OPENING
ASKING FOR IT | Written and performed by former Rockette Joanna Rush and directed by Tony nominee (for Swing!) Lynne Taylor-Corbett, this one-woman show "follows the evolution of Bernadette O'Connell as she puddle-jumps through the primordial slime of American culture, from 'Outstanding Catholic Youth of the Year' to the stage of Radio City Music Hall and the cast of A Chorus Line." Oh yes and it's "for mature audiences." | Gloucester Stage Company, 267 East Main St, Gloucester | 978.281.4433 | August 16-17 | Curtain 8 pm Sun-Mon | $30-$35
LA CAGE AUX FOLLES | Reagle Players wrap up their 2009 summer season with this musical from Harvey Fierstein and Jerry Herman that's set in Saint-Tropez, where Georges and Albin live happily and Albin performs as Zaza in the title local drag club. But then Georges's son (from back before Georges's real gender preference kicked in), Jean-Michel, arrives with the news that he's engaged to Anne, whose father heads the Tradition, Family, and Morality Party, and of course her parents want to meet Jean-Michel's parents. The cast includes original (1983) Broadway cast members Jamie Ross and David Engel; original Broadway cast member David Scala choreographs and directs. | Robinson Theatre, 617 Lexington St, Waltham | 781.891.5600 | August 13-22 | Curtain 2 pm [August 13] or 7:30 pm [August 20] Thurs | 8 pm Fri | 2 pm [August 15] + 7:30 pm Sat | 2 pm Sun | $32-$54
THE DONKEY SHOW | The Diane Paulus era at the American Repertory Theatre kicks off with this 1970s-disco gloss on A Midsummer Night's Dream that she concocted with writer husband Randy Weiner in 1998 and set to the dance-fueled anthems of Donna Summer and Sister Sledge. The show, which ran for six years Off Broadway and has become a signature of the Obie-winning director's propulsive, audience-immersive style, will play in the newly christened nightclub Oberon (formerly known as Zero Arrow Theatre), and Paulus compares it with a trip to the Bard's stomping grounds. "The audience, very much like in the Globe Theatre, is standing like groundlings, watching the action. There are VIP boxes, just like there were in the Globe, if you prefer to sit and watch. You have kind of royalty side by side with the working class, which was also very Studio 54. It was considered democracy on the dance floor; you could be a kid from Queens dancing next to Elizabeth Taylor." And you will get to dance at The Donkey Show. You will also get to drink, socialize, and text your digits off if you feel like it. | Oberon, Mass Ave + Arrow St, Cambridge | 617.547.8300 | August 21–October 31 | Curtain 8 pm Tues [September 1] | 8 pm Wed [September 2, 16, 23] | 8 pm Thurs [no August 27] | 8 + 10:30 Fri [late show September 18, 25] | 8 + 10:30 pm Sat | $25-$49
ROMEO AND JULIET | Journeymen Theatreworks, a student-run company from Ipswich that presented The Fantasticks in the BCA Plaza Black Box last summer, returns with Shakespeare's star-crossed tragedy. The running time is indicated as "two and a half hours with one intermission," so expect some cutting. Kevin Black directs. | Boston Center for the Arts, Roberts Studio Theatre, 539 Tremont St, Boston |www.BostonTheatreScene.com| August 13-16 | Curtain 7:30 pm Thurs | 8 pm Fri | 2 + 8 pm Sat | 2 pm Sun | $30; $20 students, seniors
