Stage listings are compiled by Cheryl Eddy. Performance times may change; call venues to confirm. Reviewers are Robert Avila, Rita Felciano, Lara Shalson, and Chloe Veltman. See 8 Days a Week for information on how to submit items to the listings.

theater
Opening

A Doll's House Geary Theater, 415 Geary; 749-2228, www.act-sf.org. $11-68. Previews Thurs/8-Sat/10 and Tues/13, 8pm (also Sat/10, 2pm). Opens Jan 14, 8pm. Runs Jan 15-17, 21-24, 27-31, and Feb 3-7, 8pm; Jan 17-18, 21, 24-25, 31, Feb 1, 4, and 7-8, 2pm. Through Feb 7. American Conservatory Theater premieres a new translation of Ibsen's 1879 drama about a suffocated wife and mother who must decide whether or not to take charge of her own destiny.

H.M.S. Pinafore Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater, 700 Howard; 978-2787, www.lamplighters.org. $25-40 (Jan 14, pay what you can). Previews Fri/9, 8pm. Opens Sat/10, 8pm. Runs Wed-Sat, 8pm (also Jan 17, 2pm); Sun, 2pm. Through Jan 18. Also: Jan 22-24, 8pm (also Jan 23, 2pm); Jan 25, 2pm, Dean Lesher Regional Center for the Arts, 1601 Civic, Walnut Creek. $27-42. (925) 943-7469. Lamplighters Musical Theatre performs the Gilbert and Sullivan classic.

Talking with Angels Actors Center of San Francisco, 3012 16th St; 389-8975, www.talkingwithangels.com. $17-25. Opens Fri/9, 8pm. Runs Fri-Sat, 8pm. Through March 6. Shelley Mitchell performs her solo play, drawn from the diaries of four young women living in Nazi-occupied Hungary.

Bay Area

Dreamgirls San Jose Center for the Performing Arts, 255 Almaden, San Jose; 1-888-455-SHOW, www.amtsj.org. $44.50-75.50. Previews Fri/9, 8pm. Opens Sat/10, 8pm. Runs Tues-Sat, 8pm (also Jan 17 and 24, 2pm); Sun, 1pm (also Sun/11 and Jan 18, 6:30pm). Through Jan 25. Frenchie Davis (American Idol) stars in the Tony-winning musical about a girl group that rises to stardom.

The Last Schwartz Marin Theatre Company, 397 Miller, Mill Valley; (415) 388-5208, www.marintheatre.org. $28-45 (after Tues/13, Tues, pay what you can). Previews Thurs/8-Sat/10, 8pm; Sun/11, 2 and 7pm. Opens Tues/13, 8pm. Runs Tues and Thurs-Sat, 8pm (also Jan 22 and 29, 1pm; Jan 17 and Feb 7, 2pm); Wed, 7:30pm; Sun, 2 and 7pm. Through Feb 8. Marin Theatre Company performs the West Coast premiere of Deborah Zoe Laufer's poignant comedy about four Jewish siblings who gather to mark the one-year anniversary of their father's death.

Ongoing

Are We Almost There? Shelton Theatre, 533 Sutter; 345-7575. $20-22. Fri-Sat, 8pm. Open-ended. Travel is the theme of this musical comedy revue.

*Cirque Do Somethin' Marsh, 1062 Valencia; 826-5750, www.themarsh.org. $5-15. Thurs/8-Sun/11, 8pm (also Sat/10-Sun/11, 3pm). Silver cat suit-clad contortionists suspended from the ceiling by their toenails are refreshingly absent from Cirque du Somethin' – a goony clown collective whose resemblance to Cirque du Soleil stops just short of its name. Ridiculous, riotous, and rough 'round the edges, clowns Moshe Cohen and Unique Derique's zany world combines traditional clowning with physical theater. Much of the show's fun resides in the contrast between the two jesters: while Derique, the flashier and more physically adept of the pair, performs yoga with a briefcase, ear-popping ham-bone body-percussion routines, and other hurly-burly stunts, the Chaplin-like Cohen (who bears more than a passing likeness to Woody Allen with his enthusiastic hair and thick glasses) pads gingerly around the stage, performing a graceful pas de deux with orange plastic bags and making beautiful music with a couple of plastic tubes. Despite one slightly impenetrable bit involving a toy truck, a hat with a dollar bill stuck on the end of a long pole, and a plush globe that hemorrhages red silk rope, Cirque du Somethin' is somethin' special. (Veltman)

'Comedy on the Square' Shelton Theatre, 533 Sutter; 522-8900. Most shows $15. Upcoming performances include "A Celebration of Silliness" with Fred Anderson (Sun, 3 and 7pm, ongoing); Oui Be Negroes in "Coal Black Tales," sketch and improv comedy (Jan 23-24, Feb 13-14, 20-21, and 27-28, 10pm); magician Eric Masters in "Artifice, Ruse, and Deception" (Jan 25, 8:30pm); and "Out the Box!" with comedians Stan Stone and Jivoni Jordan (Jan 31, 10pm).

*It Had to Be You Playhouse, 536 Sutter; 677-9596, reservations@sfplayhouse.org. $30. Extended run: Wed/7-Fri/9, 8pm. San Francisco's new Playhouse, which has hung out its shingle in the city's theater district, leads off an eclectic first season with a winning production of Renee Taylor and Joseph Bologna's offbeat romantic comedy. Struggling actress and would-be playwright Theda Blau (Kimberly Richards) narrates, via video transmission from the rosy present, the unlikely story of how she found (and cornered) love and fame in one great twofer deal by the name of Vito Pignoli (Louis Parnell), a womanizing TV producer who finds himself trapped in Theda's New York apartment one blizzardy Christmas Eve when hell freezes over. Richards brilliantly realizes the part of the irrepressibly eccentric yet vulnerable Theda, while Parnell's Vito, the dominant male dethroned, manages to grow more sympathetic as he gets progressively churlish and childlike. Artistic director Bill English, who first directed local veterans Richards and Parnell in the roles in 1988, shrewdly reprises a winning formula as this well-paced, consistently funny duet rides aloft on two deft comic performances. Indeed, the intervening years seem only to have added to the chemistry onstage and the poignancy of the heartfelt story of second chances. (Avila)

Noises Off Marines Memorial Theatre, 609 Sutter; 1-877-771-6900. $40-60. Tues-Sat, 8pm (also Sat, 2pm); Sun, 2 and 7pm. Open-ended. In Michael Frayn's popular comedy, a troupe of third-rate actors rehearse and perform a third-rate play three times. Revolving, like a typical French farce, around a multi-doored set, flying props, and the whirligig antics of a bunch of half-wit characters, this virtuosic piece of meta-theater demands absolute precision from the cast. But that's not all: with repetition being something of an obsession of Frayn's (the plot of his later play, Copenhagen, displays similar Groundhog Day tendencies), the director's challenge is to go beyond the ostinato of the action and sustain the audience's interest through every repetition. Although immaculately choreographed to milk the script's funniest moments, Richard Seyd's production often flags. As energetic as the performances are – Jane Carr is particularly adorable as daffy actress/housekeeper Dotty Otley/Mrs. Clackett – the lack of variety in the pace and pitch of the production sacrifices the subtleties of Frayn's work for a hectic melee of frenzied voices, flailing limbs, and flying sardines. (Veltman)

*Triptych Magic Theatre, Fort Mason Center, Bldg D, Marina at Laguna; 441-8822, www.magictheatre.org. $24-38. Extended run: Fri-Sat, 5 and 8:30pm; Sun, 2:30pm. Through Jan 25. On the surface, Irish novelist and playwright Edna O'Brien's Triptych is about three women in love with the same man; the three being his American wife (Julia Brothers), his teenage daughter (Tro M. Shaw), and his Irish mistress (Lise Bruneau). The object of devotion, Henry, is a famous Irish writer-playwright living in New York City, brilliant and suave, with graying temples and expensive shoes. That's what we're told about him, anyway. And as we never see him, there's no reason not to form a picture of the consummate lady-killer. What we do see, in director Paul Whitworth's engaging world premiere presented by the Magic Theatre, unfolds as part domestic drama, part poetical allegory, and part postmodern psychoanalysis. In addition to being darkly passionate, O'Brien's work is playful, and in more than one sense: it's witty, brimming with literary allusion, and, not least, built so as to call into question the very meaning of the play itself. (Avila)

Bay Area

The Death of Meyerhold Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College, Berk; (510) 704-8210, www.shotgunplayers.org. $10-18. Thurs-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 7pm. Through Jan 25. See "Soviet Drama."

performance

BATS Improv Bayfront Theater, Fort Mason Center, Marina at Laguna; www.batsimprov.com. $8-12. This week: "The Swashbuckler Musical" (Fri, 8pm); "Rock n' Roll Theatresports" (Sat, 8pm); "Sunday Players: Micetro" (Sun, 8pm).

'CAFE Presents' Off-Market Theater, 965 Mission; 896-6477, www.cafearts.com. $10. This week: "Improv Revolution," hosted by Howard Stone and showcasing long-form improvisers Tilted Frame Improv, the Babcocks, and the Legal Briefs (Thurs, 8pm); improv with the Babcocks, plus the Legal Briefs (Fri only) and Tilted Frame Improv (Sat only), plus short films by Ezra Chowaki and the Rebecca Salzer Dance Theater, live music, and more (Fri-Sat, 8pm).

'Infotainment Posse' Cafe du Nord, 2170 Market; 861-5016, www.infotainmentposse.com. Sun, 8pm. $10. See 8 Days a Week.

'SuicideGirls Live Burlesque Show' Great American Music Hall, 859 O'Farrell; 478-2277, www.tickets.com. Thurs, 9pm. $13-15. The punk rock pinups perform.

'Va Va Voom Room' Plush Room, York Hotel, 940 Sutter; 885-2800, www.vavavoomroom.com. Fri, 10:30pm. Through Feb 27. $20. The New York City-based ensemble performs a burlesque and vaudeville cabaret.

'Wicked Messenger 3.0' El Rio, 3158 Mission; 282-3325. Sun, 8pm. $5-7 (no one turned away for lack of funds). The Whoa Nellies, Danielle Willis, the Danger Brothers, Jennifer Blowdryer, and others perform at this "21st century varient kabaret."

Bay Area

'Tourettes Without Regrets' Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway, Oakl; (510) 763-1146. Thurs, 8:30pm. $6. This "underground vaudeville show" includes a poetry slam, comedians, sideshow-style performers, and more, judged by the audience.

comedy

Bazaar Cafe 5927 California; 831-5620. Tues, 8pm: "Doug Ferrari and Friends," stand-up comedy, free.

Climate Theater 285 Ninth St; 863-1076. Wed, 8pm: "An Evening with the Babcocks," $10 (runs every first Wed of the month). Mon, 8pm: "Monday Night Improv Jam," presented by the San Francisco Improv Co-Operative, $5.

Cobb's Comedy Club 915 Columbus; 928-4320, www.cobbscomedy.com. Wed, 8pm: "An Intimate Evening with ...," music series featuring Roy Zimmerman and the Pixies' Frank Black, $17. Thurs-Sun, 8pm (also Fri-Sat, 10:15pm): Kevin Pollak with Brian Malow and W. Kamau Bell, $20-25. Tues, 8pm: "All-Pro Comedy Showcase," $7.

Java Beach 1396 La Playa; 665-5282. Wed, 8pm: "Doug Ferrari and Friends," stand-up comedy, free.

San Francisco LGBT Community Center 1800 Market; 865-5633. Mon, 8pm: "Monday Night Gay Comedy," with host Julia Jackson, $8-15 (sliding scale).

'S.F. Sketchfest' Eureka Theatre, 215 Jackson; Cobb's Comedy Club, 915 Columbus; 1-866-468-3399, www.sfsketchfest.com. This week at Eureka Theatre: "Opening Night Cabaret," with 18 Mighty Mountain Warriors, Kasper Hauser, Some Kind of Cult, Totally False People, Troop!, and hosts the Sklar Brothers, (Fri, 8pm, $17); Totally Looped with Dan Castellaneta, Troop! (Sat, 8pm, $20); Totally Looped with Dan Castellaneta, Some Kind of Cult (Sat, 10:30pm, $20); the Oops Guys, Brychael, the Habit, and hosts the Meehan Brothers (Sun, 8pm, $15). At Cobb's: "Mystery Science Theatre 3000 Symposium" (Sun, 2pm, $20). See 8 Days a Week.

Uptown 200 Capp; 355-9932. Wed, 8:30pm: "Uptown Comedy Open Mic," with host Eric Peterson, free.

Bay Area

'Oh That Sit Was Funny' Comedy Club 380 Embarcadero West, Jack London Square, Oakl; (510) 228-7038. Thurs, 9pm: Dijon hosts featured performer Daniel Dugar, $10.

spoken word

Open mics take place almost every night in cafés throughout the Bay Area. If you want to perform, show up about half an hour before start time to put your name on the list. A day-by-day guide to spoken word events and featured readers:

Wednesday: BrainWash Café 1122 Folsom, S.F.; (415) 440-5530. "Spoken Word Salon," with host Diamond Dave Whitaker, 8pm, free. Canvas Cafe 1200 Ninth Ave, S.F.; (415) 504-0060, mike@westcoastvideo.net. "Open Mic Talent Showcase," 7:30pm, free.

Thursday: Coppa D'Oro Cafe 3166 24th St, S.F.; (415) 826-8003. "Poetry on the Patio," spoken word and acoustic music open mic with host Charlie Getter, 6:30pm, free. Hotel Cosmo 761 Post, S.F.; www.artworksf.com. "Poetry (and More) at the Cosmo," with hosts Jeanne Powell and Philip T. Nails, 6pm, free.

Saturday: Intersection for the Arts 446 Valencia, S.F.; (415) 626-3311, www.theintersection.org. "Against Certainty: A Reading by Bay Area Poets for Peace," 2pm, call for price.

Sunday: Cody's Books 2454 Telegraph, Berk; (510) 845-7852. Kay Ryan and Elena Karina Byrne read, 7:30pm, $2. Cafe Prague 584 Pacific, S.F.; (415) 433-3811. Mark Schwartz hosts "Dixie Cohen Memorial and Book Party," 4pm, free.