Currently Playing on Stage, July 10-16

Adam Baum and the Jew Movie. This amusing and probing 1999 comedy by Daniel Goldfarb (of Theatre 40's recent Modern Orthodox) pits a would-be assimilated Jewish movie mogul (Richard Kind) in 1946 against a gentile, leftist screenwriter (Nicholas Brendan), whom he has hired to write a movie about American anti-Semitism. The writer wants to make the film more Jewish; the mogul wants to sell tickets in Kansas. Their dispute coincides with the bar mitzvah of the mogul's cosseted son (Gregory Mikurak). Kind masterfully reveals the man's defensive insecurities behind his brusque exterior. Paul Mazursky directs. Hayworth Theatre, 2509 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. (323) 960-4442. plays411.com/jewmovie. Closes July 20. (Don Shirley)

American Tales. See Stage column. 

As You Like It. Kevin Kern's production of Shakespeare's comedy uses late-1960s-ish songs and costumes. Dressing melancholy Jaques (Eric Zivot) as a troubled Vietnam vet is a creative touch, and the play's wrestling match is one of the most brutal I've seen, with the help of a couple of beanbag chairs wielded as weapons. But generally the ensemble looks drab and anonymous. Brief visual impersonations of '70s political figures feel strained. A big unit set takes up too much of the stage, nearly erasing the play's distinctions between court and countryside, and the layout of the venue can be distracting. Kingsmen Park, Cal Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks. (805) 493-3455. kingsmenshakespeare.org. Closes July 13. (DS)

As You Like It. Ellen Geer's alfresco staging is set in 19th century America - indicated primarily by songs and costumes. Touchstone looks and talks like a Shakespeare-quoting dandy from Mark Twain. Women play the traditionally male roles of Jaques and Adam, but Geer rejects any topical political gestures. The blithe mingling of blacks and whites in this Reconstruction-era forest is ignored as effortlessly as the plot's many improbabilities. Instead, the era is used simply to point out the expansive universality of Shakespeare's themes and language. As I sat in a dappled glen on a perfect Sunday afternoon, watching Willow Geer's Rosalind and Mike Peebler's Orlando, I was again reminded of just why this play is staged so often. Theatricum Botanicum, Topanga. Sunday afternoons. Only. (310) 455-3723. theatricum.com. Closes Sept. 28. (DS)

Dog Sees God. Charles Schulz's iconic Peanuts children become turbulent teenagers in contemporary America. Actually, these characters are close to Schulz's, but use different names, because Bert V. Royal's irresistible speculations are unauthorized by the Schulz estate. C.B. (Joseph Porter) ponders the death of his longtime pooch, his unexpected attraction to the now-loathed piano prodigy Beethoven (Wyatt Fenner) and the continuing metamorphoses of his sister (Andrea Bowen). The formerly blanket-addicted Van (Jaden Leigh) has found substitutes. Transformed Matt (Nick Ballard), whose story resembles that of Pigpen, has reacted to his past by becoming germ- and homo-phobic. Tricia (Christine Lakin) and Marcy (Lauren Robyne) dominate girl power in the absence of the locked-up Lucy...er, Van's Sister (Megan McNulty). In the hands of director Nick DeGruccio (who played Snoopy at the Colony), it's cool homage more than parody. Hudson Backstage, Hollywood. (323) 960-7774. plays411.com/dogseesgod. Closes July 20. (DS)

In On It. Daniel MacIvor's shape-shifting play uses only two actors (Josh Gordon, Blake Anthony) to portray a playwright and his ex-lover as they rehearse a new play, as well as the shell-shocked characters in the play. The performances are intriguing under Michael Van Duzer's direction, but the play changes perspective and time frame so often that the audience seldom feels "in on it." Solving the puzzle is more interesting than the puzzle itself. The Production Company at Chandler Studio Theatre, 12443 Chandler Blvd., Valley Village. (800) 838-3006. theprodco.com. Closes July 12. (DS)

It's Only Life. A revue of witty, introspective cabaret songs by John Bucchino (A Catered Affair), mostly about singles' affairs of the heart, is deftly staged by Daisy Prince, with a mostly golden-throated and interpretively savvy cast: Joan Almedilla, Jessica Phillips, Billy Porter, Lucas Steele, Jamison Stern. Brent Crayon's music direction and a sharp design team create a spare but snazzy ambience. Rubicon Theatre, 1006 E. Main St., Ventura. (805) 667-2900. rubicontheatre.org. Closes July 13. (DS) 

Klüb. Nine desperate performers are forced to audition their over-the-top shtick for an unseen tyrant (director Michael Schlitt) in Mitch Watson's satire. They aim not to get into a show but to escape the audition room, which is more expansive and atmospheric than in the 1992 original. Energetic performances enliven an inherently repetitive script. Actors' Gang at Ivy Substation, 9070 Venice Blvd., Culver City. (310) 838-4264. theactorsgang.com. Closes July 19. (DS)

The Last Seder. A reunion of squabbling siblings and their mates at the home of their aging/dying parents is one of American drama's most overused premises. Jennifer Maisel's play is distinguishable from a dozen others primarily by the use of seder rituals to make dramatic points. Joseph Ruskin plays the dementia-stricken patriarch and Jenny O'Hara his indomitable wife. A few of the seder-related moments register strongly in Joseph Megel's staging for Ensemble Studio Theatre-LA and Greenway Arts Alliance, but the play is afflicted by too many characters and too many short scenes in which two or three characters converse while everyone else freezes in place - a telltale sign of a would-be screenplay. Greenway Court Theatre, Fairfax district. (323) 655-7679. greenwayarts.org. Closes July 27. (DS)

The Lost Plays of Tennessee Williams. In Jack Heller’s staging of the writer’s most explicitly gay-themed script, And Tell Sad Stories of the Deaths of Queens, a ’50s French Quarter designer (Brian Foyster) tries to seduce a ruggedly straight sailor (Chris Rydell). The brief curtain raisers are Mister Paradise and The Palooka. All are well done. Coast Playhouse, West Hollywood, (323) 860-7300. lagaycenter.org/boxoffice. Closes July 20. (DS)

Louis & Keely Live at the Sahara. A jazzy jolt of adrenaline surges through this extraordinary bio-musical about the postwar lounge duo that consisted of the jittery dervish Louis Prima (Jake Broder) and his deadpan-wielding wife Keely Smith (Vanessa Claire Smith). The two primary actors wrote the show for themselves, but it gallops past the limitations of most showcases and star bios to become an exquisite evocation of the joys and the sorrows of a performance-obsessed life, staged by Jeremy Aldridge. The stars and Dennis Kaye's onstage, seven-man band bring breathless revelations to 16 oft-heard standards. Sacred Fools Theater, near LACC. (310) 281-8337. sacredfools.org. Closes July 27. (DS) 

Macbeth. Theatricum Botanicum offers a vigorous, sprawling Shakespearean spectacle at its rustic outdoor venue, co-directed by Ellen Geer and Chad Jason Scheppner. I counted 10 witches, stirring up bubbles and troubles as night descends on Topanga. The Birnam Woods look right at home on the hillside, and the trees approach Dunsinane from all directions, including the rear of the house. Jim LeFave's Macbeth is a blustery bantam cock, and his wife (Susan Angelo, alternating with Melora Marshall) a convincing shrew. Theatricum Botanicum, Topanga. (310) 455-3723. theatricum.com. Closes Sept. 28. (DS) 

My Antonia. See Stage column. 

Point Break Live! The New Rock Theater takeoff on the 1991 Hollywood thriller Point Break adds a tsunami of comedy to the original story, about an FBI agent (who’s cast nightly from the audience and gets to read cue cards) investigating a gang of bank-robbing L.A. surfers. Wicked caricatures and bare-bones action sequences abound. Dragonfly, Hollywood, (866) 811-4111. theatermania.com. (DS)

ShAme. Once it moves beyond the first 10 awkward minutes, Mark Governor's rock opera adaptation of Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter achieves unexpected power. Katrina Lenk's Hester Prynne and her lover, Mark Luna's Dimmesdale, remain close in spirit to the originals, although a sea change has overcome Danny Shorago's young-tough take on the cuckolded Chillingworth. Janet Roston's Wednesdays-only staging could use a real theater and a live band. King King, Hollywood. (323) 960-5775. plays411.com/shame. Wednesdays only. Closes July 16. (DS) 

Shipwrecked! The Victorian fabulist Louis de Rougemont made England believe that he had been shipwrecked and had lived for years among aborigines. Donald Margulies's cheerful but hardly gullible take on this colorful character returns to the area after its premiere last year at South Coast Repertory, with an improved ending. Bart DeLorenzo again directs, with the original cast. Gregory Itzin is slyly ingratiating as Louis, and Melody Butiu and Michael Daniel Cassady are amazingly chameleonic in the other roles. Geffen Playhouse, Westwood. (310) 208-5454. GeffenPlayhouse.com. Closes July 27. (DS) 

Spring's Awakening. Los Angeles Theatre Ensemble presents its own adaptation of Frank Wedekind's 1891 play about sexual truth and consequences among teenagers in repressed Germany. Unfortunately, no teenagers appear to be in Evan Drane's cast, which is drawn from the ranks of the ensemble. The text sounds more natural than did the recent Production Company version, but both of these are mere preludes to the main event - the prize-winning musical version due at the Ahmanson in the fall. Powerhouse Theatre, Ocean Park. (310) 396-3680 x3. latensemble.org. Closes July 26. (DS)

This Contract Limits Our Liability: Read It! A young couple (Jonas Dickson, Kelsey Weeden), trying to spice up their sorry marriage by advertising for spouse-swappers, end up with a pair (Bill Robens, Julia Prud'homme) who plan to commit joint suicide instead of adultery. The plot twists of Joshua Fardon's dark comedy are original but seldom convincing; the shock value feels force-fed. Kiff Scholl directed an able cast, including Andrea Ruth as a couples counselor, but blocked sight lines of the action that's close to the floor are problematic. Theatre of NOTE, Hollywood. Wednesdays-Thursdays. (323) 856-8611. theatreofnote.com. Closes August 7. (DS)

The Voice of the Prairie. John Olive's 1986 play glowingly evokes the early days of radio and the power of oral storytelling. In 1923, a Nebraska farmer (Tom Dugan) is recruited by a pioneer broadcaster (Michael Matthys) to bring his tales of his youthful adventures roaming the country with a blind runaway (Ashley Bell) to the airwaves. As we see in flashbacks to 1895, in which Matthys plays the future farmer, the pair of wayfarers lost touch, but the radio programs eventually reunite the two. The narrative verges on tall tale-telling, but David Rose's staging encourages the willing suspension of disbelief. Colony Theatre, 555 N. 3rd St., Burbank. (818) 558-7000. colonytheatre.org. Closes July 27. (DS)

Wicked. The musical steamroller about the formative years of Oz's Wicked Witch and Glinda, powered by Joe Mantello's propulsive staging. Stephen Schwartz's score and Winnie Holzman's script (from Gregory Maguire's novel) are simultaneously tongue in cheek and heart on sleeve. Pantages Theatre, 6233 Hollywood Bl, Hollywood, (213) 365-3500. BroadwayLA.org. Call for performance schedule. Closes Jan 11. (DS)