PETER AND THE STARCATCHER Turns out there is a cure for Peter Pan fatigue, and it can be found in Rick Elice’s whimsical, family-friendly prequel, which explores how an unnamed orphan was transformed into The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up. There are no special effects to speak of in Spiro Veloudos’s high-spirited, low-tech, hard-to-resist production, unless you consider charm to be a special effect. Added bonus: The return to a Boston stage of the gifted Erica Spyres. (Pictured: Marc Pierre). Through June 26. Lyric Stage Company of Boston. 617-585-5678, www.lyricstage.com

LETTICE AND LOVAGE To Lettice Duffet, the eccentric tour guide incisively portrayed by Lindsay Crouse in Peter Shaffer’s idiosyncratic 1987 comedy, the world is indeed a stage and history is essentially a rough script that can only be improved by Lettice’s highly theatrical revisions. Directed by Benny Sato Ambush and costarring Marya Lowry as a preservationist who is first appalled, then beguiled, by Lettice. Through June 11. Gloucester Stage Company, Gloucester. 978-281-4433, www.gloucesterstage.com

DOGFIGHT An appealingly big-hearted musical, directed by Paul Daigneault, about the slow-building relationship between Eddie (Jordan J. Ford), a Marine, and Rose (Alejandra M. Parrilla), a waitress. One day before he ships out to Vietnam in 1963, Eddie faces a test of character: Can he transcend his blinkered macho code and expand his definition of beauty? Through June 5. SpeakEasy Stage Company at Roberts Studio Theatre, Calderwood Pavilion, Boston Center for the Arts. 617-933-8600, www.speakeasystage.com

DON AUCOIN

Don Aucoin can be reached at aucoin@globe.com.