and out of the production, while performing stunning, rhythmic music on authentic instruments. Even the simple, yet gorgeous, set of persian-style rugs and hanging lanterns is in motion -- the lanterns glide up and down strings between Scheherezade's stories.

The Lookingglass Theatre Company's marvelous adaptation interweaves the 1,100 year-old collection of Indian, Persian and Arabic stories with modern threads to produce a rich and ravishing Middle Eastern tapestry that speaks even to those wholly ignorant of the region's tale-telling history, making us wish that all our nights could be Arabian.

The Arabian Nights is the sort of mezmerizing art deserving of even the longest pilgrimmage. Go see it. Go see it a bunch of times.

It is permitted.

The Arabian Nights will run from Friday, Dec. 5 to Sunday, January 4 at the Steppenwolf Studio Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted -- at 7:30 pm Wednesday through Friday, 4:30 & 8:30 pm on Saturdays, and 2:30 pm on Sundays (there will be no performances Christmas Eve, Christmas, or New Year's Day). There will be a special performance on New Year's Eve at 7:30 pm. For tickets -- $14.50 on weekedays and $19.50 for Friday and Saturday performances -- call the Steppenwolf Box Office. For more information about the Lookingglass Theatre company, see their webpage.