Theater Listings

TITANIC The doomed shipboard romance of Jack and Rose, told commedia dell’arte style (includes kazoo solo). Globe of America on the Queen Mary, 1126 Queens Hwy., Long Beach; opens Fri., Jan. 20, 8 p.m.; perfs Fri.-Sun., 8 & 10:30 p.m.; thru Feb. 11. (562) 499-6630.

Larger Theaters

Reviews by Lovell Estell III, Martín Hernández, Deborah Klugman, Steven Mikulan, Steven Leigh Morris, Amy Nicholson, Tom Provenzano and Neal Weaver.

For complete reviews, go to www.laweekly.com.

THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF HEDDA GABLER See New Reviews.

 GO  LEWIS AND CLARK REACH THE EUPHRATES Playwright Robert Schenkkan, who won a Pulitzer for his Taper-debuted The Kentucky Cycle, uses Lewis and Clark’s quest for the Northwest Passage to examine the messianic subtext of American idealism. The show’s first half sails along an amusing course carefully balanced between cultural farce and political folly; Act 2 veers into deadpan editorializing, however, when our intrepid explorers (James Barbour and Jeffrey Nordling) begin time-traveling through their country’s various imperial adventures, beginning in Cuba and ending in Iraq. Gregory Boyd adroitly directs a limber and energetic ensemble. Center Theater Group/Mark Taper Forum, 135 N. Grand Ave., dwntwn.; Tues.-Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 2:30 & 8 p.m.; Sun., 2:30 & 7:30 p.m.; thru Jan. 22. (213) 628-2772. (SM)

 GO PERMANENT COLLECTION (Note: This review is of a production that opened last year and has transferred to the current venue.) Thomas Gibbons sets his eloquent and revelatory drama in and around a suburban gallery of mostly Impressionist masters, where the new director — an African-American executive from the business world — clashes with the museum’s white director of education over adding African treasures to the main exhibit, setting off a maelstrom of public charges. The knot of bigotry in this country is wound so tightly with guilt and indignation, it’s beyond rational discussion, yet in his play Gibbons loosens it ever so slightly, through the woman who stands between the two gallant, stubborn opponents. Harry J. Lennix and Dwain Perry co-direct this quite wonderful production. Robey Theater Company and the Greenway Arts Alliance at the Kirk Douglas Theater, 9820 Washington Blvd., Culver City; Tues.-Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 2 & 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 & 7 p.m.; thru Feb. 12. (213) 628-2772. (SLM)

700 SUNDAYS See New Reviews.

2 PIANOS 4 HANDSSee New Reviews.

Smaller Theaters

Hollywood, West Hollywood, Downtown

AMERICAN IDLE The Complex, 6476 Santa Monica Blvd.; Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m.; thru Feb. 11. (310) 228-6237. See Stage feature.

ANGRY JELLOW BUBBLES The New York women’s theater ensemble brings song, dance, comedy and drama to the Artworks Theater, 6569 Santa Monica Blvd., Hlywd.; Thurs.-Fri., 8 p.m.; thru Jan. 27. (323) 769-5808.

ARSENIC AND OLD LACE Senior sisters murder by poison in Joseph Kesselring’s comedy. Knightsbridge Theater, 1944 Riverside Dr., Silver Lake; Sat., 5 p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m.; thru Feb. 18. (323) 667-0955.

BARK! Canine musical from the dog’s point of view. Coast Playhouse, 8325 Santa Monica Blvd., W. Hlywd.; Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 3 & 8 p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m.; thru Feb. 19. (800) 595-4849.

 GO  BIG NEWS I.O. West’s sketch-comedy troupe fashions a new program every Thursday inspired by news stories; the evening I attended, their broad satire scored more comedic hits than misses. The show’s funniest sketch — “Brokeback White House” — portrays affection between Bush and Cheney attaining the passionately fevered pitch of the desperately thwarted lovers in the film. I.O. West, 6366 Hollywood Blvd., Hlywd.; Thurs., 8 p.m.; indef. (323) 962-7560. (DK)

BILL W. & DR. BOB Samuel Shem and Janet Surrey’s story of Alcoholics Anonymous. Theater 68, 5419 Sunset Blvd., Hlywd.; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m.; thru Jan. 29. (323) 960-7827.

 GO  THE BOOK OF LIZ In Amy Sedaris and David Sedaris’ comic fable, Ann Magnuson is sweet, goofy Sister Elizabeth Donderstock, a buck-toothed member of the Cluster Haven “Squeamish” community (a parody of the Amish), sent on a Candide-like journey into a sugar-and-spicy Prairie Home Companion world. Blank Theater Company at 2nd Stage Theater, 6500 Santa Monica Blvd., Hlywd.; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m.; thru Jan. 29. (323) 661-9827. (SLM)

 GO  THE BREAK-UP NOTEBOOK: The Lesbian Musical Based on the successful play by Patricia Cotter, composer-lyricist Lori Scarlett’s adaptation follows the travails of a woman who has been dumped by her girlfriend and is desperate to find new love. Scarlett’s generally excellent score only occasionally falls into the kind of contemporary light pop that so often inhabits modern musicals. Most of the songs are heartfelt or truly funny, and all carry the story forward. Under Sue Hamilton’s fine direction, the cast breezily handles an array of characters while ably carrying the tunes with humor and commitment. Hudson Backstage Theater, 6539 Santa Monica Blvd., Hlywd.; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m.; thru Feb. 12. (323) 960-5563. (TP)

 GO  THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV Unlike other adaptations of the Russians we’ve seen here over the past decade, the Circle X actors are all in the same play: fiery, manic, desperate in their sundry searches for purity and in their fight against their own depravities. Anthony Clarvoe’s play crosses the ocean and the centuries with a comparatively light heart and some American colloquialisms, playing up the humor so that the comedy feels closer to Chekhov and Bulgakov than Russian lit’s prince of darkness. Circle X Theater Company at [Inside] the Ford, 2580 Cahuenga Blvd., Hlywd.; Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 & 7 p.m.; thru Feb. 4. (213) 804-5491. (SLM)