OPENING
LE CABARET GRIMM | The Performance LAB launches its inaugural season with this world-premiere experimental musical by former Boston Theatre Works honcho Jason Slavick that’s based on the tales of the Brothers Grimm and promises “a live band on stage, masks, large puppets, dance, and a punk sensibility.” Cassandra Marsh composed the original score and Boston Conservatory faculty member Michelle Chasse did the choreography; the cast includes Austin Auh, Rachel Bertone, Becki Dennis, Jamie Lee, Nick Peciaro, Haley Selmon, Lee Skunes, and Ally Tully. There’ll also be an opening act called “The Hubbub” that on the first weekend (April 8-10) will comprise Walter Sickert & the Army of Broken Toys, Jojo the Burlesque Poetess, and Madge of Honor. | Boston Center for the Arts Plaza Theatre, 539 Tremont St, Boston | 617.933.8600 or BostonTheatreScene.com | April 8-24 | Curtain 7:30 pm Thurs | 8 pm Fri-Sat | $35; $20 students
A CLOSER WALK WITH PATSY CLINE | Elliot Norton Award winner Bridget Beirne makes her way through “Crazy,” “I Fall to Pieces,” “Sweet Dreams,” “Walkin’ After Midnight” and many more Patsy Cline hits in this 1991 show from Dean Regan that lets us follow her from her childhood home in Winchester, Virginia, to the Grand Ole Opry, Las Vegas, and even Carnegie Hall. Tom Frey directs and also plays Little Big Man in this Fiddlehead Theatre production. | John Hancock Hall, 180 Berkeley St, Boston | 877.5483237 or backbayeventscenter.com | April 7-17 | Curtain 8 pm Wed-Fri [7 pm April 7] | 2 pm [April 17] + 8 pm Sat | 2 pm Sun | $45-$65
LIMONADE TOUS LES JOURS | Exquisite Corps Theatre stages this Charles L. Mee play about a young Parisian cabaret singer and a middle-aged American tourist who meet at a Paris café, wander through the city together, and fall in love. With Marie Polizzano as Ya Ya, Peter Haydu as Andrew, and countertenor Doug Dodson as, we gather, a singing waiter; Exquisite Corps artistic director Louisa Richards is at the helm. | Arsenal Center for the Arts, 321 Arsenal St, Watertown | exquisitecorps.org | April 1-10 | Curtain 7:30 Thurs | 8 pm Fri | 2 + 8 pm Sat | $20
STOP KISS | Bad Habit Productions presents this play by Diana Son in which “an unexpected romance between two young women is shattered when a brutal assault leaves one in a coma. The other is left to piece together the story of their friendship, and find out what her happiness is worth to her.” Anna Waldron directs; the cast includes Scarlett Redmond, Lisa M. Smith, Rory Kulz, Tom Giordano, Holly Banks, and Michael Simon. | Factory Theatre, 791 Tremont St, Boston | badhabitproductions.org | April 8-18 | Curtain 8 pm Thurs-Sat | 2 pm Sun | $15 advance; $20 doors
TRAD | Mark Doherty’s Fringe First winner at Edinburgh gets an outing from Tír na Theatre. It’s the story of how Thomas, who’s 100 years old, and his dad (yes) go looking for the son that Thomas claims to have fathered some 70 years ago. Súgán Theatre’s Carmel O’Reilly directs; Nancy Carroll, Billy Meleady, and Colin Hamell are in the cast. | Boston Center for the Arts Plaza Black Box Theatre, 539 Tremont St, Boston | BostonTheatreScene.com | April 8-24 | Curtain 7:30 pm Wed-Thurs | 8 pm Fri | 4 + 8 pm Sat | 3 pm Sun | $25; student, senior discounts
