Fall
entertainment preview: Theater

September

Season of Shores (National tour through Nov. 19: Dallas, Palm Springs, Calif.; St. Louis, Nashville, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) Stars Delta Burke and Leslie Jordan in Del Shores's acclaimed plays Sordid Lives and Southern Baptist Sissies in a city near you.

Kiss of the Spider Woman (New Conservatory Theatre Center, San Francisco, through Sept. 17) Manuel Puig's drama of love and fantasy charts an unusual bond between two Latin American cell mates: a political activist and a gay window dresser.

Summer and Smoke (Hartford Stage, Hartford, Conn., through Oct. 1) The Tennessee Williams Marathon continues under Michael Wilson's direction.

Thrill Me: The Leopold and Loeb Story (Bailiwick Arts Center, Chicago, through Oct. 8) A pocket musical by Stephen Dolginoff based on the sensational 1924 murder case.

Two Boys in Bed on a Cold Winter's Night (Pictured) (The Island Repertory Theatre Company, Cherry Grove, Fire Island, N.Y., through Sept. 17) David Drake directs a revival of James Edwin Parker's romantic drama about two gay men in New York who spend a life-changing evening together.

The Museum Play (Washington Ensemble Theatre, Seattle, Sept. 1-25) Jordan Harrison's elegiac and absurd look at the intersections of memory and desire, centering on mysterious goings-on in a natural history museum.

What the Butler Saw (Theatre Rhinoceros, San Francisco, Sept. 1-24) Joe Orton's bawdy sex farce.

Death in Venice (Zeum, San Francisco, Sept. 7-24) Theatre Rhinoceros and the American Conservatory Theater present Giles Havergal and Robert David McDonald's stage adaptation of Thomas Mann's novella about an older man's yearnings for a golden youth.

Make Love (The Cutting Room, New York City, Sept. 8-10) Performance artist Karen Finley revives her provocative and poignant reverie on 9/11 and the divadom of Liza Minnelli.

Cabaret (Arena Stage, Washington, D.C., Sept. 8-Oct. 29) A new production of the celebrated Kander and Ebb musical.

It Goes Without Saying (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, New York City, Sept. 7-Oct. 8) Out gay performer and mime Bill Bowers weaves funny and heart-breaking stories from his life and career into an onstage joyride.

A Chorus Line (Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, New York City, previews Sept. 18, opens Oct. 5) The return of the landmark musical conceived by Michael Bennett, directed by the original cochoreographer, Bob Avian.

Doubt (Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles, previews Sept. 22, runs Sept. 27-Oct. 29) John Patrick Shanley's thought-provoking drama, set in a Catholic school in the 1960s, stars the fabulous Cherry Jones as the nun who takes on a shady priest.

The Wiz (La Jolla Playhouse, San Diego, previews Sept. 26, runs Oct. 11-Nov. 12) A 21st-century reimagining of the 1970s musical hit.

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (Acorn Theatre, New York City, previews Sept. 20, runs Oct. 12-Nov. 25) Cynthia Nixon in a new revival directed by Scott Elliott.

Amadeus (Denver Center Theatre Company, Denver, previews Sept. 28, runs Oct. 5-28) Timed to coincide with the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth.

Provincetown Tennessee Williams Festival (Provincetown, Mass., Sept. 28-Oct.1) Celebrating the great gay American writer and his relatively unknown but deep connection to P-town. Check the schedule at www.twptown.org.

October

Grey Gardens (Walter Kerr Theatre, New York City, previews Oct. 3, opens Nov. 2) The hit musical based on the cult documentary, having sold out its off-Broadway run, comes to Broadway. Christine Ebersole and Mary Louise Wilson star as Big Edie and Little Edie, the remarkable mother and daughter socialites who lived in squalor in a decaying mansion in the Hamptons.

Butley (Booth Theater, New York City, previews Oct. 5, runs Oct. 25-Jan. 14) Nathan Lane stars in Simon Grey's dark comedy about a caustic English literature professor who goes into an emotional tailspin when he discovers both wife and boyfriend are about to leave him.

Souvenir (Brentwood Theatre, Los Angeles, previews Oct. 12, runs Oct. 18- Nov.12) Judy Kaye stars in Stephen Temperley's play about cult gay icon Florence Foster Jenkins, an eccentric socialite who fancied herself a great opera singer in New York City in the 1930s and 1940s.

Regrets Only (Manhattan Theatre Club, New York City, previews Oct. 19, opens Nov. 14) Christine Baranski in a new comedy from Jeffrey creators Paul Rudnick and director Christopher Ashley.

The Little Dog Laughed (Cort Theatre, New York City, previews Oct. 25, opens Nov. 13) Directed by Scott Ellis, the Douglas Carter Beane comedy that dishes the dirt on the Hollywood closet moves to Broadway.

November

Dark Matters (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, New York City, previews Nov. 8, runs Nov. 16-Dec. 17) Out comics writer and playwright Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa explores the supernatural in a new comedy about unexplained happenings in a house at the end of a cornfield.

Company (Barrymore Theatre, New York City, previews Oct. 30, opens Nov. 29) Director John Doyle does his Sweeney Todd trick--having the actors double as musicians--with another Sondheim classic.

The Twelve Days of Cochina (Theatre Rhinoceros, San Francisco, Nov. 16-Dec. 17) Out comedian Marga Gomez's takeoff on sex, Charles Dickens, Angelina Jolie, global warming, and immigration. With holiday music.

December

Carrie (Performance Space 122, New York City, previews Dec. 2, runs Dec. 5- 31) Theatre Couture's twisted but authorized version of Stephen King's novel, starring drag diva Sherry Vine, with telekinetic effects by Basil Twist.

Edward Scissorhands (Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles, Dec. 12-31) A new dance theater production directed and choreographed by Matthew Bourne.

A Queer Carol (New Conservatory Theatre Center, San Francisco, previews Nov. 29 and Dec. 1, runs Dec. 2-31) Joe Godfrey reimagines Dickens's classic story as a queer holiday event: Scrooge is a high-society interior designer; Bob Cratchit is his hard-pressed assistant who has no health insurance with which to buy AIDS meds for his lover, Tiny Tim.

--Gerard Raymond