Centaur's Choir Boy, Segal's Once: two plays, many great songs

Centaur Theatre and Segal Centre both launch their fall season with shows crammed with musical goodies, but neither of them are musicals in the obvious sense.
Centaur’s Choir Boy, written by Tarell Alvin McCraney, is set in an English-style prep school for African-American boys in Obama-era Chicago. It’s a multi-layered coming-of-age story enriched by spirituals and gospel songs, all beautifully sung a cappella and imaginatively arranged by Floydd Ricketts.
McCraney previously wrote