LETTICE AND LOVAGE Lindsay Crouse and director Benny Sato Ambush, who collaborated on “Driving Miss Daisy’’ in 2013, team up again in a comedy by Peter Shaffer (“Amadeus’’) about a guide who spices up her tours of an inconsequential British mansion with tall tales, triggering the ire of her employer. Also featuring Marya Lowry, Mark S. Cohen, and Janelle Day Mills. May 19-June 11. Gloucester Stage, Gloucester. 978-281-4433, www.gloucesterstage.com
SHOW BOAT A cast of 50, backed by a 27-piece orchestra, will tackle the classic Jerome Kern-Oscar Hammerstein II musical, with Jeremiah James as Gaylord Ravenal and Kim Corbett as Magnolia Hawks. Co-directed by Meg Fofonoff and Stacey Stephens, this will be the first production in a new partnership between Fiddlehead Theatre Company, which formerly performed in Dorchester’s Strand Theatre, and Citi Performing Arts Center. June 22-July 3. Fiddlehead Theatre Company. Citi Shubert Theatre, Boston. 866-348-9738, www.citicenter.org
THE T PARTY Natsu Onoda Power, who directed her “Astro Boy and the God of Comics’’ at Company One Theatre two summers ago, returns to helm another New England premiere of her work. “The T Party’’ consists of eight loosely connected scenes, plus songs and videos, that add up to a journey across the spectrum of gender identity. July 15-Aug. 13. Company One Theatre. Roberts Studio Theatre, Calderwood Pavilion, Boston Center for the Arts. 617-933-8600, www.companyone.org
THE STONE WITCH An aspiring young writer is assigned to help a brilliant but tormented children’s author — played by Judd Hirsch (“Taxi,’’ “Ordinary People,’’ “I’m Not Rappaport’’) — finish what might be his last book. World premiere of Shem Bitterman’s drama is directed by Steve Zuckerman. July 20-Aug. 20. Berkshire Theatre Group in association with Darlene Kaplan Entertainment and Brierpatch Productions. Fitzpatrick Main Stage, Stockbridge. 413-997-4444, www.berkshiretheatre.org
PEERLESS A dark comedy by Jiehae Park, inspired in a roundabout way by “Macbeth,’’ about the single-minded zeal of twin sisters in a Midwestern high school who pull out all the stops to beat their competition for one of the scarce spots in a prized institution described only as “The College.’’ Directed by Louisa Proske. July 21-Aug. 6. Barrington Stage Company, St. Germain Stage, Pittsfield. 413-236-8888, www.barringtonstageco.org
FUNNY GIRL The role of Fanny Brice, eternally associated with You-Know-Who, will be played by the talented Shoshana Bean (“Wicked’’) in this biomusical about Brice’s ascent from a Brooklyn music hall to the Ziegfeld Follies to worldwide fame. Bradley Dean plays Nicky Arnstein, the dashing gambler with whom Fanny falls in love. James Brennan directs and choreographs, with music by Jule Styne and lyrics by Bob Merrill. June 7-19. North Shore Music Theatre, Beverly. 978-232-7200, www.nsmt.org
THE KRITIK World premiere of a comedy by playwright-actress Brenda Withers about a small-town theater critic in provincial 19th-century Russia who causes a ruckus when he tries to publish his first genuinely honest review. Directed by Withers, with Jonathan Fielding as the critic. Also in the cast: Stacy Fischer, Molly Kimmerling, Robert Kropf, and Alex Pollock. July 14-Aug. 6. Harbor Stage Company, Wellfleet. 508-514-1763, www.harborstage.org
AND NO MORE SHALL WE PART Jane Kaczmarek and Alfred Molina costar in the US premiere of a drama by Australian playwright Tom Holloway about a long-married couple who are faced with an excruciating decision when the wife becomes terminally ill. Aug. 10-21. Williamstown Theatre Festival, Nikos Stage, Williamstown. 413-458-3200, ext. 17, www.wtfestival.org
SOTTO VOCE In this drama by Nilo Cruz, who won a Pulitzer Prize for “Anna in the Tropics,’’ a Jewish researcher from Cuba, portrayed by Jaime Carrillo, makes contact with a famed author, played by Annette Miller, who was originally from Berlin. The researcher is seeking information about an ocean liner — carrying hundreds of German Jews in flight from the Nazis — that was turned away by Cuba and the US in 1939. The author’s first love was aboard that boat, and painful memories begin to surface. Directed by Daniel Gidron. Aug. 18-Sept. 11. Shakespeare & Company, Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre, Lenox. 413-637-3353, www.shakespeare.org
NOTES FROM THE FIELD: DOING TIME IN EDUCATION The writer-performer Anna Deavere Smith, a pioneer of documentary solo theater who has created acclaimed works like “Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992,’’ “Fires in the Mirror,’’ and “Let Me Down Easy,’’ turns her attention to the relationship between the US education system and the growing problem of mass incarceration. Aug. 20-Sept. 17. American Repertory Theater. Loeb Drama Center, Cambridge. 617-547-8300, www.americanrepertorytheater.orgDON AUCOIN
Don Aucoin can be reached at aucoin@globe.com.
