AN IDEAL HUSBAND | Bad Habit Productions follow up their July production of Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead with Oscar Wilde's "comedy of manners, errors, and ethics" swirling around a "rising star of turn-of-the-20th-century British politics" whose wife idealizes him until a shady lady turns up threatening to spill his secret. Just four actors — Sarah Castroverde, Anna Waldron, Tom Giordano, and Adam Kassim — cover all the parts, and they all (probably not at the same time) play butler Phipps; BHP artistic director Daniel Morris is at the helm. | Cambridge YMCA Theater, 820 Mass Ave, Cambridge |www.badhabitproductions.org| December 3-13 | Curtain 8 pm Thurs-Sat | 2 pm Sun | $15 advance; $20 doors
THE MIKADO, OR THE TOWN OF TITIPU | Those looking to escape the onslaught of Christmas Carols and similar sweetmeats can put a little Lord High Executioner into their holiday season with this MIT Gilbert & Sullivan Players production of G&S's most popular operetta. Would you go under the sword to marry the woman you love? John Deschene directs. | Sala de Puerto Rico, Stratton Student Center [second floor], 48 Mass Ave, Cambridge | 617.253.0190 | December 4-12 | Curtain 8 pm Thurs-Fri | 2 pm [December 12] or 8 pm [December 5] Sat | 2 pm Sun | $12; $8 students, seniors
NOW PLAYING
BEST OF BOTH WORLDS | The American Repertory Theater makes its first Loeb Drama Center appearance of the season with this holiday musical with book and lyrics by Randy Weiner and music by Obie winner Diedre Murray. Part of new ART artistic director Diane Paulus's "Shakespeare" season, it got a thumbs-up from the New York Times— "This rousing musical has taken the plot from The Winter's Tale, tossed out anything resembling Shakespearean language, and achieved a hypnotic effect with musical numbers that leave the audience whooping" — so never mind that the language is the best part of any Shakespeare play and just enjoy the R&B and gospel treats. The cast includes Gregg Baker, Mary Bond Davis, and Jeanette Bayardelle; Paulus herself directs. | Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St, Cambridge | 617.547.8300 | Through January 3 | Curtain 7:30 pm Tues-Wed | 2 pm [December 31] + 7:30 pm [no Christmas Eve] Thurs | 8 pm [no Christmas Day] Fri | 2 + 8 pm Sat | 2 + 7:30 pm [no evening January 3] Sun | $25-$75; $15-$65 seniors; $20 student rush
A CHILD'S CHRISTMAS IN WALES | Boston Playwrights' Theatre and Boston Children's Theatre team up to present Dylan Thomas's holiday classic in a new adaptation by Burgess Clark, with Margaret Ann Brady, Mary Callanan, Adam Freeman, Steven Gagliastro, Anne Gardiner, Meagan Hawkes, Coleman Hirschberg, Stephen Libby, Allan Mayo, Robert D. Murphy, and Linnea Schulz. | Boston Center for the Arts Plaza Theatre, 539 Tremont St, Boston | 617.933.8600 | Through December 23 | Curtain 3 + 7 pm Tues-Wed [December 22-23] | 7:30 pm Thurs [December 17] | 8 pm Fri | 8 pm Sat | 2 pm Sun | $35; $28 students
A CHRISTMAS CAROL | Stoneham Theatre re-enters the Charles-Dickens-holiday-classic lists with this version adapted and directed by Diego Arciniegas, with Nigel Gore as Scrooge, Gabriel Kuttner as Bob Cratchit, Michael Sticca as Tiny Tim, Leigh Barrett as the Ghost of Christmas Past, Gerard Slattery as the Ghost of Christmas Present, and Suzanne Nitter as Mrs. Cratchit. | Stoneham Theatre, 395 Main St, Stoneham | 781.279.2200 | Through December 27 | Curtain 7 pm Wed-Fri | 3 + 7 pm Sat | noon + 5 pm Sun | $44-$48; $40-$42 seniors; $20 students
