Victory Gardens Theater will present a one-night reading of The Warriors, conceived by Mary Hollis Inboden, as a benefit for the Sandy Hook School Support Fund on January 6. Inboden, a survivor of the 1998 school shooting at Jonesboro, Arkansas's Westside Middle School, created the documentary-style play with the New Colony, where it debuted in 2011.

"With this national tragedy, I can’t help but think back to March of 1998, when at 12 years old my best friend Paige and four others were shot and killed on our school playground just feet in front of me," Inboden said of last week's shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, in a statement announcing the benefit. "Talking about my own experience as a survivor in the immediate aftermath of this fresh incident feels inappropriate. Our focus should be completely on the children and families of Newtown. And yet, like all of us, I want to be able to contribute something to the healing process."

The Warriors for Newtown will feature Inboden, Will Allan, Cora Vander Broek, Matthew Brumlow, Cliff Chamberlain and Kristina Valada-Viars, and will be directed by Kimberly Senior. Tickets for the 7:30pm performance are $15 and are available at the Victory Gardens box office (773-871-3000, victorygardens.org/thewarriors). The theater encourages those who can't attend to donate to the Sandy Hook fund directly at newtown.uwwesternct.org.

Heidi Kettenring has had an incredible year. She began 2012 by starring as Harper Pitt in Court Theatre’s 4-star Angels in America, then appeared in the world premiere musical Hero at Marriott Lincolnshire before doing back-to-back shows at Chicago Shakespeare with Sunday in the Park with George and the current production of David Ives’s The School for Lies. Kettenring is getting big laughs as the ingénue Eliante, who finds herself helplessly in love with a misanthropic man who has no care for social pleasantries. Born in New Orleans, Kettenring grew up in Nashville, Tennessee, where she performed in school plays and musicals as a child. She moved to Evanston to study theater at Northwestern University, and since graduating, has become one of the city’s top musical-theater talents and received five Jeff Award nominations. She talks to us about transitioning from musicals to plays, the challenges of verse, and why she thinks it’s important to diversify an acting career.

10am–noon

We were in for a nerdy morning when music producer and musician Steve Albini sat down to interview political blogger and statistician Nate Silver. Silver brought along a copy of his book, The Signal and the Noise, for a live auction. "All bids will be in hexidecimals," Silver quipped.

Albini's polite discussion with Silver included questions on his into foray into data analysis via pro baseball and his stint as a pro gambler, but most of us, I suspect were interested in Silver's political calculus in the 2012 elections and its subsequent demolishing of right-wing punditry. He took a nice swipe at Dean Chambers of Unskewed Polls, who called Silver "thin and effeminate," struck back at the nasty Politico article written about him in October and cited Jennifer Rubin at the Washington Post when asked to name someone he thought was well meaning but clueless. "She hears a symphony in which Mitt Romney is conductor of the orchestra," he said. Silver says he doesn't often argue with political hacks but that he will occasionally counterpunch and always twice as hard. 

“There’s nothing like a Christmas ham,” Santa jokes. He may be right. The baritone hero playfully makes light of a dancing Sugar Plum bear, who, moments earlier, takes one too many curtain calls after a humorous (and perhaps underappreciated) scene. 

Ironically, the joke could apply to Santa’s employer for the night, the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, now playing at the Akoo Theatre at Rosemont. By dance standards Radio City’s annual spectacular is conspicuously commercial, but this near century-old favorite is less ham than substance. The Rockettes—the show’s glittery stars—consistently provide lessons in precision and charisma throughout the program. There’s no denying the talent on stage. 

The journey begins at the North Pole where Santa corrals his reindeer (the antler-wearing Rockettes) before a flight to Chicagoland. A sprightly tap number follows, and we’re thrust into our magical setting. The production maintains its classic traditions of song and dance, though Radio City ups the ante with a high tech landscape of city streets and flights through clouds, thanks to a giant LED screen backdrop. At one point, we get a scope of the Big Apple. The Rockettes board a double-decker bus, driving past landmarks like Rockefeller Center, Central Park and Fifth Avenue, a scene that elicits many whispers and gasps from the audience. Such a simple construction, and yet the moment feels authentic. Anyone who’s familiar with Manhattan’s electric vibe will appreciate it.   

The high-kickers are at their best in numbers like Parade of the Wooden Soldiers, where the Rockettes stand together, maneuvering in finely constructed geometric lines. The centerpiece holds steady, while the rest revolve around the center. At one point, after lining one behind the other, the dancers melt to the ground like a set of carefully placed dominoes, using their weight to prevent a collapse. It’s slow to act, like watching honey fall from a jar, but it’s also the most dramatic moment of the 12-part performance. Will they do it? Can they do it? They do. And the crowd loves it. 

Nostalgia is one of the Spectacular’s biggest appeals, yet the end feels archaic when a group of siblings, seemingly from the 50s, read from the Good Book. The final scenes shift the spotlight to the Nativity and baby Jesus with a heavy dose of good will (and glitz) for the good Lord. Somewhere in between, the Rockettes get lost in the transition. Still, you wouldn’t have to force me, or most, to see this show more than once.  

The Radio City Christmas Spectacular starring the Rockettes continues through December 30 at the Akoo Theatre at Rosemont. Tickets available at rosemontboxoffice.com.