With Broadway tours in town mostly consisting of reprise engagements of age-old blockbusters — “The Lion King,” “The Book of Mormon,” “Phantom of the Opera” — and some of the suburban theaters repeating each other’s programming, the theater spotlight this fall shines on Chicago’s venerable nonprofit theaters.

As compared with the last few fiscally challenged years, we’re finally seeing more shows with larger casts, more complex storytelling and greater ambitions. Two Chicago theaters, Northlight Theatre and TimeLine , are looking forward to new buildings coming soon. That’s just as well, since two venerable performance venues, the Briar Street Theatre and Stage 773, have fallen to condo developments, and there’s little life at the Biograph Theatre despite its prime Lincoln Park locati

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