A look at what's playing where, and when.
OGUNQUIT - The Ogunquit Playhouse opens its 74th summer season June 19 with "Beehive, The '60s Musical Sensation." A musical revue of classic songs from the 1960s, "Beehive" takes audiences on a journey through the eyes of the women singers and girl groups of the period.
The first half features hits like "The Nine Game," "My Boyfriend's Back" and "It's My Party."
Following the assassination of JFK, the growing civil rights movement and the escalation of hostilities in Vietnam, the music reflects the social consciousness of the times.
Score highlights include "One Fine Day," "R-E-S-P-E-C-T," "Wishin' and Hopin' " and "Downtown."
"Beehive" runs at the Ogunquit Playhouse June 19-July 8 with performances at 8 p.m. Monday to Friday, 8:30 p.m. Saturday and 2:30 p.m. matinees Wednesday and Thursday.
Ticket prices range from $36 to $46. For tickets and information, call 646-5511 or visit www.ogunquitplayhouse.org.
Also on the schedule this season: "Cabaret," July 10-22; "Hello, Dolly!" with Sally Struthers, July 25-Aug. 5; "Cinderella," Aug. 8-26; "Menopause: The Musical," Aug. 28-Sept. 16.
SOUTH PORTLAND - The Stage will present Shakespeare's "As You Like It" for its fourth summer season. Lisa DiFranza will direct this open-air production, which opens July 12 and runs through July 29, Wednesday through Sunday nights, at Fort Preble's Battery Rivardi on the campus of Southern Maine Community College, adjacent to the Spring Point Walkway in South Portland.
Preview nights are July 12-13. Performances begin at 7:30 p.m. While admission is free and open to the public, tickets are required. Tickets are available at the site beginning at 6 p.m. on the evening of each performance.
Call The Stage at 828-0128 or visit www.thestagemaine.org.
PORTLAND - The Winter Harbor Theatre Company presents "Letters to Baghdad" June 26-29 at the St. Lawrence Arts and Community Center on Munjoy Hill in Portland.
"Letters to Baghdad" is the third in a series of all-original commissioned works by the Winter Harbor Theatre Company. The series was inaugurated with "Letters to Ohio," which focused on the 2004 election and had two sold-out runs in Portland. "Ohio" was followed by "Letters to Katrina," which addressed the Katrina disaster.
For information, call 775-3174.
PORTLAND - Good Theater will present the new musical "edges" July 3 and July 4-7 at the St. Lawrence Arts and Community Center. Written by Benji Pasek and Justin Paul, "edges" is a contemporary musical revue and song cycle that will star Kelly Caufield, Alison Cusano, Douglas Lyons and Eric Richardson.
The production will be directed and co-produced by Jason Knight, a Maine native who is studying theater at Emerson College in Boston. Tickets are $12 for adults and $10 for students and seniors; 885-5883.
BIDDEDORD - Biddeford City Theater presents the musical "Working" July 14-29. "Working" pays tribute to the blue-collar workers of America. "It's a perfect fit for this town," said director Bill Cook. "And one of the many things that makes 'Working' so special is we've got a cast of over 25 people from at least 12 different towns, towns that have these very characters from the show in their community."
Call 282-0849 for tickets, or visit www.citytheater.org.
HALLOWELL - Gaslight Theater presents the Neil Simon comedy "Jake's Women" at Hallowell City Hall Auditorium June 15-17 and June 22-24.
Jake, a novelist more successful in his career than in his life, faces a marital crisis by daydreaming about the women in his life. The wildly comic and sometimes moving flashbacks are interrupted by visitations from actual females. "Jake's Women" include his first wife, a daughter, his boisterous bossy sister, an opinionated analyst, his current wife and a prospective third wife.
Lee Kerr of Augusta directs. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays and 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 626-3698.
HARRISON - Deertrees Theatre opens its season with "Reny's, the Musical," written by Damariscotta news reporter Art Mayers. It runs June 21-25.
"Renys" will be Deertrees' first in-house theatrical production in more than 10 years, directed by Bill Felts. Tickets cost $9.99 for adults, $5.99 for children.
Also on Deertrees' theater schedule this summer:
Will Holt and Charles Strouse, two of America's most celebrated composers, team up for an original musical revue relating the perils and pitfalls of life in the theater - and the triumphs as well. This premiere performance of "Will Holt & Charles Strouse Make Music" benefits the Seeds of Peace International Camp.
Strouse wrote "Bye, Bye, Birdie" and "Annie," while Holt wrote "Lemon Tree" and "Raspberries, Strawberries" among others. The show will run July 21-22.
"Ida's Having a Yard Sale," Aug. 3-4. Writer and performer Susan Poulin and collaborator Gordon Carlisle created this sequel to their most popular play, "Ida: Woman Who Runs With the Moose!" From the front yard of her mobile home, Ida enthralls with neighborly gossip, the latest adventures with the "women who run with the moose," and the
philosophy of north country life.
Also, "Same Time, Another Year," Aug. 10-11; "Any Wednesday," Aug. 17-19; "Grace and Glorie," Aug. 24-25; "Dinner With Friends," Aug. 31-Sept. 1-2.
For times and tickets, call 583-6747 or visit www.deertreestheatre.org.
BATH - The Lanyard Theatre Company will produce "A Feeling of Family" by New York playwright Sid Ross on Aug. 2-5.
"A Feeling of Family" is a comedy-drama about a Manhattan therapist who becomes so immersed in the emotional travails of a family he is treating that he puts his own psychological well-being at risk. The Lanyard production will take place in the Curtis Room Annex of the Chocolate Church; 773-2727.
STONINGTON - What better place to stage "Women & the Sea" than the Stonington Opera House? Situated just above the commercial fish pier and working waterfront of Stonington Harbor, the opera house will give the play its second Maine production July 7-8.
Playwright and novelist Shelley Berc wrote the play with Anita Stewart, artistic and executive director of Portland Stage Company. It tells real-life stories of Maine women who have made their lives on the ocean. Portland Stage debuted the play in 2002.
The Stonington cast will include local and national actors, many of whom work on the water and fit the profile of the characters in the play.
For information, call 367-2788 or visit www.operahousearts.org.
ARUNDEL - The Arundel Barn Playhouse opens its season with the New England premiere of "I Love A Piano: The Music of Irving Berlin," from Tuesday to July 1. Among the familiar songs: "Blue Skies," "White Christmas," "Puttin' on the Ritz" and others.
Other shows this season include "Bye, Bye, Birdie," "42nd Street" and "Moon Over Buffalo." For times and tickets, call 985-5552 or visit www.arundelbarnplayhouse.com.
SKOWHEGAN - Lakewood Theater, Maine's oldest summer theater, has a busy season. This year's shows include "If the Shoe Fits," "Over My Dead Body," "Sarah Plain and Tall," "House of the Seven Gables," "Mixed Nuts!" "Stand by Your Man," "Little Quickie," "Calamity Jane" and "Monkey Soup."
For tickets and information, call 474-7176 or visit www.lakewoodtheater.org.
BERWICK - Hackmatack Playhouse opens its season this week with "Ida's Having a Yard Sale," set for Friday and Saturday, June 16-17. The rest of the season looks like this: "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat," June 22-July 8; "Oliver!," July 12-29; "The Maine-iac," Aug. 2-12; "The Secret Garden," Aug. 16-26; and "The Old Maid and the Thief," Sept. 1-2.
DAMARISCOTTA - The Heartwood Regional Theater Company continues its programming with "The Unvarnished Truth," a play by Royce Ryton, July 7-16 at Lincoln Academy in Newcastle. The company also will present "Spoon River Anthology" Sept. 2-3 at Round Top Center for the Arts.
For information, call 563-1373.
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