Jules Becker's Quick Takes

CHICAGO: (Colonial Theatre, Boston). Chicago has brought its class back to Boston. Another welcome tour of the 1997 best musical revival Tony winner is visiting the Colonial Theatre, this time with Broadway regular Tom Wopat. Nominated for two Tony Awards-for the male lead in "Annie Get Your Gun" (this critic saw Wopat sing with striking resonance and dance and perform with great presence as sharpshooter Frank Butler opposite the equally fine Bernadette Peters in the title role) and the role of Tom in last season's "A Catered Affair") , Wopat is reprising the role of elegant if slick criminal lawyer Billy Flynn, who transforms murdering housewife and nightclub singer Roxie Hart into a tabloid celebrity as he defends her. As always, Hub fans of the six Tony Award-winning revival-directed by Broadway veteran Walter Bobbie and choreographed by famed Bob Fosse dancer Ann Reinking (who starred in the show herself) -will be treated to the focal competition between Hart and her equally tenacious cellmate Velma Kelly and the tuneful Kander and Ebb score-including such standout numbers as "All That Jazz" and "Mr Cellophane. " Orchestrations are by Ralph Burns, and music direction is by Rob FIsher. Some shows are like too much sweet candy-best enjoyed at long intervals. "Chicago"-with its story as timely as today's headlines, its stylish design and more crack dance numbers than most shows, is one musical of which this critic (and probably most musical lovers) never has enough.

BOZ SCAGGS: (Wilbur Theatre; standards from new album Speak Low, Boz Scaggs, Decca Label, 2008). Boz Scaggs fans have waited five years for the unique singer-songwriter to release another album featuring standards from the American Song Book, but their patience has been richly rewarded-both with the recording itself and his November Wilbur Theatre concerts (the evening one seen by this critic). The great lowdown is that his voice has kept its wonderful combination of resonance and lush huskiness. In a dense 80- minute set that occasionally returned to hits like "We're All Alone"-cleverly paired with the wistful classic "Some Other Time"- and celebrated perennial gems like Carminchael's "Skylark,"which sported a strong saxopone solo from Bob Sheppard, Scaggs achieved singular intimacy with his audience and a stunning synthesis of feeling and technique. Arranger -pianist Gil Goldstein displayed equal gifts on the accordion, notably on a bossa nova -breezy rendition of the Jobim chestnut "Dindi. " The eclectic repertoire ranged from a haunting take on the Bronislaw Kaper standout "Invitation" to a sumptuous Scaggs vocal on "Save Your Love for Me." Mixing jazz, R & B, blues and pop stylings with his usual care and craft, the Boz demonstrated that he remains one of the most important voices in contemporary American music.

ROCK N' ROLL: (Huntington Theatre Company in co-production with American Conservatory Theatre., Boston University Theatre, through December 13. 617-266-0800). What if Tom Stoppard had returned home after World War II? After all, the Jewish Czech-born playwright fled the 1938 Nazi invasion of his native land as a child (then not even two years old) along with his family. After his widowed mother Martha Straussler ( his doctor father Eugene dying in a Singapore prison camp) remarried, son Tomas adopted both English citizenship and the family name of her British army major second husband, Kenneth Stoppard. All of this background kicks in with Stoppard persona Jan in "Rock 'N' Roll," his recent Broadway hit, now in a vibrantly unplugged New England premiere at the Huntington Theatre Company in co-production with San Francisco's American Conservatory Theatre.

Leave it to Stoppard-arguably the finest British playwright since the late 20th century- to employ the title music as not only an inspired metaphor but also a frame of reference for his simultaneously heartfelt and cerebral look at culture as politics and brilliant depiction of Jan's personal transformation. Musical groups as diverse as The Beach Boys, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd-especially recently passing front man Syd Barrettt- and U-2 enrich this provocative chronicle of more than two decades of Czech history-from the 1968 invasion of then Czechoslovakia by Russian troops under the Warsaw pact to the 1990 withdrawal of Soviet troops and the full establishment of the Czech Republic. World famous American and British groups aside, the pivotal band in "Rock 'N' Roll" is a actually a real Czech one named Plastic People of the Universe.

Plastic People of the Universe-or PPU as they are called in the later going- stand as a symbol of the rebellion that eventually brings the Velvet Revolution of 1989 and the rise of man of letters Vaclav Havel to the presidency of the republic. They are also the favorite group of lecturer-journalist Jan, who initially sees more clout in rock 'n' roll than in his Czech dissenter friend Ferdinand's varied petitions. Even so, Jan is no apologist for despots like Stalin, who-he reminds his Communist Cambridge University mentor Max Morrow- killed more of his own people than the Nazis did. Jan never forgets running away from the invading Nazis in 1938- just as Stoppard's own family did, yet early on he does not demonstrate individual heroism and seems to cooperate with interrogators and government officials.

As more and more human rights violations affect the people around him and even Plastic People, Jan has a timely awakening and eventually signs one of Ferdinand's petitions. Finally he recognizes that even his cherished group PPU cannot find a kind of separate peace when government officials consider musical dissidents as dangerous or suspect as strictly political ones. Stoppard's ongoing use of this very real association between the cultural and the political underground in Czechoslovakia gives his highly inventive play a thematic unity that also catches fire in the vivid characterizations of Jan and Morrow's fascinating daughter Esme-who moves from first act pregnancy (in a commune at age 19) and great uncertainty about her future to second act responsible motherhood and the determination to stop trying to please everyone else and ignore those who patronize her for not fulfilling her academic potential.

A.C.T. artistic director Carey Perloff, acclaimed for her work with other major Stoppard plays (for example, the recent inspired American premiere of "The Invention of Love," has kept the various contrasts in this panoramic work- the dissent of a free England and the surveillance of a Communist Czechoslovakia, the evolving thought of Jan and the unchanging ideology of Max, the melodic but relatively unreflective music of the Beach Boys and the raucous but freshly iconoclastic material of the Plastic People, to name a few-satisfyingly clear. She also sharply paces the personal odysseys of Jan and Esme, in part with the considerable help of a strong design team. Douglas W. Schmidt's well-detailed sets open up from all sides of the Huntington stage, unfolding with as much variety as the events and relationships of all the characters' lives. Robert Wierzel incisive lighting complements the play's political and personal revolutions.

Perloff does equally well with a strong cast. Manuel Feliciano has the right combination of feeling and intellectual rigor as Jan. His delineation of the vital if vulnerable lecturer's transformation is always convincing. Rene Augesen, heartwrenchingly good as Max's cancer-stricken classics-teaching wife Eleanor, proves just as affecting as the older Esme of the second act. Jack Willis makes a very welcome return to Boston as Max- catching all of his tenacity and uncompromising candor.
Stoppard's discursive brilliance often brings to mind George Bernard Shaw (for instance, talk of heresy here recalling the latter's "Joan of Arc") -to some a double edge sword of affinity. Is "Rock 'N' Roll" too much of a play of ideas or-as this critic would argue-an often sublime synthesis of heart and mind? While it may not rise quite as high as Stoppard's "Arcadia" or "The Invention of Love" in its execution, it does play out a fiery epiphany of free exchange.
The arrival of the Rolling Stones in Prague brings on a sparkling lightfest in Stoppard's play. The Huntington -A.C,.T. collaboration on 'Rock 'N'' Roll" proves just as electric.

IN THE CONTINUUM: (Up You Mighty Race, Boston Center for the Arts). Up You Might Race is opening its new residency at the Boston Center for the Arts in the best weay possible-with a very gripping play entitled "In the Continuum" ferociously and tautly staged in the venue's highly intimate Black Box Theatre by artistic director Akiba Abaka. Danai Gurira and Nikkole Salter's demanding and eye-opening cautionary drama smartly alternates between the different but essentially paralllel odysseys and fortunes of Los Angeles misfit Nia and Zimbabwe television newswoiman and wife Abigail, both living with AIDS. Ramona Lisa Alexander brings singular vitality and vulnerability to the role of Nia yet also captures the toughness and resolve of her mother-in-law as the latter protects her controversial sports-talented son, a kind of cross between Magic Johnson and Kobe Bryant. Lindsey McWhorter catches all of the dignity and growing anxiety of Abigail. Abaka makes the most of the unusual space, particularly as the actresses bring the immediacy of the AIDS crisis and their individual ordeals up close and personal between rows and virtually in the face of theatergoers. "In the Continuum" brilliantly suspends judgment about its exploited and largely abandoned heroines and calls poignantly for understanding and human solidarity. Up You Mighty Race's hard-drivingly compelling production is a must see.

EURYDICE: (New Repertory Theatre, Arsenal Center for the Performing Arts, Watertown). So many writers have approached the story of Orpheus from the mythological musician's point of view that Sarah Ruhl's decision to focus on Eurydice herself in this recent Off-Broadway effort is most welcome. Surprisingly, though, she seems to have concentrated more on her father than on her- depicting his inner struggle to bond with her more profoundly even in death and not really doing justice to the love couple's passion and emotional intensity. Many audience members may be touched more by her father's sacrifices in trying to be near her than by the curiously unmemorable dialogue and moments of intimacy between Orpheus and Eurydice.
In fact, Orpheus comes across as a fairly conventional and certainly uncharismatic spouse rather than the dynamic and singular character known to avid readers and seasoned theatergoers. Eurydice thankfully fairs better, but only with her father as he protects and cares for her-especially in the underworld. Compounding the problem is the playwright's need to turn the Lord of the Underworld into an immature rascal riding a whimsical takeoff on a tricycle one moment and walking on stilts the next. Rounding out the gimmicky are three talking stones- a nature-bound variation on the Greek chorus- played by competent child actors.

The cast, notwithstanding the painstaking if sometimes slow-paced efforts of artistic director Rick Lombardo, are as mixed as the play. Zillah Glory brings a fair measure of spirit and earnestness to Eurydice, but Brian Bielawski is often as bland as this uneven drama in his expressiion and delivery of dialogue.. The real standout here is Ken Baltin. who artfully captures Father's combination of wistfulness about his closeness to his daughter in life and dissatisfaction with the rules, restrictions and austerity of the Underworld. Brian Quint does his considerable best to make the Underworld lord more of a colorful character than a caricature.

Ruhl's lively "Clean House," handsomely appointed at New Rep last season , was a warm and winning indication of a striking young talent. "Eurydice" -even with Jamie E. Howland's poetic scenic design and Deb Sullivan's impressive lighting- suggests that she needs to look back to the real life of her earlier success for guidance.

FALSETTOS: (Turtle Lane Playhouse, Newton thru 19/12. 617/244-0169). Much before "13" (officially opening October 5 at New York's Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre) , there was "Falsettos." Where the new Jason Robert Brown musical will focus in considerable part on fictional former New Yorker Evan Goldman's thoughts, feelings and evolving perceptions of his upcoming bar mitzvah in Appleton ,Indiana, its 1992 predecessor looks at different types of growing up-the maturation of bar mitzvah -to-be Jason and the growth journey of his father Marvin. Natick native William Finn (originally Finstein) and co-author James Lapine smartly looked at the family's difficult odyssey to understanding largely through Jason's eyes, though the former's warm and witty score ( a very deserving Tony Award winner) fittingly gave ample room to the insights of the musical's varied characters. Turtle Lane Playhouse, under the strong direction of Russell Greene, has risen to the challenges of this still-striking show with a spirit not unlike that of the bar mitzvah, and the result is a revival as sharp as the musical's observations about life, love and mortality.

If the 1980's set "Falsettos" refers to the Israelites' liberation from slavery at the Red Sea actually, of course, the Sea of Reeds) -here with red sheets splitting, the allusion clearly sets the tone for an on-going quest for freedom that takes several forms. Marvin, a caring father and hitherto a devoted husband, has realized that he is gay and moves in with his younger yet in many ways more mature lover Whizzer. Trina, for her part, finds emotional fulfillment with therapist Mendel ,who sees Marvin and eventually Jason as well. The wise bar mitzvah gradually bonds more firmly with each of his parents yet also connects with half-Jewish Whizzer, especially in deciding how to celebrate his upcoming rite of passage in the most meaningful way possible. Rounding out the show's eclectic extended family are AIDS-fighting Dr. Charlotte and her nouvelle cuisine caterer life partner Cordelia.

Although Marvin and Trina find true peace of mind apart, they respectively struggle with moments of dissatisfaction and bitterness as each begins a new commitment- Marvin as Trina marries Mendel and Trina as her ex-husband reunites with Whizzer after a rough stretch in their relationship. .Jason early on declares that his father and mother "fail as parents," but time (here about two years between act one and act two) and soul-searching ensure that the love between them with only grow and thrive even in the face of impossible ordeals- in particular Whizzer's discovery that he suffers from AIDS.

The three couples and the respective developments of their pairings may seem much neater and clear-cut to contemporary audiences than they did to 1992 ones. As fine as Finn's heartfelt score is, some theatergoers may find the second act numbers even more compelling-particularly Marvin's signature "What More Can I Say," sung with sweetness and intensity by vocally gifted James A. Fitzpatrick III and Whizzer's haunting "You Gotta Die Sometime,' delivered with stunning nobility by Ronald Pompeo ,Jr. Fitzpatrick artfully captures Marvin's early petulance and later understanding. Pompeo has all of Whizzer's vulnerability and feeling.

Jimmy Larkin as Jason evokes the right combination of directness and geeky intelligence in both gesture and vocal inflection. Kate deLima catches Trina's earthiness and remarkable candor-most notably in her powerhouse rendition of her character's dramatic standout "I'm Breaking Down" on top of her kitchen table. Robert Mattson does well with Mendel's passion for Trina and his mix of platitudes and real perception in Finn and Lapine's insights about therapists. Jaime Steinbach is wonderfully undaunted as Dr. Charlotte, and her reflective duet with Jessica Shulman McGettrich-very convincing as Cordelia- proves a virtual showstopper.

Mendel and Jason individually ask God for a miracle to save Whizzer from AIDS. For their part, Greene and an impressive cast have handily pulled off an ambitious and richly successful revival of "Falsettos" that reaffirms Finn and Lapine's enduring testament to love and menschlikheit.

THE DEVIL'S MUSIC: The Life and Blues of Bessie Smith: (Penguin Repertory Company production, Cape Playhouse, Dennis, MA). Art imitated life with the "Empress of the Blues." A tough chidhood, an abuse-ridden marriage, the loss of an adopted son at the hands of a home-wrecking husband and flamboyant living all found a kind of cathartic release in such Bessie Smith gems as " I Ain't Got Nobody," "Tain't Nobody's Business If I Do" and "St. Louis Blues." Gifted actress-singer Miche Braden captures the diva and brings rich expression to her tragic life in Angelo Parra's informative and fairly dramatic play with music "The Devil's Music: The Life and Blues of Bessie Smith." With a trio of very talented musicians-Jim Hawkins on Bass, Scott Trent on piano and especially Anthony Nelson on tenor Sex in a Memphis-set 1937 nightspot (shortly before her untimely death-look to Edward Albee's early work that confronted the racism keeping her away from medical treatment after a terrible car accident), Braden captures the highs and the lows of Smith's turbulent life and sings with an intensity and a vrtuosity that truly do honor to the unique voice and excitement of this great musical influence ( on Holiday and Washington, among others) . Joe Brancato seamlessly directs this heart-wrenchingly moving tribute.

THE 25th ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE: (Co-produced by North Shore Music Theatre with the Barrington Stage Company at Beverly, MA). William Finn has a singular gift for articulating the p-a-n-d-e-m-o-n-i-u-m of adolescence. The talented Jewish Natick native son wrote and composed an insightful earlier Broadway musical �Falsettos� dealing with the impact of a divorce and the coming out of the father on a bar mitzvah-to-be, winning Tony Awards for the book and the score. More recently he teamed up with sharp author Rachel Sheinkin for another Tony winner (for her ingenious book), �The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, � focused on the challenges and struggles of six contenders in the title event. Spell the freshly inventive North Shore Music Theatre edition of this still-running New York hit- co-produced with Barrington Stage Company-a r-o-l-l-i-c-k-i-n-g triumph.

With additional material by Jay Reiss and the approval of Finn for references to such up-to-date items as the on-going Red Sox-Yankee rivalry and the recent John Edwards scandal, Sheinkin�s savvy book centers on the title competition as a metaphor for life itself and the dreams and disappointments of the very different outsiders in the school gymnasium-set annual contest as a microcosm for all humanity. Rounding out the diverse cast of characters are Douglas Panch, a returning quirky vice principal who provides humorous sentences containing the respective words, Rona Lisa Peretti, a popular previous winner, Mitch Mahoney, a young man fulfilling community service comforting losers and parents and other family members of the six.

For improvisatory fun, four audience members are regularly selected pre-performance to spell easy words like �cow� and �Mexicans� and misspell tougher ones. As with its similarly metaphorical predecessor �A Chorus Line,� there are vivid details about characters� strengths and weaknesses and considerable sympathy for the earnest and determined competitors. If Finn�s score here does not quite rise to the tuneful power of �Falsettos,� it nevertheless taps into the angst and alienation that often accompany young people through childhood. Most importantly, Sheinkin�s writing and crack NSMT cast members do full justice to the diverse odysseys of the focal spellers. Jeffrey Dobrish, in his directing debut at NSMT, smartly blocks the bee, even moving the officials� table frequently, an effect that reinforces the changes in the spellers� fortunes. Broadway choreographer Knechtges, who had the cast cavorting breezily at Circle in the Square, keeps the generous ensemble sequences high-stepping.

Molly Ephraim, who favorably suggests a younger Natalie Portman, captures the heart and the deep vulnerability of Olive Ostrovsky, whose father has yet to arrive at the bee and pay her entrance fee. Eric Petersen, rightly over-confidant one moment and tentative the next as William Barfee (pronounced Barfay), who possesses �magic feet� that write out the letters of his words before he spells them. There is wonderful chemistry between Ephraim and Petersen as contenders on the threshold of romance.

Hannah Delmonte brings impressive energy to gay activist Logainne Schwarzandgrubenierre, whether bonding with her father and his partner or extending musical notes in moments of bravery. Emy Baysic effectively conveys the pressure over-achieving six language-speaking Marcy Park experiences. The sentence clue that Panch gives her for the spelling word �phylactery� (tefilin) Clifton Guterman invests home-schooled bicyclist Leaf Coneybear with a striking combination of charm and frustration. Best of all is Miguel Cervantes (riveting as the title character in an earlier staging of �Bat Boy�), richly volatile as Boy Scout uniformed former bee winner Chip Tolentino. His run around the theater throwing goodies to audience members as a rueful loser and confronting his unrestrained attraction to Coneybear�s spectator sister is arguably the most hilarious segment in the musical.

Sally Wilfert sings resonantly about Peretti�s favorite moments in the bee and has all of her . Michael Mastro is appropriately stubborn and quirky as Panch. Demond Green displays a big voice as Mahoney.

GYPSY: (St. James Theatre, New York City. Open-ended run. 800-432-7250). If vaudeville performers had a dream in the early 1900's, it was to join Martin Beck's Orpheum Circuit and play the Palace Theatre.

Ambitious singers, dancers, comedians, acrobats and magicians and their driven agents understood that Beck, who made the circuit (1913-1932) a 36-city powerhouse of 45 theaters and turned the Palace into a vaunted showplace, could change people's lives. Indeed, such vaudeville talents like Milton Berle, Fanny Brice, Bob Hope, Harry Houdini ,the Marx Brothers, Sophie Tucker and Mae West became big stars and the proverbial stuff of legend.. This is the entertainment world of Jewish impresarios and diverse dreamers lovingly rendered by veteran Broadway author Arthur Laurents in a soaring revival of the great Jule Styne-Stephen Sondheim musical "Gypsy" at the St. James Playhouse.

Inexhaustible Laurents, now 90 and readying his other great musical "West Side Story" for a Broadway return next February, has mounted the always wise and wonderful loosely based on real life story of alternately warm and scary stage matriarch Mama Rose and her very different daughters June and Louise with great care. Clearly an actor's director, Laurents has paid fitting attention to these vivid roles as well as that of Rose's boyfriend and atypical agent Herbie with the result that all four portrayals could be considered definitive. At the same- thanks to James Youmans' evocative sets, Martin Pakledinaz's expressive costumes and Howard Binkley's insightful lighting, the contrasts between the theaters to which the characters wander are sharp and telling.

In her own way, tenacious Mama Rose proves as memorable a parent as more sympathetic milkman Tevye in "Fidfdler on the Roof." Of course the latter ultimately does some bending for the sake of daughters Tzeitel and Hudel though not for intermarrying Chava, while June and Louise find it necessary to go around their unrelenting mother to achieve there fortunes. Still, both parents address God during their tumultuous respective odysseys- Tevye especially with the rise of pograms in Russia and Mama Rose as she confronts a variety of formidable challenges to the stardom of her daughters. If Tevye's dream in "If I Were a Rich Man" proves more rollicking, Mama's dramatic final "Rose's Turn" - as incandescent as the bright lights accentuating her drive in this edition- moves far beyond vicarious satisfaction.

Great musical actresses from Ethel Merman to Bernadette Peters have tackled the role of Mama Rose through the decades. This critic fondly remembers the tough portrayal of Tyne Daley, yet Patti Lupone's fiery version at the St. James-by turns bewitching, frightening and briefly vulnerable, may be the one for the ages. With superb phrasing on "Everything's Coming Up Roses" and 'Rose's Turn" and electrifying belting and note extension on the latter, she brilliantly captures all of the complexity and curious charisma that make Mama Rose one musical theater's greatest roles.

Boyd Gaines and Laura Benanti are equally inspired in support. Gaine has all of Herbie's grace and tenderness with Lupone-particularly on "Small World' - yet does more than any other actor this critic has seen to demonstrate his fatherly closeness to Louise and determination to protect her. Benanti is heart-wrenchingly affecting as Louise-most notably on the plaintive "Little Lamb"-and stunningly self-affirming when she evolves into Gypsy Rose Lee-particularly in her dressing room at Minsky's (the then controversial. premiere burlesque house). Leigh Ann Larkin combines the right assertiveness and frustration as Dainty June (later to become impressive performer June Havoc ) , and Tony Yazbeck dances budding talent Tulsa's Theatre alley, Buffalo solo with style.

Marilyn Caskey as lit-up Electra is a hoot as a burlesque performer showing her age in a winning version of "You Gotta Get a Gimmick." Laurents artfully choreographs the moves of June, the Boys (her backup ensemble throughout) , Herbie and Lupone in the slapstick rich number "Have an Eggroll, Mr. Goldstone" as they all try to flatter this small-scale impresario into booking their act.

Mama Rose wrong-headedly tried to impose her dreams on June and Louise. By contrast, Laurents' luminous "Gypsy" has found home and fulfillment once again on Broadway.

QED: (Underground Railway Theatre presentation of the Catalyst Collaborative@ MIT production, Central Square Theatre, Cambridge, MA). A new theater is a cause for celebration in and of itself. The Central Square Theatre, actively inviting creative partnerships- here between Underground Railway Theatre and the Catalyst Collaborative @MIT in particular and artists and scientists in general, deserves added encouragement as a cultural springboard (Theatregoers looking for offerings with a singular vision will soon have the opportunity to see stagings by Underground's important sister group, the Nora Theatre Company).

Local playwright-director extraordinaire Jon Lipsky provides the handsome new theater with an auspicious inaugural production, a lively portait of brilliantly eclectic physicist Richard Feynman. If Peter Parnell's nearly one-man play (save for a female student who appears infrequently) seems to wander as much as its subject's curiosity and intellectual odyssey, nevertheless this Off-Broadway hit vividly captures this multi-interest Nobel Prize winner's striking synthesis of all things scientifc and personal. Keith Jochim, who should be familiar to area theatergoers from his stellar work at Merrimack Repertory Theatre and Trinity Repertory Theatre, moves with the kind of animation and panache that Feynman himself surely possessed. He richly catches the spirit and directness of the dynamic teacher explaining scientific principles on a blackboard, dressing and preparing for a small role in a production of "South Pacific and movingly speaks of the ailing and untimely passing of his wife. Danielle Kellerman does well with the small role of student Miriam Field.

"QED" makes quantum electrodynamics and the complexities of Feynman himself accessible to lay theatergoers. Jochim's tour de force performance and Lipsky's sharp direction take Parnell's sometimes conventional bio-drama to a higher plateau, doing honor in the process to the appealing new Central Square Theatre.

MUD: (Factory Theatre, The Piano Factory, Boston). The Factory Theatre's inaugural production "Mud," unlike much summer fare, is blissfully unsafe and remnarkably riveting. Director Louisa Richards has brought Maria Irene Fornes' powerfully disturbing 1983 drama to the intimate Piano Factory and staged this three-character 70-minute standoff with chilling directness. With the psychological insight of a Joe Orton and the complex austerity of a Sam Shepard, Nine-time Obie winner Fornes uncompromisingly examines the dreams, disappointments , resentments and rages of everyday people. Richards has tautly captured both the poetry and the grim reality of hard-working and hitherto illiterate Mae, her emotionally bruised bedmate Lloyd and educated newcomer Henry, who falls in love with his mind as much as the man.

Janelle Mills finds all of Mae's singular dedication to her studies and her life goals as well as her growing alienation first from Lloyd and later from Henry. Particularly memorable are understated moments during which she captures the determined homemaker's painstaking efforts to pierce together simple words in a book about nature. Bob Mussett moves convincingly from Henry's confidence and judgmental approach to life strugglers like Lloyd to his striking vulnerability and pathos after a fall. Best is George Saulnier III's artfully delineated transformation from an intellectually frustrated and sexually unsatisfied pig raiser to a desperately volatile rival.

Tim Baumgartner's spare yet well-detailed set fully complements the play's unadorned observations.

The Factory Theatre means to be daring in its explorations and supportive of probing local talent. To the latter end, they are opening their inaugural program with a reading of short pieces by Carl Danielson. Ranging from a send-up of the television hit "Law and Order" to a sci-fi effort, these works in progress demonstrate the ample wit of a promising writer. As for the company's own mission, "Mud" brilliantly sloshes its way to pay dirt.

ASSASSINS: (Company One, Plaza Theatre, Boston Center for the Arts). America's presidential assassins and would-be assassins seem as much of a melting pot as the country itself-male and female, native-born and immigrant, capitalist and Communist, gentile and Jewish.

Stephen Sondheim was obviously struck by that diversity and the curious affinities between the dreams and disappointments of that criminal group and law-abiding citizens when he composed the 1990 show "Assassins." Daring in its examination of the culprits themselves, it pushed the envelope of musical subject matter as much as its equally disquieting predecessor "Sweeney Todd." If the earlier effort still comes across as a more polished and tightly written work, "Assassins" nevertheless remains an important and visceral work, as demonstrated by Company One's dead-on revival at the Boston Center for the Arts.Artistic director Shaun LaCount has assembled a largely crack group to play the fascinating if troubled and lethal bunch of malcontents and sharply paced both the framing ensemble opening and closing scenes and the individual segments that by turns introduce each one and their respective situations and establish affinities between those with similar gripes and motives. Running through the busy but informative musical are Proprietor, who supplies both dark humor and ironic insight and Balladeer, who serves as a singular narrator and folkloric commentator. Christopher Ignacio has the right sardonic tone as Proprietor, especially providing guns and rifles to the title characters in the striking carnival booth-like opening number "Everybody's Got the Right." Nik Walker sings vibrantly and displays strong stage presence as Balladeer-most notably delivering "The Ballad of Booth" with David DaCosta both dashing and dastardly as the assassin that started it all.

One by one-and sometimes in pairs and other configurations- the infamous ensemble explain their respective versions of the truth. Booth, of course, speaks of Lincoln as "a bloody tyrant." Polish activist Leon Czolgosz, taking to the extreme Jewish social reformer Emma Goldman's tirades about the cruelty of fellow human beings, assassinates William McKinley as though he were the architect of the suffering which she decried. ( Though no murderer herself, the famous speaker seemed to condone his actions by not denouncing him.) Disgruntled Charles J. Guiteau, at the self-serving end of the rogues' spectrum, shoots James Garfield after being denied political office in his administration yet claims to be guided by God.

Unemployed Jewish tire salesman Samuel Byck , who fails to kill Richard Nixon, sees the President as the director of a conspiracy to oppress the poor. Early on, Byck- ironically dressed as Santa Clause, appears to speak for all of the assassins when he says that all he wants for the holiday are "my Constitutional rights"-not so much the rights involved with bearing arms ,though, but rather the 'rights' pertaining to carrying out their plans. Sondheim smartly provides balance through a Balladeer insight that sounds like a Founding Father dictum: "Angry men don't write the rules, and guns don't write the laws."

Fortunately,John Weidman does write a provocative book suggesting some overlap between the dreams of the murderers and those of down-trodden law-abiding Americans. That curious common ground and the snappy, musically diverse Sondheim score assure this sometimes wandering musical enduring timeliness and value.Jose Delgado's sharp musical direction complements LaCount's careful guidance to produce a sharp-shooting revival.

Besides Walker, Ignacio and DaCosta, most of the cast are on target. Mason Sand build's Byck's vivid soliloquy of despair and frustration-in which he even appeals to Leonard Bernstein to write love songs-to haunting rage. Ed Hoopman finds pathos as Czolgosz, and Mahoney is riveting if somewhat over the top as Guiteau. Elizabeth Rimer as upscale Saea Jane Moore and McCaela Donovan as Manson- idolizing Lynette"Squeaky" Fromme are winning together and separately as bumblers individually plotting against Gerald Ford. Jonathan Popp has his moments as Lee Harvey Oswald, though he needs more subtlety with the role. Meredith Stypinski is properly feisty as Goldman.

Sondheim and Weidman provide some timely food for thought about Americans who "can't get into the ballpark." Fittingly if unsurprisingly-for most of "Assassins"- LaCount and the richly consistent Company One send its unconventional wisdom over the fence.

JACK JONES: A Conversation in Song by Jules Becker

YOM KIPPUR: (Midtown International Theatre Festival, Abingdon Theatre Complex, New York (through August 2; festival running through August 10. 800-279-4200 or www.midtownfestival.org). How important is Israel to American Jews? While the answer to that question may ostensibly seem a no-brainer , recent research indicates that there are significant numbers of respondents who are profoundly ambivalent about their connection to the Jewish state. Such is the case with some ofr the four central characters in Meri Wallace's thoughtful and affecting new play "Yom Kippur" at New York's Midtown International Theatre Festival.

If the provocative world premiere begins in 1973 Jerusalem on the morning of the title holiday and soon confronts the start of the war of the same name (with the attack of Egypt and Syria), the focal two 20-something couples' diverse views about life in Israel and their responsibilities as new settlers certainly resonate today. American Jews-and Jews throughout the world, for that matter-continue to debate the nature of Israel's response to the terroism of Hamas and Hezbollah on the one hand and its involvement in peace talks on the other. As the Yom Kippur War begins, former Kibbutznick and artist Yitz kisses his pregnant former dancer wife Yael and leaves to join his unit, while his cellist best friend Ephraim, who admits to 'freezing under fire, speaks of obtaining a letter from a psychologist excusing him from enlisting.

Although this often touiching drama sometimes comes across as too episodic, with many quick scene changes from their two-bedroom apartment and a park bench to hospital room and air raid shelter, Wallace does well capturing the emotional roller coaster rides that Yael, her best friend Sara and Ephraim experience-first as they await the return of Yitz and later as harsh post-war realities call into question their evolving feelings about Aliyah and their respective futures in Israel. Loving new mother Yael worries about her son's future as the climate of violence and constant military struggle with Israel's neighbors hits home directly. Complicating further already difficult situations is Ephraim's obsession with Yael, whom- Sara fears- he has always loved more than her.

Strong-willed Yael tries to be as committed to Israel as she is to her young son . Her rich circle of friends prove to be both beneficial and challenging. Thirty year old Hadassah Hospital doctor Shlomo, himself an immigrant, supplies timely advice to her as well as Ephraim. Sara, for her part, never lets Ephraim's love for her best friend jeopardize her closeness to Yael. Evenso, an unexpected visit from Yael's cold and distant mother-in-law Bella and the latter's dark observations about the impact of Israel's wars on her family irrevocably shake her daughter-in-law's resolve.

Some theatergoers- this critic included, may feel that Yael is too tenacious a character to let a blunt but largely unsympathetic in-law like Bella persuade her to return to America. Others may see her decision as a logical consequence of her concerns as a mother. Still, 29 year old Avi, a pivotal Israeli army captain, provides a key note of optimism when he declares ,"I'm here. Israel is here. Come back." At the very least, Wallace's heartfelt play is likely to have audience members examining their own ties to Israel even as they consider the American immigrants' respective commitments and relationships.

Under Halina Ujda's crisp direction, a generally winning cast makes the most of the characters' journeys . Arela Rivas brings a compelling combination of toughness and warmth to heroine Yael. Gayle Robbins catches all of Sarah's loyalty to Yael and her steadfastness as a young settler. Orion Delwaterman adds some complexity to the tricky role of Ephraim, a character that needs more .development in the later going. Evan Sokal is very engaging as big-hearted Shlomo. Aylan Orian, who somewhat resembles a young Kirk Douglas, captures both the sharp candor and the deep tenderness of Sabra Avi. Shane Jerome has the right likeability as Yitz, while Annalisa Loeffler is rivetingly grim as Bella.

Early on Yael offers the following insight her father used to say- that "Yom Kippur is more about making amends with your fellow man than fasting. " While the couples and their friends may not be scrupulous about ritual observance, most of them do take pains with acts of loving-kindness. Likewise, "Yom Kippur" the play make timely points about connection and Israel as a bastion of human caring.

WHEN IT'S HOT, IT'S COLE! A Cole Porter Cabaret: (American Repertory Theatre, Zero Arrow Theatre, Cambridge, MA extended thru 7/27. 617-547-8300). Cole Porter may have gotten no kick from champagne, but he apparently had a better response to the Bible. Just look at the numerous allusions in some of his most impressive songs to its stories and characters. From Eve in "They All Fall Down" and the Tower of Babel in "You're the Top" to the tongue in cheek , rapier-witty 1933 "Solomon" about the fabled wise king's 1000 wives, the gifted wordsmith clearly enjoyed including such contexts and situations in much of his repertoire. Director Scott Zigler and collaborator Peter Bayne have conceived a snappy revue entitle "When It's Hot It's COLE! a Cole Porter Cabaret" which displays Porter's facility with biblical allusion and a kind of encyclopedic frame of reference. American Repertory Theatre's second Zero Arrow Theatre musicfest- after last season's acclaimed "What a Marvelous Party!"- proves more electric and satisfying than the earlier Noel Coward tribute.

While both shows share the considerable talents of four of Boston's best performers- namely Remo Airaldi, Thomas Derrah, Will Lebow and Karen MacDonald, this time with the addition of Parker Posey-like Angela Nahigian, "COLE!" actually does more justice to its equally celebrated subject and his work. Where "Party" sometimes sacrificed Coward's subtlety and lightness to a need to over-punctuate the message of some send-ups and satiric numbers, "COLE! " maintains a balance of romance and playfulness throughout the dense revue's near-30 numbers. If parts of the predecessor appeared more geared to crowd-pleasing, the current effort seems as nightclub 'De-Lovely' as Porter would wish.

Zigler captures the elegance and sophistication of "COLE!" equally well in the formal first act and the casual second. In solo and ensemble, the tuxedo-clad men and the evening dressed women move resonantly and skillfully through both heart-felt and smartly coy lyrics. All five make the most of the vividly inventive opener "Let Do It-let's Fall in Love"-most notably MacDonald about clams and sponges and Derrah about sloths and guinea pigs. Zigler has blocked the show well, moving his cast smoothly from handsome matching black barstools at center stage to various areas of the generous Zero Arrow space-particularly the sleek, long bar itself with a rainbow of bottles hanging overhead. A waiter even brings martinis to MacDonald and Nahigian (there is also continuous service to theatergoers at small cabaret tables ) during the sublimely eclectic number "Let's Not Talk About Love" from Venus and Adonis and Adam and Eve to humorous rhymes like " economy" and "Deuteronomy" and the "Tow'r of Ba-abel " and "Betty Gra-abel."

Clearly attention has been paid to the respective strengths of the performers. Derrah, who demonstrated his gifts as a soloist in "Part," finds all of the drama and passion that are integral to "Begin the Beguine." MacDonald, with masterful phrasing catches the poignancy "Miss Otis Regrets" and the rich pathos of "Down in the Depths (on the Ninetieth Floor") . Lebow, whether gesturing from a stool or dancing briefly with Nahigian, easily evokes the lightheartedness of "You Do Something to Me." For her part, Nahigian delivers the smart observations of an ironic gem like "Love for Sale" with singular ruefulness. The standout in "Cole" is Airaldi, who displays fine coloring and robust tone on both the romantic winner "So in Love" and the brilliantly irreverent narrative "Tale of the Oyster." Musical director Miranda Lord provides spirited accompaniment, and Lebow does the same on drums at times-particularly for Derrah and Nahigian's stylish work on " I 've Got You Under My Skin."

'COLE!" is true to Porter most of the time. "You're the Top" may look too cutesy during some numbers with moments of over-gesturing, though the inspired lyrics win out with sharp singing. "Too Darn Hot," a showstopper in the Tony -winning musical "Kiss Me Kate," should sizzle more here as a male trio. While the repertoire is generally wide-ranging, there ought to be room for such distinctive treasures as "I Concentrate on You" and "In the Still of the Night." Still, Zigler and his first-class ensemble-to borrow from the composer himself-are riding high in this exuberant songfest.

Some Porter fans embrace the lyrics' cleverness and range of reference that anticipate Sondheim. Others look to such moving and hauntingly melodic classics as '"Night and Day." A.R.T.'s joyous "COLE!" celebrates the enduring wonders of both.

OUR TOWN: (Wellesley Summer Theatre Company, Ruth Nagel Jones Theatre, Wellesley College). Thornton Wilder speaks of something eternal in the bones of human beings, and so it goes for his enduringly disarming gem "Our Town." Wellesley Summer Theatre Company artistic director takes her cue from the unassuming but always timely play's return to basic human truths about appreciating the most simple things in the universe and the primacy of human love and caring. In the intimate Ruth Nagel Jones Theatre, Wilder's time capsule-like play attains a remarkably natural pacing with a strong ensemble cast. Charlotte Peed and Lisa Foley smoothly alternate as the pivotal Stage Manager. Peed seems to have the more day-to -day comments and Foley the more philosophical and sweeping ones. The result is a division of labor that establishes the contrasting observations that make the Stage Manager at once understated and insightful about both iconic turn of the 20th century Grovers Corners and the world at large. All of the Gibbs and Webbs family parents and children do well with the miming of activities that adds to the folkloric charms of the play. John Davin conveys Dr. Gibbs' strength and wisdom, while Sarah Barton finds Mrs. Gibbs' maternal concerns. Dan Bolton catches all of Mr. Webbs' closeness to his daughter Emily as well as his understanding of his wife . Christine Hamel has all of Mrs. Webb's confidence. The focal friends turned eventually newlyweds are very engaging- Zach Bubolo strikingly direct yet feeling as George and Heather Boas affectingly vulnerable as Emily Webb. Eric Hamel brings sharp characterization to each of his four brief roles- most notably dapper entrepreneur Sam Craig returning from Buffalo due to an untimely passing. Boas is riveting and Bubolo very touching in the closing moments of the haunting third act. Costume designer Nancy Stevenson makes the simple but momentous wedding properly elegant. Wilder brilliantly made even the most mundane human actions take on surprising beauty and worth. Hussey and company bring the same kind of inspired freshness to "Our Town" itself.

CARDENIO: (American Repertory Theatre, Loeb Drama Center, Cambridge). Shakespeare regularly led up to closing nuptials in his best comedies ( "As You Like it" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream" among them). Maybe Shakespeare expert Stephen Greenblatt and playwright Charles Mee ("Full Circle") would paid much better tribute to the Bard in their collaboration "Cardenio" if they had not begun their play with a post-wedding party with newlyweds and their young guests. If Shakespeare's earlier play of the same name survives in what acting A.R.T. artistic director Gideon Lester calls "a mangled eighteenth -century version." the Greenblatt-Mee world premiere is likely to have a much grimmer fate. Quite simply, this is a tedious and pretentious comic romance with little of the wit or singular poetry that is a trademark of even Shakespeare's lesser works. What does it say that the best thing about this 'Cardenio" is Annie Smart's gorgeous set?Under Les Waters" uninspired direction, Mickey Solis makes a fairly dull groom. The best work comes from Nathan Keepers, who livens the proceeding up with an entertainingly quirky dance as off-beat Edmund and Maria Elena Ramirez' acidic tone as outspoken Doris.Thomas Derrah is memorable in support. Call this "Cardenio" an earnest intention that should have stayed unwritten.

SHE LOVES ME: (Huntington Theatre Company in association with the Williamstown Theatre Festival, Boston University Theatre, 6/15. 617-266-0800 or www.huntingtontheatre.org. Williamstown Theatre Festival, 6/29-7/12.)
THE NEW CENTURY: (Mitzi Newhouse Theatre, Lincoln Center, New York thru 6/8. 800-432-7250).

These are the best of times for Nicholas Martin complete with a tale of three cities. The veteran director- a frequent winner of Independent Reviewers of New England (IRNE) ( �Dead End�and �The Rivals� ) and Elliot Norton Awards (Love�s Labour�s Lost) - has just won the latter honors� highest acclaim, the Norton Prize for Sustained Excellence. Cited �for directing with distinction, developing new venues and playwrights, and leading the Huntington with style into the 21st century,� the company�s eight-year artistic director has been instrumental to the opening and development of the vital new Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Artists. Now he has blessed Hub theatergoers with a winderfully fresh revival of the 1963 musical �She Loves Me� that is unquestionably the best area production thus far this year. This soaring swan song will briefly follow Martin this summer to Williamstown Theatre Festival as he begins his tenure as its new head. The third part of the tale is the now-ending run of his acclaimed Off-Broadway Lincoln Center staging of a Paul Rudnick quartet entitled �The New Century.�

�She Loves e,� the company�s season�s closer, is also a rich labor of love. Speaking of the introduction of mid-century New York kids like himself to musical theater in his playbill article �Why I Love She Loves Me,� Martin observes, �It was a rite of passage for Jewish kids from the suburbs to be hauled aboard the BMT subway and carried to the matinees of shows by Rodgers and Hammerstein, Cole Porter, Harold Arlen, Jule Styne, and Irving Berlin.� From the wide-ranging repertoire that included their work, �She Loves Me,� he confesses, �has always haunted me most persistently.�

That admission is borne out by his sublime production of this enchanting Jerry Bock-Sheldon Harnick collaboration. As soulful in its own way as their landmark musical �Fiddler on the Roof, � �She Loves Me� also features Harnick�s wit and Bock�s very hummable melodies. The very affecting Joe Masteroff book , based on the celebrated Miklos Laszlo play �Parfumerie� will have film buffs recalling ��The Shop Around the Corner,� its endearing Jimmy Stewart-Margaret Sullavan film adaptation. Here, too, anonymous pen pals move from lonely hearts to enamored soul mates.
That combination of romance and love easily extends to this bewitchingly brilliant staging. Martin has captured the ambience of the musical�s 1934 Budapest setting and combined it with seamless pacing, artful design and a cast as first-rate as the best in recent seasons. James Noone catches the elegance of Maraczek�s Parfumerie and the sparkle of the Caf� Imperiale nightspot. Denis Jones�s high-stepping choreography finds all of the spirit and the exuberance that help eventual lovebird co-workers Georg Howack and Amalia Balash rise above any obstacles challenging their union. There are even a short circle dance or hora and acrobatically polished routines, including slapstick head waiter antics- credit Marc Vietor- in the standout Caf� Imperiale number �A Romantic Atmosphere� that seems like a Martin homage to the famed wedding sequence in �Fiddler.�

The entire cast are an unqualified delight. Brooks Ashmanskas has all of Georg�s vulnerable as well as his verve. His full speed ahead delivery of the joyous title song with striking facial expressions and properly broad gestures , should be studied by musical theater novices. Songbird Kate Baldwin finds Amalia�s early attitude with Georg and her later understanding. She sings the affecting winner �Vanilla Ice Cream� with beautiful coloring. Standouts in support include Dick Latessa�s world-weary but fiery Maraczek, Jessica Stone�s sharp-tongued Ilona (most notably in her anthem-like �I Resolve�), Troy Britton Johnson�s delightfully slick Steven and Jeremy Beck�s arrestingly agile and ambitious Arpad.

Robert Morgan�s colorful work wear and formal evening designs complements the vivid look of Budapest. The string-rich orchestra, smartly positioned above the stage, heartily supplements the musical�s inner grandeur and makes the most of its vibrant overture and entr�acte.

Before Amalia meets her cherished correspondent, she unsurprisingly sings �Will He Like Me?� Here no such questions apply. You will adore Huntington�s magical �She Loves Me.

Martin�s other current effort �The New Century� has a fair measure of its own magic. Gifted wordsmith Rudnick may sometimes overdo the cleverness of his satire but the well-acted premiere at the Mitzi Newhouse Theatre does well with the foursome�s timely insights about coping and the challenges of human acceptance. In the best play �Pride and Joy,�Linda Lavin is luminous and often riotously funny as a savvy Long Island Jewish mother displaying singular strength dealing with the various orientations � lesbian, transgender and gay in that order-of her three children. Jayne Houdyshell shines in the nearly as good �Crafty� as a Decatur , Illinois mother named who weaves her memories of her late gay son into the AIDS Quiit. There is a sharp sendup here of artist Christo�s controversial wrapping of Central Park. Peter Bartlett has the right flamboyance as gay off-beat public access talk show host Mr Charles. Rudnick makes the characters � final play meeting and understanding (vis-�-vis anti-Semitism and hatred of gays ) persuasive.

�The New Century� would benefit from re-ordering some of the plays-probably most from moving the Lavin opener to third position. Still, Rudnick�s best observations are worth a visit �in large part thanks to Martin�s breezy direction.

THE PRODUCERS: (North Shore Music Theatre, Beverly). Are a Hollywood film and a Broadway show with a kind of Third Reich Follies impossibly offensive? Zany Mel Brooks richly disproved that gut-level assumption in his now classic movie "The Producers" and his hilariously funny Tony-Award-winning musical of the same name. As theater buffs well know, both works feature inspired envelope-pushing send-ups of the Nazis as well as a spirited tale of the Jewish Odd Couple-like title New York characters Max Bialystock and Leo Bloom. Now the North Shore Music Theatre is mounting the New England regional theater premiere of the landmark musical in an effort at once crowd-pleasing if not quite as outrageous as it should be.

Bialystock alone is the soul of outrageousness. As "The Producers" begins, the fictional self-promoter awaits the reviews and audience response to his latest unusual Shubert Theatre offering, a "Hamlet"-based musical called "Funny Boy." Of course, this half-baked idea flops, as previous ones have- so many that a theater marquee "Opening Night" sign that easily flips to a "Closing Night" one has been created just for his duds. In Brooks' brilliantly reverse-rich humor, Bialystock, who bills himself as the former "King of Broadway," means to be recrowned. Yet his track record proves that he is no successor to Boris Tomashevsky though he drops the name of the Yiddish Theater legend in the rousing opening scene number "The King of Broadway."
Enter timid accountant Leo Bloom. Clutching a kind of security blanket but letting his dreams about being a producer run free, he describes a tantalizing scenario of "creative accounting" by which "a sure fire flop" could earn as much as two million dollars for Bialystock and keep the IRS away from his door. A quest for the worst story ideas leads to a seemingly disastrous musical called 'Springtime for Hitler" that instead garners critical praise as "a satiric masterpiece" and becomes a surprise smash.

As co-producers Bialystock and Bloom now try to evade the law, Brooks' inventiveness- with book collaborator Thomas Meehan- becomes all the more outrageous. Eventually a Sing Sing extravaganza ensues with a rollicking ensemble called "Prisoners of Love." Where Bialystock's show titles once augured instasnt failure, his latest off-kilter musical names- among them, "47th Street," "Katz," "a Streetcar Named Murray" and "High Button Jews- cannot miss.
If "the show The Producers" proves ultimately as silly and madcap as the movie, it is nonetheless equally wild and wonderful. The key is a staging that matching its zaniness. Bill Burns, in his directing debut at North Shore, provides a good number of spirited dance numbers after the choreography of gifted Susan Stroman ("Contact") . "The King of Broadway" here captures the "Fiddler on the Roof " touches of the original with vivid hora and over-and-under routines. "Springtime" has all of the big number boldness that it should , though its German symbol costumes (with oversized beer stein, pretzel or sausage) are not as over-the-top as William Ivey Long's Tony -winning Broadway ones . A stand-out ""Little Old Lady Land" ensemble (sporting Bialystock supporters) with walkers remains a knockout.

Newcomers to "The Producers" may be satisfied with Burns' lively effort. Those who have seen the now-fabled Broadway edition or one of the winning Boston tours, though, are likely to find the first act less fast-paced than the second and Scott Davidson's Bialystock less outrageous than Brooks conceived him to be. He needs to be more larger than life and devilish. He could take a lesson from Stuart Marsland's inspired work as "Springtime"s gay director and fill-in for the role of Hitler. Marsland and Fred Berman as Roger's flamboyant assistant and lover Carmen Ghia help the second act rise to the level of a romp Davidson does pick up in the holding cell-set "Betrayed," bringing full vitality to the number's witty summary of the two producers' ups and downs and Max's despair knowing that Bloom and blonde girlfirend now wife Ulla have run off to Brazil with the musical's profits.

By contrast, Jim Stanek is often a hoot as Bloom, Moving with the frenetic intensity that Matthew Broderick brought to the Broadway staging, he smootlhy moves between Leo's alternating diffidence and dream-driven daring. Stanek's duet with Amy Bodnar-effectively ditsy yet appealing as Ulla- smoothly captures their blossoming romance. The only major disappointment is Patrick Wetzel as "Springtime"'s former Nazi author Franz Liebkind. Franz needs to be scarier and more unpredictably volatile. Instead, Wetzel inexplicably underplays the gun-toter who intimidates the producers who visit him to wear Swatstika bands.

Campbell Baird generally does well with the design challenges of the sets. The one glaring problem is the second act-opening scene at Max's office. Ulla has supposedly worked wonders during intermission,-even painting it. This admission ought to bring a big laugh considering how little time she had to do anything .Unforttunately, there are no visible wals here-only furniture and props, so that the audience is understandably more restrained in its response.

"The Producers" ought to be an unqualified success . Far from a Bialystock flop, the North Shore Music Theatre's entertaining edition still needs to be more of a riotous smash.

THE DRAWER BOY: (Vokes Players, Wayland. www.vokesplayers.org). Memories and the truth often collide , with the former sometimes becoming an escape hatch from the latter. Michael Healey's disarmingly 'small' play "The Drawer Boy" artfully chronicles such a collison as an actor named Miles stays with two central Ontario farmers named Morgan and Angus in 1972 to gain first-hand and hands-on insights about them and their work in preparing for a role in a play. Director JulieAnn Charest Govang means to capture the depth of the farmers' friendship and the profound impact of the sojourn on actor. She succeeds more in the later going as all three characters come to terms with a variety of challenges, but the opening situations seem to elicit too many laughs from theatergoers as the subtlety of the play is lost to overplaying--with the big exception of Brad Walters' letter perfect portrayal of war-wounded, memory-damaged Angus. If only John Small had modulated his responses as Morgan, the bonding between the two farmers would be fully moving instead of overly comical in the first act. Robin Gabrielli becomes more affecting as Miles retreats from manipulating his hosts and especially Angus. The vivid but assuming set is a sign of the kind of pristine beauty that is finally achieved in the better second act.

THE HISTORY BOYS: (SpeakEasy Stage Co., Calderwood Pavilion, Boston Center for the Arts thru June 7. 617-933-8600 or www.SpeakEasyStage.com). Can study of the Holocaust reduce the war dead "to an abbreviation" ? Could a facile contemporary approach actually compare the 16th century dissolution of monasteries by Henry the Eighth to the atrocities of the concentration without any embarrassment? Quite frankly, might all of the so-called "proportion" that characterizes this kind of education be motivated more by aced exams leading students to Oxford or Cambridge than to heartfelt learning? These are the intriguing and often haunting questions dominating Alan Bennett's Tony Award-winning play "The History Boys," now in a brilliantly vital New England premiere by SpeakEasy Stage Company at the Calderwood Pavilion of the Boston Center for the Arts. Set in Cutler Grammar School for boys in 1984 urban Sheffield by Bennett-himself a graduate of Leeds Modern School, this witty and richly insightful work pits traditional and text-centered "fifty or so" general studies schoolmaster Hector against "twenty -five or so" strategy-following history teacher Irwin. While the former takes his cue from poet A.E. Housman's view that "All knowledge is precious whether or not it serves the slightest human use," the latter heeds the curriculum-directed advice of the school reputation-guided headmaster. In a sense, there are two sets of "history boys." The obvious group are the eight young students- described as 17 or 18- who often see their journey to maturity in as much of a metaphorical frame of reference as their studies. As diverse as Hector and Irwin may be, they certainly constitute a second one as conflicted grown-ups with their own respective odysseys and connections to history. As multi-culturally correct as the 80's Cutler school is, it still continues to confront its generally sharp male teenagers with challenges of religion, race and sexual identity. Some of the conflicts involve the desires and motivations of Hector, who seems to fondle students on his motorcycle ,and Irwin, who struggles with a dangerous attraction. The student who takes Hector's teaching style and classes most to heart and the one who most reflects Bennett's own voice, is Jewish Posner, relatively small in stature and gay. Enamored of a complicated handsome classmate named Dakin, he thinks of him when he sings "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" and makes the most of an unexpected French scene ( in Hector's class ) in which Dakin is the pivotal character. Posner also has to deal with a crack about his not having a foreskin, an observation that unconventional classmate Lockwood (who sports a variety of buttons on his jacket and wears sneakers) calls "...race-related, but it's not racist." While the students may not resort to real stereotypes, headmaster Felix Armstrong does seem to do so. At one point, he broad brushes Jewish boys and Asian boys as clever and at another speaks of gays like Michelangelo and Oscar Wilde as "shrunken violets." If he obsesses about Irwin pushing the best students like Posner to crack finals and Oxford or Cambridge admissions, he also gives as much attention to "angry Jewish parents threatening to complain to the school governors" about Irwin's seemingly insensitive analysis of the Nazis and the Holocaust. By contrast, Irwin struggles to contain his attraction to straight but flirty Dakin. Indeed, what makes "The History Boys" particularly striking is the play's totally convincing interlacing of insights about the students' emotional lives-referred to as courses without grades- and their contrasting sessions with Hector and Irwin. Director Scott Edmiston, one of the Hub's best ("The Women," among others) , keeps the lively interaction of the teachers and their students as fluid as Bennett advises in a note on the first production of the play. The eight actors playing the students catch the music of their ensemble passages as well as the characters' vivid personalities. Karl Baker Olson finds all of Posner's sadness as well as his tenderness and intelligence. Don Whelton is both appealing and properly cagey as Dakin. Among the very good others, Jared Craig as an ongoing narrator-chronicler and a kind of student conscience, favorably calls to mind Robert Sean Leonard, while Samson Kohanski has the right quipping flair as Lockwood. Bob Colonna could be even more larger than life as Hector, but he does capture the feistiness of this crusty iconoclast. Chris Thorn brings together Irwin's classroom confidence and his personal ambivalence. Timothy Crowe has the right venom as headmaster Amstrong. Paula Plum, who gives feature roles the same inspired care she brings to lead parts, catches all of the restrained bitterness and understated wisdom of veteran teacher Dorothy Lintott. Janie Howland's Broadway-quality set ,with a stage-spanning library and a pivotal stairway, smartly captures the school's 1980's ambience. Dewey Dellay's percussion-rich original music and driving sound design sharply evoke the pace and tempo of the play. Describing his educational philosophy, Hector advises his students to take learning, feel it and "pass it on." The SpeakEasy Stage's soaring "History Boys" is a first-class parcel all the way.

EDDIE IZZARD: STRIPPED: (Orpheum Theatre, Boston; Radio City Music Hall, New York, June 27 and 28. 212-307-4111 and www.eddieizzard.com). In a real sense, the key to Eddie Izzard's latest show is a Jewish prayer in its set.