Get out your handkerchiefs-it’s time to mist up again at Fiddler on the Roof, which opens at the Rubicon tonight and runs through April 12. Next weekend, look for In the Continuum opening March 26 and running through April 19 at Ensemble Theatre Company, an award-winning play about two women a world apart who must each cope with the impact of AIDS. Also that week, an original play by Doris Baizley called One Day: Sarah House will be at Center Stage March 27-April 4 under the direction of Peter Lackner. Fans of Westmont College‘s theater program will want to see Tink on March 27 or 28, Sarah Halford’s senior project about Tinker Bell, and an original play by Westmont artist-in-residence Lila Rose Kaplan. On the big production end of the scale, Mamma Mia! at the Granada from March 31-April 5 ought to be fun, as will PCPA‘s (pcpa.org) spring spectacular, Les Miserables, running April 9-July 12. On the intimate side, Circle Bar B‘s season opener, The Odd Couple, running April 4-May 17, will surely be a familiar delight. A very different kind of small-space comedy will occur when Genesis West (genesiswest.org) brings La Terrasse by Jean-Claude Carriere to Center Stage from April 17-May 2. Speaking of Stories (speakingofstories.org) will present Tasty Tales on April 20 at the Lobero. Late April is also the time for Westmont’s annual Fringe Festival, which runs April 21-25.
Lily Tomlin promises that her shows at the Lobero on May 8 and 9 will be full of her most cherished routines and characters. No one will be expected to know anything about La Ni±era: The Nursemaid at UCSB’s Hatlen Theatre from May 15-23, as it is a world premiere directed by Risa Brainin that describes the experiences of a generation of Cubans and Cuban-Americans. Spit Like a Big Girl at the Rubicon from May 14-June 7 is a one-woman about show about family written by and starring Clarinda Ross. UCSB has enjoyed great success for several consecutive years with its New Plays Festival, this year running May 21-30. As we make the great leap into summer, expect to enjoy The Scene at Ensemble May 28-June 21-author Theresa Rebeck is a marvel at creating hilarious situations out of her observations of Manhattan’s high society. Circle Bar B will have a New York comedy of its very own when Tony and the Soprano arrives May 30-July 12. And finally, serious (and silly) theater fans get a special treat when the Granada hosts the sparkling satirical review Forbidden Broadway from June 4-14.