THE GREAT AMERICAN TRAILER PARK MUSICAL | First brought to light at the 2004 New York Musical Theatre Festival, Armadillo Acres is a cartoon assemblage of aluminum domiciles overseen by a gossipy Greek chorus of park manager Betty, who buried her pan-whacked husband in the back yard "by hand," Lin (short for linoleum, since she was born on the kitchen floor), whose spouse is on Death Row, and Pickles, an adorably slow-on-the-uptake 17-year-old given to hysterical pregnancy. What this trio have to gossip about, often in three-part harmony, is a domestic drama involving agoraphobic Jeannie, who hasn't left her trailer since her baby was kidnapped 20 years ago, her frustrated toll-collector husband, Norbert, and recently arrived exotic dancer Pippi, who's on the lam from a psychotic boyfriend. Okay, the plot is torn from the National Enquirer, and the music by David Nehls is a pastiche of rock salted with country twang, peppered with gospel and blues, and complicated by its division into duets, trios, and quartets. But the LOL book by Betsy Kelso and Nehls's equally funny lyrics conspire to turn lowest common denominator into pretty high entertainment — an amalgam of Killer Joe and The Beverly Hillbillies that a tremendous SpeakEasy Stage cast (Leigh Barrett, David Benoit, Kerry A. Dowling, Mary Callanan, Santina Umbach, Grant MacDermott, Caitlin Crosbie Doonan), its plastic-flamingo-overseen doings humanely orchestrated by artistic director Paul Daigneault, puts across loud and clear. Forget the dumpster — this trailer trash is worthy of the endless regional recycling it seems destined to get. | Boston Center for the Arts, Roberts Studio Theatre, 527 Tremont St, Boston | 617.933.8600 | Through June 5 | Curtain 7:30 pm Thurs | 8 pm Fri | 4 + 8 pm Sat | $30-$54
JOHNNY BASEBALL | This world-premiere musical from the American Repertory Theater blends fact and fiction in its attempt to explain the Red Sox' 86-year championship drought. The Curse, we're told, goes back "to a collision of three orphaned souls: Johnny O'Brien, a hard-luck right-hander on the 1919 Sox; his idol, Babe Ruth; and Daisy Wyatt, a dazzling African-American blues singer and the love of Johnny's life." With Colin Donnell as Johnny, Stephanie Umoh as Daisy, and Burke Moses as the Babe; the creative team includes Robert Reale (music), Willie Reale (lyrics, story), and Richard Dresser (book, story), and ART artistic director Diane Paulus is at the helm. | Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St, Cambridge | 617.547.8300 or americanrepertorytheater.org | Through June 27 | Curtain 7:30 pm Tues-Thurs | 8 pm Fri | 2 + 8 pm Sat | 2 + 7:30 pm Sun | $25-$75
JULIUS CAESAR | The youngsters of Shakespeare & Company's Education Program — a group that includes Katherine Abbruzzese, Dani Cervone, Sean Kazarian, Scott Renzoni, Andy Talen, and Ryan Winkles — have been touring New England with the Bard's study of power and politics Roman-style. Now they've taken up residence in S&C's Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre, under the direction of Jonathan Croy. | Shakespeare & Company, Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre, 70 Kemble St, Lenox | 413.637.3353 | Through June 13 | Curtain 3 pm [June 11] Fri | 3 + 8 pm [evening June 5] Sat | 3 pm [June 6] or 8 pm [June 13] Sun | $16-$34
