'Cascabel,' With Rick Bayless at Lookingglass in Chicago

Called “Cascabel,” the show is a sliver of romantic hokum that is mostly used as a platform for a series of Cirque du Soleil-style diversions. While these are being performed the audience is served a three-course dinner conceived by Mr. Bayless , whose Chicago restaurants, Topolobampo and Frontera Grill, serve some of the best Mexican food in the country.

Novel though “Cascabel” is, today it is not really surprising to see a chef plying his trade onstage. As the culture of cooking well has exploded on television, chefs have become all-purpose celebrities who sometimes seem to do as much entertaining — as in performing — as they do cooking. The proliferation of food shows and competitions like “Top Chef” and “Hell’s Kitchen” has probably made a stint at a culinary school a more reliable path to celebrity than acting school. And the excitement with which the audience aims its camera phones at Mr. Bayless after the show, when the cast mingles amiably with the patrons, makes clear that he is very much a local luminary. (He also gets Broadway-style above-the-title billing appropriate to a star.) “Cascabel” was created by Mr. Bayless, Tony Hernandez (who also appears in the show) and Heidi Stillman. Mr. Hernandez and Ms. Stillman are the directors, and the cast is made up of actors, acrobats and a flamenco specialist, along with Mr. Bayless, who is safely and sensibly cast as a chef.

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