How did the bride Scheherezade keep from being murdered by her husband, King Shahryar?

No, she didn't buy him Lion King tickets, she spun 1,001 tall tales to keep him awake and entertained. Chicago director Mary Zimmerman has dramatized several of those stories in her acclaimed show, The Arabian Nights, which has played in Chicago and New York and returned to Chicago for a holiday run at the Steppenwolf Studio Theatre.

Arabian Nights began previews Dec. 2, opened Dec. 5 and was scheduled to run to Jan. 4 but was recently extended to Jan. 10. According to the box office, the run is entirely sold out.

Stylized movement and athletic choreography typify Zimmerman's work and that of her company, Lookingglass. Their other shows include Zimmerman's The Notebooks Of Leonardo Da Vinci (seen at the 1994 Serious Fun! Festival at Lincoln Center) and Laura Eason's In The Eye Of The Beholder.

Based on the book One Thousand And One Nights, Arabian Nights draws from a collection of Indian, Persian and Arabic stories in song, movement and music. For information on The Arabian Nights at the Steppenwolf Studio on North Halsted St., call (773) 477-9257.

-- By David Lefkowitz