Capsule Reviews

Morning’s at Seven Paul Osborn’s lovely three-act dramedy looks at an extended family dominated by four elderly sisters and their husbands. When one sister’s shy son (Halim Jabbour) finally brings home his girlfriend of 12 years–only to break up with her and decide to keep living at home–the clan engages in a free-for-all about who will get to live in the empty house his father has built for the couple. One sister wants it for herself and her husband, who may or not be sleeping with the old-maid sister who has lived with them for 40 years. A little like Mayberry, a little like Our Town, the play calls for gentle pacing and quiet, natural acting. This company of well-seasoned actors does everything to a turn (particularly Louanne Stephens as sister Cora, the one who wonders about her hubby’s fidelity, and Angela Wilson as the dotty, clingy Ida). By the end, you’ll love them so much you’ll want to invite the whole clan over for chicken and dumplings. Through December 10 at Richardson Theatre Centre, 718 Canyon Creek Square (on Custer Parkway), Richardson, 972-699-1130. Reviewed this week. (Elaine Liner)

Queertown What’s loud, rude and loves the gays? Joan Rivers, you say? The queen of QVC would probably love Queertown, a seven-member troupe of cute, hyper-talented comic actors who perform their sketches and improvs with such panache it’s a wonder they’re not already on the here! channel. Founded last April right here in the Big Ol’ D, the group includes Paul J. Williams, Kevin Howard, Kristen McCollum, Allison Tolman, Jim Kuenzer, Todd Upchurch, Chad Cline and Angie Epley. Each gets a moment in the spotlight in a 90-minute show that incorporates scripted pieces, songs, monologues and audience participation bits. Forget everything you know and hate about comedy troupes. This one is fresh, funny and forward-thinking, right down to the breathless references to Anderson Cooper. After an appearance November 30 at Austin’s Esther’s Follies, they’ll be back December 16-17 at the West End Comedy Theatre, 603 Munger Ave., 214-880-9990. Reviewed this week. (E.L.)

Working With a pastiche of tunes from such composers as James Taylor and Stephen Schwartz (Wicked), this plotless 1978 musical, based on the big book of oral histories by Studs Terkel, offers odes to workaday professions. We hear the song of the grocery checker (Lee Jamison) and the lament of the millworker (Teresa Kiser) who suffers from arthritis from performing the same 40-second series of backbreaking movements year after aching year. Steelworker, waitress, secretary, car parker, cleaning lady–they’re all represented. Performed by the earnest but not yet sufficiently polished Labyrinth Theatre company, the production, staged in a church fellowship hall, looks as depressing as a Wal-Mart after midnight. On a gray-on-gray set–really just a boring stack of platforms–the eight singers march around stiffly in clothes so drab they blend into the walls. Only John Wilkerson, one of the cast’s two Equity performers, manages to stand out against the drear. The rest give performances that can best be described as workmanlike. And by the second act, it starts to feel like working overtime. Through December 3 at Arapaho United Methodist Church, 1400 W. Arapaho Road, Richardson, 972-231-1012. (E.L.)

Visiting Mr. Green A young man visits an old Jewish widower every week for six months. They talk, they eat kosher chicken soup, they sip tea. Wisdom is shared, secrets revealed. Sound like Tuesdays with Morrie? Well, kinda. Actually Jeff Baron’s play is more like a very special episode of Seinfeld. Ross (the marvelous Ian Leson) nearly runs octagenarian Mr. Green (Jerry Russell) down on a Manhattan street. He’s sentenced to the weekly drop-ins as community service. When Mr. Green learns that Ross is gay, he just can’t understand how a nice Jewish boy could be a fegalah. And so we start the slow, careful dance toward tolerance and acceptance via situational dramedy. The script is a lightweight, but the actors give their roles real substance and dignity. Through November 27 at Contemporary Theatre of Dallas, 5601 Sears St., 214-828-0094. Reviewed November 10. (E.L.)