Current Productions for the week of October 31, 2011

Mitzi's Abortion by Elizabeth Heffron
at Empire Stage by Infinite Abyss Productions Until Nov 5
A Florida Premiere! With humor, intelligence and honesty, Mitzi's Abortion explores the questions that have shaped the national debate over abortion, and reminds us that whatever we may think we believe, some decisions are neither easy nor simple when they become ours to make. A generous and compassionate comedy with serious themes about a young woman trying to make an intensely personal decision in a system determined to make it a political one.


Women Drivers by Terry Lawrence
at The Women's Theatre Project Until Nov 6
From the Carbonell and Pulitzer Prize nominated playwright of Speaking Elephant, comes a comedy about women and driving.  Driving instructor Erin Ford say, "Other students take a test.  Mine go play in the street".  While comically balancing the rules of the road, the hair-raising mistakes of her students and their competing overlapping conversations, Erin is aware that what she teaches is life and death - and not just metaphorically.


Bye Bye Birdie
at The Tamarac Theatre of Performing Arts Until Nov 6
Rock star Conrad Birdie is going to give one lucky girl one last kiss before he reports to the U.S. Army. Typical teen Kim MacAfee from Sweet Apple, Ohio, is that one lucky girl! The news has Birdie's fans fainting in the streets and burning up the telephone lines.  Don't miss this Tony award winning classic featuring the songs: Put on a Happy Face, One Last Kiss, and Kids.


Hairspray
Staring David Arisco as Edna Turnblad
at Actors Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre Until Nov 13
Hairspray is Broadway’s hottest musical-comedy phenomenon with so much heart and soul that it also inspired a major motion picture. It’s 1962, and pleasantly plump Baltimore teen Tracy Turnblad has only one desire, to dance on the popular “Corny Collins Show.” When her dream comes true, Tracy is transformed from social outcast to sudden star, but she must use her new found power to vanquish the reigning teen queen, win the affections of her heartthrob Link Larkin and integrate a TV network – all without denting her ‘do!


Lend Me A Tenor
at Broward Stage Door Theatre Until Nov 13
Set in the 1930s, Lend Me a Tenor is a madcap screwball comedy that takes place when Tito Merelli, the fiery-tempered and world famous Italian superstar, arrives in Cleveland, Ohio to make his debut with the local opera and promptly goes missing. As Saunders, the show's presenter, conspires to cover for Tito's absence, placate his hot-blooded wife, and distract his most passionate fans, chaos on a truly operatic level ensues.

The 39 Steps
at The Maltz Jupiter Theatre Until Nov 13
Mix a Hitchcock masterpiece with a juicy spy novel and you have Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps, Broadway’s most intriguing, most thrilling, most riotous comedy smash!  The mind-blowing cast plays over 150 characters in this fast-paced tale of an ordinary man on an extraordinarily entertaining adventure.  Using ingenious theatrical invention, this production is an engaging, fast-paced whodunit that celebrates the magic of theater.


Thrill Me - The Leopold and Lobe Musical
at Rising Action Theatre Until Nov 20
The South Florida premiere of the acclaimed musical based on the true story of Leopold and Loeb, the so-called thrill killers who murdered a young boy in 1924 in order to commit the perfect crime. While this crime was previously depicted in the film dramas Hitchcock's Rope and Compulsion, this is the first musical version, and the most frank in revealing the couple's mutual sexual attraction.


After The Revolution
at The Caldwell Theatre Company Until Nov 20
After the Revolution is the story of the brilliant, promising Emma Joseph who proudly carries the torch of her family's Marxist tradition, devoting her life to the memory of her grandfather, much revered for refusing to “name names” during the McCarthy hearings. But when history reveals a shocking truth about the man himself, the entire family is forced to confront questions of honesty and allegiance they thought had been resolved.


Guys and Dolls
at Broward Stage Door Theatre Until Dec 4
Nathan Detroit, the organizer of the oldest permanent floating crap game, bets Sky Masterson that he can't make the next girl he sees fall in love with him. Featuring “Guys and Dolls”, “Luck Be a Lady Tonight”, and “Sit Down, You’re Rocking the Boat”, this beloved musical is also a great American classic and multiple Tony-Award Winner!

Posted in: Current Productions, Show Openings