But before Lehman Brothers, there were the Lehman brothers.

The original three siblings emigrated from Bavaria in the mid-1800s and built their business, brick by figurative brick. Their sons, and theirs, related by blood and shackled to a family history, carried on, expanding from cotton to commodities to cash to leverage.

Opening Sunday, March 6 at downtown’s Ahmanson Theatre and continuing through April 10, “The Lehman Trilogy” tells the saga of the family’s methodical rise, from the first brother’s passage across the Atlantic in steerage until the company’s march over 2008’s financial cliff.

Stefano Massini based his play on his 2016 scopic novel, both written in crisp verse. British director Sam Mendes (“American Beauty,” “Skyfall”) worked at London’s National Theatre with adapter Ben Power and the actors to shape the massive work, keeping the story literally spinning along.

In Mendes’ concept, three actors play the original three brothers, who, as ghosts, enact the 160-year history of the Lehmans in America, playing all the characters — estimated to number between 50 and 75, from babies through emeriti.

Involved from the outset was Simon Russell Beale (Falstaff in “The Hollow Crown,” Tony winner for “Jumpers”), who plays eldest brother Henry. Adam Godley (“Suits,” “Breaking Bad,” “Nanny McPhee”) followed, playing youngest brother Mayer.

Joining them in Los Angeles is Howard W. Overshown (last seen at the Ahmanson in “A View From the Bridge,” upcoming in “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”), who understudied middle brother Emanuel on Broadway.

This three-act, three-actor play surely must tax the skills and stamina of all involved. But, speaking via Zoom, the three actors seem eager to return to its rigors after a long COVID 19-caused postponement.

Looking back, Russell Beale recalls of the script’s early versions that lines weren’t attributed to characters. Mendes and the actors long wrestled with ways to unfold the story.

Godley came a year later, when 10 actors were workshopping the roles. Included among them was Ben Miles (“The Crown”), who eventually played Emanuel but who has since left for other projects.

Mendes chose those three actors, assigned a brother to each, then distributed the other characters according to their status — in the dramaturgical sense. And soon thereafter, recalls Godley, Mendes and set designer Es Devlin decided to use a revolving set.

That sculptural box on the moving stage enables the performers to jump across eras and locales. Their acting technique, however, enables them to switch ages and genders, heights, weights, personalities.

As does their one costume apiece. Each actor wears a Victorian frock coat (designer Katrina Lindsay) throughout the three acts, no matter the character he’s playing at the moment.

“We need to be able to produce and get rid of props without the audience seeing,” Godley explains. “We’ve got these incredibly specifically sized and strategically placed pockets …”

“…That don’t ruin the line,” notes Russell Beale.

“The first time I put my coat on, it felt like a glove,” adds Overshown. “All our costumes are similar but slightly different.”

“I’ve got very full skirts on my coat,” says Russell Beale, “which play a leading role in one of my characters, who’s a very pretty girl.”

“Your twirling is fantastic!” Godley says.

The actors credit the minimalist hints, like this little twirl, to Mendes’ ability and willingness to pare, from the script through the physical and vocal traits of the dozens of characters.

“We did the whole of ‘King Kong’ and another scene that involved Adam and Ben building a Ford car,” says Russell Beale. “That is no longer in the play.”

He continues, “We had a table at the side of the rehearsal room, a panic table, where the three of us would go, piles of paper going higher and higher, as the whole thing changed all the time. And the three of us would huddle ’round this table, going, ‘What the hell is going on? I don’t know how I’m going to learn this.’”

Learn it they did. Meanwhile, their collaborators grew to include Nick Powell, composing the soundscape as he responded to the actors. Luke Halls created the video design that plays throughout. And pianist Candida Caldicot still accompanies the show, “the fourth character, bless her,” says Russell Beale.

Adds Godley, “Shout out to the crew who do the timing of the revolve and all of the projections you see and the lighting.”

Then came Overshown, an American actor with a rich background in Shakespeare and new works. He had seen the play in New York. And then his chance to understudy Emanuel arrived. Hired on a Tuesday, Overshown came to work the next day.

“I was reading the play for the first time with the two other understudies, who were from before the pandemic,” he recalls. “So they were doing a line-through. They knew the show backward and forward. I lived the actor’s nightmare for six weeks. I would wake up at 3 in the morning and get up and start doing lines because I had to catch up.”

Overshown thus built his performance in reverse order, learning the lines first so he could go onstage and not ruin the night for his two colleagues, then doing the preliminary reading and research.

The actors also learned accents specific to time and place, and worked with a dialect coach in London (Charmian Hoare) and in New York (Kate Wilson). They settled on what Godley calls “a gentle Bavarian accent” as their base.

The actors also speak Hebrew, which Rabbi Daniel Bernstein taught them as it would have been spoken in 19th-century Bavaria.

But each agrees that among their favorite moments in the play is its beginning.

Shares Godley: “Those early moments when you can feel the audience getting on board, and they start to understand the language of the play — it’s a beautiful thing to experience every night.”

Russell Beale starts the play with two long speeches. “It’s a bargain between you and us,” he notes. “I will with my colleagues take you through safely. That’s an important part of our job as stage actors: to reassure the audience that you’re in safe hands.”

He adds, “My absolute favorite is when Adam plays Emanuel’s wife. Pauline is tall and slim and beautiful and rather imperious and a bit suspicious. Adam just turns up the collar of the coat, and there she is! And she comes back, so the audience goes, ‘Here’s Pauline again.’ That’s the thing that makes you bubble with delight when you see that.”

Overshown recalls, “As someone who has seen the show from the audience, the first 15 minutes or so is (Russell Beale), and the first time I saw it, I don’t think I breathed: listening to this guy who’s effortlessly telling a story. And then this other person appears, and this other.”

And then Overshown has one more favorite moment of his own: He gets to dance the Twist.

Dany Margolies is a Los Angeles-based writer.

‘The Lehman Trilogy’

Where: Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles

When: Previews Thursday, March 3-Saturday, March 5; Regular performances March 6-April 10; 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays; 1 p.m. or 7 or 7:30 p.m. Sundays

Length: 3 hours, 20 minutes, including two intermissions

Suitability: Teens and adults. Children under 6 will not be admitted to the theater.

Tickets: $35-$225

COVID-19 protocols: Center Theatre Group requires guests to wear masks at all times in the venue. CTG also requires all audience members to provide proof of full vaccination along with a government- or education-issued photo ID upon arrival. Booster shots will be required for anyone who is eligible. Per the guidelines set by the CDC, “full vaccination” means that at least 14 days have passed since receiving the final dose of an FDA-authorized or WHO-listed COVID-19 vaccine. There is no waiting period required following a booster shot. Please note that these health and safety measures are subject to change, at Center Theatre Group’s sole discretion and based on evolving health and safety guidance and conditions.

Information: 213-972-4400, CenterTheatreGroup.org

And then, shortly before the 2 p.m. curtain, they heard the announcement dreaded by all but firmly expected by those with a bleaker view of our world: The performance was canceled.

Breakthrough cases of COVID-19 had showed up among the cast when the actors were tested, sensibly, immediately before showtime. The production quickly notified ticketholders that the production would take a hiatus through Jan. 23 and that refunds would be automatically paid — though patrons at the Dec. 24 show were, according to their Instagram complaints, still waiting for their refunds to process.

But the public is apparently starving for its fix of “Hamilton,” Lin-Manuel Miranda’s ingenious rap-based recounting of our nation’s early history. So the Pantages production is currently scheduled to reopen Jan. 26 and run through March 17.

And according to the theater’s website, should any of those shows be canceled, patrons holding tickets will receive an email (hopefully timely), and “payment will be automatically refunded to the original method of payment.”

Meanwhile, the Pantages’ sister theater, the Dolby, is planning to mount “The Simon & Garfunkel Story” this weekend, but as of this week was offering seats “for as low as $35.50.”

‘Million Dollar’ protocols

Two other large theaters in the Los Angeles area plan January openings. La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts intends to proceed with its upcoming production of “Million Dollar Quartet” despite the current spike in COVID cases.

“We’re owned and operated by a city, and we follow all the protocols exactly,” said BT McNicholl, the theater’s producing artistic director. “We do whatever is official.”

Last year, in the theater’s normal course of business, it scheduled this show for mid-January, one of its customary slots for its five-show season.

“Like a lot of people,” said McNicholl, “we thought we’d be out of the woods by then. We’re still going ahead. There’s no reason not to.”

Indeed, audiences showed up in the fall, when La Mirada ran “Mamma Mia!” McNicholl reports it was the theater’s sixth-highest grossing show of all time, “so, we bucked the odds.”

In the event the city decides to close “Million Dollar Quartet,” or the producers feel it’s unsafe for the cast, said McNicholl, the show will shutter, and ticketholders will be notified by email or robocalls.

However, for those audiences who believe they can chance it, two hours can speed thrillingly by in this recounting of the actual one-time recording session that gathered rock ’n’ roll legends Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins for the first and only time. The musical boasts a book by Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux, and Tim Seib directs this production.

Everybody’s talking about safety

Up the road, Center Theatre Group remains optimistic about the run of “Everybody’s Talking About Jamie,” currently scheduled for Jan. 16-Feb. 10 at the Ahmanson. A product of London’s West End, “Jamie” is an uplifting tale of an accepting mother and her teenage son who has dreams of being a drag queen despite naysayers and bullies. Dan Gillespie Sells composed the music, with book and lyrics by Tom MacRae. Jonathan Butterell directs.

Meghan Pressman, managing director and CEO of Center Theatre Group, expressed absolute certainty that CTG’s production will enjoy a COVID-free run.

“What we see happening in our field is because of backstage issues,” she said of the increasingly frequent closings or postponements of productions, from Broadway through our town’s smaller houses. “We feel confident that (backstage contagion) will not be a factor, based on collaboration and understanding of protocols with this production team.”

In addition, she said, the production works with The Music Center and Los Angeles County on audience safety, continuing to examine and follow the best-advised protocols without causing audiences “whiplash” when protocols change.

And, should the show need to cancel or postpone, CTG will notify ticketholders by robocalls or emails, “or by smoke signals if we have to,” she says, with one exception: CTG has no means of notifying those who purchased tickets from third-party vendors.

Dany Margolies is a Los Angeles-based writer.

January plays

‘Hamilton’

Where: Hollywood Pantages Theatre, 6233 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood

When: Jan. 26-March 27: 8 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sundays

Length: 2 hours, 30 minutes, including intermission

Suitability: Ages 10 and up; children under 5 will not be admitted to the theater

COVID-19 policy: Ticketholders must wear masks and have ID and proof of full vaccination (boosters not required at this time). Those 12 and under who are unvaccinated or those with medical or religious reasons not be vaccinated must submit a negative PCR test taken within 48 hours of the curtain time or rapid antigen test taken within 12 hours of curtain. At-home tests will not be accepted.

Tickets: $100-$1,290

Information: 800-982-2787, hollywoodpantages.com

‘Everybody’s Talking About Jamie’

Where: Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles

When: Jan. 16-Feb. 20: 8 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sundays

Length: 2 hours, 40 minutes, including intermission

Suitability: Teens and adults. Children under 6 are not admitted to the theater.

COVID policy: All audience members must wears masks and be fully vaccinated; booster shots are highly recommended and will be mandatory starting in February. Unvaccinated guests, including children or those citing a medical or religious reason, must show proof of a negative PCR test taken within 48 hours of curtain time or a rapid antigen test taken within 24 hours. At-home tests will not be accepted.

Tickets: $30-$145

Information: 213-972-4400, www.CenterTheatreGroup.org

‘Million Dollar Quartet’

When: Jan. 22-Feb. 13: 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 1:30 and 6:30 p.m. Sundays (no performance Jan. 23 at 6:30 p.m.)

Where: La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, 14900 La Mirada Blvd., La Mirada (ample free parking adjacent to the theater, but enter theater on north side only)

Tickets: $17-$79; subject to change

Length: Approximately 2 hrs., no intermission

Suitability: Preteens and up

COVID-19 policy: Adults and children of all ages must show proof of full vaccination or a negative COVD-19 test taken within 48 hours (for PCR tests) or 24 hours (for antigent tests). At-home tests not accepted.

Information: 562-944-9801 or 714-994-6310, www.lamiradatheatre.com

And while you’re solving them alone, you might, if you’re a rabidly competitive type, wonder how fast and how well others are solving them.

Ideally suited to us folks, Geffen Playhouse’s Geffen Stayhouse program presents — via the Zoom online platform — the world premiere of “Inside the Box,” an evening with puzzle-maker David Kwong.

Along with Kwong, we solve various brainteasers, from the familiar (including Spoonerisms, such as turning “sweater bag” into “better swag”) to what Kwong calls Combi-Nations (finding the name of a country hidden markedly within a series of words, such as in this parenthetical).

Between puzzles, Kwong offers a brief history of puzzle-making, from the ancient Archimedes and his tangram (straight-sided shapes that fit into a square) through the esteemed Will Shortz, crossword puzzle editor for The New York Times.

If you plan on purchasing a ticket to this evening, the essentials are a laptop or desktop computer with a working camera (it’s probably hard to see the festivities on a phone), a printer (or access to one, and be sure your ink hasn’t dried out in the seven months of sheltering in place) and a Zoom account (relatively easy to set up).

Each show is limited to 24 “participants” (can be two or three people per screen). Ticket holders will have received a link via email, through which a packet of puzzles must be downloaded and printed before the show.

Just prior to “curtain” here, we’re given a chance to grab a beverage. Smart money says few if any of us went for an adult beverage. We came in hopes of being the quickest solver in the Zoom room. Or at least not always the slowest. Good gosh, there are some quick minds out there. And they logged in from all across the country.

But the gentle, genial Kwong makes sure everyone gets into the spirit, participates somehow, becomes a full-fledged member of a community that loves the almost meditative feel of mentally wrestling a clever problem. For most of the show, he picks from volunteers. At one point, you will be asked to unmute your microphone and say a word out loud.

Our time with Kwong feels different, educational, and best of all like a spa day for our brains, which feel paradoxically quieted and polished and have that “got away from it all for a few hours” sensation after our time here. But even better than that may be the kinship we feel for our fellow puzzle-lovers, including the surprising number of children online with us.

For this night, the rest of the world is free to think outside the box. Those of us gathered together via Zoom to solve anagrams and acrostics will happily stay inside the box. As Kwong says, “Human beings are at our most creative when we are constrained.”

Dany Margolies is a Los Angeles-based writer.

‘Inside the Box’

Rating: 4 stars

When: Through Jan. 3; 6 p.m. Tuesdays, 8 p.m. Wednesdays, 6 p.m. Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays, 3 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays (all times Pacific)

Where: Online via the Zoom platform at www.geffenplayhouse.org

Length: 85 minutes

Suitability: Nothing “unsuitable” for children, but probably of more interest to ages 10 and up

Tickets: Start at $75 per household

Information: 310-208-2028, www.geffenplayhouse.org

What don’t we miss? For one thing, that stale preshow reminder to unwrap our candies before the show. Heck, what with the sheltering in place, we have been opening our candies left, right and center.

And now, thanks to online theater, we can even open our candies during the performance.

That’s because, refusing to fade into distant memories, theaters are producing works online. These come to us through the online-meeting platform Zoom, or via the theater’s website or on YouTube. In other words, we’re watching on a computer screen.

That’s not theater, you say? It’s all we have right now. Let’s find the creativity, the humanity, the connection in it as best we can.

So, with gratitude to the theatermakers who nimbly adapted to a new form, here is an array of online productions for October.

‘In-Zoom’

The Old Globe

Those of us sheltering have made ourselves surprisingly busy. Those continuing to work have found ourselves as busy as ever. But if you can snag 15 minutes from your day, or night, log on to The Old Globe’s website or its YouTube channel. By the way, that’s San Diego’s Old Globe, or as some of us refer to it, “our” Old Globe.

The Globe is streaming “In-Zoom,” a world premiere play, written by Bill Irwin and starring Irwin (Broadway’s “Fool Moon” and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”) and Christopher Fitzgerald (Broadway’s “Waitress ” and “Young Frankenstein”), who, though they’re framed by computer screens, fill their virtual space with a bit of hilarity, a bit of poignancy and a lot of sly playfulness.

If within the last six months you’ve been on a Zoom meeting, you’ll recognize all the glitches and gaffes. If you’ve never seen a Zoom meeting, well, this is pretty much what it’s like. And then, Bill and Christopher seem to morph into Vladimir and Estragon — the two characters from Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot” who, locked in an eternal wait, try to find ways to connect and to lift their spirits out of their bleak circumstances.

When: Available now

Where: Online at www.theoldglobe.org

Length: 15 minutes

Suitability: Ages 12 and up, but probably not of interest to teens

Tickets: Free

Information: www.theoldglobe.org

Thinking Shakespeare Live!

The Old Globe

Also thanks to The Old Globe, earlier this year its Artistic Director Barry Edelstein taught a fascinating bit of Shakespeare via the internet, assisted by three fine classical actors: Grantham Coleman, Megan Ketch and Richard Thomas.

Fortunately, the Globe recorded these sessions. Now the Globe offers, on demand, this glimpse into the actors’ world.

Edelstein uses lines from various of Shakespeare’s plays, some familiar to us and some not, to help his actors, and us, understand the sometimes poetic, sometimes straightforward, language. Gently explaining grammar, deftly investigating psychology, all with warmth and humor, Edelstein makes a science out of the art of acting.

When: Available now

Where: Online at www.theoldglobe.org/edp-pages/2020/thinking-shakespeare-live/?id=39384

Length: 1 hour and 20 minutes

Suitability: Ages 12 and up, or younger if your child is studying Shakespeare or acting

Tickets: Free

Information: www.theoldglobe.org

‘The Ballad of Emmett Till’

Fountain Theatre

In 1955, Emmett Till was 14 years old, lively and open hearted. And he was Black. Visiting relatives in very-small-town Mississippi, Till was accused of “offending” a white woman by — the testimony varied — whistling at her, flirting with her, touching her hand. And then her husband and his half-brother kidnapped Till from his bed, beat and mutilated this child, murdered him and dumped his body in a river. A jury acquitted the two men, igniting the then-young Civil Rights movement.

In 2010, Hollywood’s Fountain Theatre presented a stunning, shattering, woke-inducing production of Ifa Bayeza’s “The Ballad of Emmett Till,” directed by Shirley Jo Finney.

In 2020, in the age of online theater, Finney and the Fountain have created a new version, bringing back the entire 2010 cast, in what the theater calls a “thinking beyond-the-Zoom-Room format.” From their own homes, in front of their computers, the actors re-created their characters; then their performances were combined onto one screen, incorporating backgrounds and props, using old-school film techniques and new Zoom creativity.

This recording respectfully, powerfully, evokes the legend of Till’s last journey.

When: On demand through Dec. 1

Where: Online at www.fountaintheatre.com

Length: 93 minutes

Suitability: Ages 12 and up. Includes depictions of brutality and bits of “bad” language.

Tickets: $20 (video rental fee)

Information: www.fountaintheatre.com

REDCAT’S New Original Works Festival

REDCAT

Have you wanted to see what REDCAT is up to but dreaded the evening trip into Downtown Los Angeles, whether by car, bus or train? This year, its New Original Works Festival, now in its 17th year, launches online, opening with three disparate pieces.

In “This is for Davia,” dancer-actor-musician Davia Spain will ask existential questions, guiding her audience to find the answers.

Writer-actor Simone Moore’s “The Divorce Comedy: a spiritual study” will explore a black immigrant woman’s experience in marriage and divorce, told through dance, song, film and text.

And performance artist Alex Alpharaoh will set his “O-Dogg: An Angeleno Take on Othello,” in Los Angeles’ Koreatown during the city’s 1992 Uprising. In Alpharaoh’s reworking of the Shakespeare classic, the powerful leader O-Dogg, newly married to Desirée, succumbs to the jealousy with which Eye-G poisons him.

All three works will be presented each night.

When: 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 8-Saturday, Oct. 10:

Where: Online at www.redcat.org/festival/now2020

Length: 90 minutes for all three works

Suitability: Teens and adults

Tickets: $8 Cal Arts students, $12 other students and REDCAT members, $15 general admission

Information: 213-237-2800; redcat.org

‘Inside the Box’

Geffen Playhouse

We’ve heard of hyphenates, most commonly writer-director or secretary-treasurer. But have you ever heard of a magician-cruciverbalist? That is, a magician and someone who constructs crossword puzzles.

That unusual hyphenate is David Kwong. Yes, the hyphenate is unusual, but so, it seems is Kwong. For a magician, he’s unstuffy and uncocky, displaying an even-keeled presence, interacting with only those in his audience who affirmatively volunteer.

And, for a crossword maker, he just seems so young.

Geffen Playhouse’s Geffen Stayhouse program presents his world premiere “Inside the Box” via the Zoom platform.

Each show is limited to 24 participants. Before the show, ticket holders will receive a link via email, through which a packet of puzzles can be downloaded and printed, then worked on with Kwong and, hopefully, solved, during the live performance, while Kwong tells stories of puzzles of yore and now.

Sharpen your pencils, don your thinking caps. For this Geffen production, however, sweatpants are probably OK too.

When: In previews. Runs Oct. 8-Nov. 8: 6 p.m. Tuesdays, 8 p.m. Wednesdays, 6 p.m. Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays, 3 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays. (All times Pacific)

Where: Online via the Zoom platform at www.geffenplayhouse.org

Length: 75 minutes

Suitability: Nothing “unsuitable” for children, but probably of more interest to ages 10 and up

Tickets: $55-$65 per household

Information: 310-208-2028, www.geffenplayhouse.org

A Mexican Trilogy: ‘Faith,’ ‘Hope’ and ‘Charity’

Latino Theater Company

Over the last decade, Evelina Fernández penned the plays “Faith,” “Hope” and “Charity” for Los Angeles’ renowned Latino Theater Company. The trilogy surveys several generations of the Morales family, starting in World War II Arizona and ending in 2005 with the death of Pope John Paul II.

In 2016, the company produced the three plays as a trilogy, enabling audiences to see them over a week, or all together on Saturdays.

The productions were video-recorded. Now, Latino Theater Company will stream them, one per week, followed the next night by an online conversation about the work. Two nights later, LTC offers an online reading of a new work, beginning a creative cycle anew.

Just by virtue of being on a screen, the vibrant artistry of director José Luis Valenzuela’s staging might not stun as it did in person, and the addition of subtitles to the videos are intended to enhance the sound, because who would have predicted we’d be watching all theater online in 2020. But the trilogy is a must-see for its reflection of, and place in, American history.

When: All events begin at 7 p.m. Pacific Time

Tuesday, Oct. 6: Archival video presentation of A Mexican Trilogy Part 1: “Faith”

Wednesday, Oct. 7: Online conversation about “Faith”

Friday, Oct. 9: Online reading, “Unmasking New Works Reading Series, Script #2”

Oct. 13: Archival video presentation of A Mexican Trilogy Part 2: “Hope”

Oct. 14: Online conversation about “Hope”

Oct. 16: Online reading, “Unmasking New Works Reading Series, Script #3”

Oct. 20: Archival video presentation of A Mexican Trilogy Part 3: “Charity”

Oct. 21: Online conversation about “Charity”

Where: Online at www.thelatc.org

Length: Each play runs approximately 90 minutes

Suitability: Ages 12 and up

Tickets: Free

Information: 866-811-4111, www.thelatc.org

‘The Journey’

The Broad Stage

Missing travel? Later this month The Broad Stage will begin an online run of Scott Silven’s “The Journey.” The interactive piece will take 30 participants per show on a virtual journey to mystical, rural Scotland, but also into our own memories and imaginations.

Silven, an illusionist, mentalist and storyteller, wrote the piece with Rob Drummond, and it comes to us directed by Allie Winton Butler.

But, originally conceived and performed as a live in-person show, it now has been technologically transformed for the online experience. Broadcast-grade hardware has changed the visuals, and the theater-makers suggest that the soundscape is now best-experienced through headphones or earbuds.

Siubhal sàbhailte! (Safe travels.)

When: 7 and 8:30 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays, 5 and 6:30 p.m. Sundays, Oct. 20-Nov. 1

Where: Online at www.thebroadstage.org

Length: 50 minutes

Suitability: Ages 14 and up

Tickets: $55 per screen (prices may fluctuate). Your household may watch together, however, the theater recommends a single viewer per screen.

Information: 310-434-3200; Email: patronservices@thebroadstage.org

‘She Kills Monsters: Virtual Realms’

Laguna Playhouse

Updated for the COVID age, reworked for online performances but hopefully still showcasing playwright Qui Nguyen’s pulsating energy, “She Kills Monsters: Virtual Realms” will continue to reach young audiences, thanks to Laguna Playhouse Education, Youth Theatre and Outreach.

It tells of a high schooler dealing with the death of her younger sister. Finding her sister’s Dungeons & Dragons notebook, our heroine delves into that imaginary world and in the process unleashes her own inner geek-warrior.

And wouldn’t each of us like to do that right about now?

When: Oct. 9-Oct.18: performance available for viewing beginning noon Oct. 9 through 10 p.m. Oct. 11; then, noon Oct. 16 through 10 p.m. Oct. 18 (all times are Pacific Time)

Where: Online at lagunaplayhouse.com

Length: 90 minutes

Suitability: Ages 10 and up; created for young audiences

Tickets: $20 per household

Information: 949-497-2787, lagunaplayhouse.com

Present tickets at the door, visit the loo, find the seats, glance through the program.

At last the lights would dim. And we’d get the swoosh of a curtain rising, or a burst of lighting on the playing area. For the avid theatergoer, this was a sacred ritual.

All that is past, at least for now. If, however, we take great care, we will live like that again.

But now, in spring 2020, storyteller and magician Helder Guimarães wanted to share a bit of his life with us. And so, while we shelter in place, he comes to us via the online-meeting platform Zoom (in other words, on a computer), in a 70-minute world premiere event he has titled “The Present,” presented by the Geffen Playhouse’s Geffen Stayhouse program.

Of course the title is a play on words. We are living in unique circumstances. We are learning to abandon old ways, temporarily or not, and accept new ways. We should be appreciating the people we’re sharing this time with. We should seek to understand them.

But also, after we have purchased a ticket to “The Present” (only one per household is needed), we’ll receive an actual, not virtual, present in the mail. We are told to open the outer packaging to find a smaller brown box tied with a bit of twine. That smaller box is not to be opened until Guimarães gives us the OK.

To experience “The Present,” we need a Zoom account (free to set up and use, but we’re giving yet another company our contact information). Ethernet may provide a more stable connection than Wi-Fi would. We will be seen by everyone else at our performance. On the evening reviewed, living rooms were tidied up and hair was patted down.

Tickets must be purchased at least 10 days in advance. Each show is limited to 25 households.

A small spoiler: The box sent by mail includes a deck of cards, needed so we don’t damage our favorite solitaire deck.

About 15 minutes before the show we’re ticketed to, we click the link the Geffen has emailed to us, and we’re connected with the theater.

Then, instead of a curtain rising, Guimarães shows up on our computer screens. He is a charming magician. He’s also an evocative storyteller.

He and his director, Frank Marshall, have shaped the evening around a young Helder’s quarantine at home after a car accident, where his mysterious grandfather tended him. The preteen found solace in a deck of cards, which led to a lifelong gift for sleight of hand and the continuation and enhancement of magic traditions. It also led to a lifelong respect for the grandfather he once thought so odd.

We carefully watch Guimarães’ hands, in a close-up via the internet. Right alongside him, we shuffle and cut our decks, enjoying an unusually tangible experience “at the theater.” Our cards are in our hands, on our tables. How he has managed to remotely read and manipulate our cards is beyond our comprehension.

Our time with him could be longer, not for more games but to be able just to listen to his stories. They evoke our memories of our childhood pastimes, family members who shared that pastime, the way we connected in long, long past days.

For those of us who like to disappear at the theater, to not be part of the show, to not see other audience members while we’re watching the performer, Zoom is anathema. And at least on the evening reviewed, for a few moments, Guimarães’ network lagged (or so a message from Zoom assessed the blame). We’re still in early days of this new — hopefully temporarily — normal.

But to feel the exhilaration of watching a live performance, to be tucked into comfort by a storyteller, to share laughter and appreciative applause with strangers, is once again possible.

There is no waiting in line to exit parking. There is no drive home. We are home, with our thoughts. The performer has come home with us, sharing our space this time.

The quiet (if we’re lucky) of our homes has become the hushed moment when the lights dim or curtain rises. The poignancy of storytelling, the excitement of a climactic moment in the performance, the reactions of our fellow “theatergoers” — these now hang in our homes. Indeed, theater ghosts have now been invited here. Welcome, ghosts. If we’re interested in a continuing relationship with theater, you’ll be here for a while.

Dany Margolies is a Los Angeles-based writer.

‘The Present’

Rating: 4 stars

When: Through Aug. 16; 8 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays; 3 and 8 p.m. Saturdays; 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays

Where: Via the Zoom platform; 25 participants per show

Logistics: Tickets must be purchased at least 10-14 days in advance of any given performance date

Length: 70 minutes, no intermission

Suitability: Ages 6 and up

Tickets: $85 per household

Information: 310-208-5454, www.geffenplayhouse.com

‘Book of Mormon’

At the Ahmanson through March 29, “The Book of Mormon” rings our chimes yet again.

The blasphemous, vulgar 2011 musical written by Trey Parker and Matt Stone (creators of “South Park”) and Robert Lopez (co-writer of “Avenue Q”) actually makes a point or two, ultimately noting each of us just wants a better life — though some of us have the worst ways of pushing people toward our ideas of what makes a better life.

We meet a dozen or so Mormon elders, actually young men, clean-cut and ready to head across the globe on missions to deliver the message of Mormonism. The charismatic Elder Price (Liam Tobin) is paired up with the problematic Elder Cunningham (Jordan Matthew Brown), and the two are assigned to Uganda, where the villagers are plagued by AIDS, suffer genital mutilation and are seemingly to forever be under the so-called leadership of an ego-driven General (Corey Jones).

Ah, but the lovely Nabulungi (Alyah Chanelle Scott), will convince her friends and neighbors that faith brings hope, and hope can return joy to their lives. What she could possibly see in Arnold Cunningham will undoubtedly give hope to the nerdiest in the audience.

Parker and Casey Nicholaw co-direct again, meaning the show is the same as in its previous two tours through the area — with a few exceptions. Cunningham is more Jerry Lewis geeky. The Mormon’s district leader in Uganda, Elder McKinley (Andy Huntington Jones), is less militantly gay. And our view of the world has shifted. This time around, we just might be noticing all the lying, all the spreading of misinformation, all the delusion we allow ourselves.

The musical numbers remain crisp and memorable — including the Act 1 highlights “Turn It Off,” an ode to repression, “Sal Tlay Ka Siti,” Nabulungi’s sweet expression of hope, and “Hello,” the show’s iconic doorbell-ringing opening. Act 2 features the Ugandans’ exhilarating showstopper “Joseph Smith American Moses” and Elder Price’s soaring (and increasingly ridiculous) “I Believe.”

The characters want a chance to heal the world. But pretty much to a man, each one needs to heal himself first, in this musical about faith, hope and our easy acceptance of the ludicrous.

‘Frankenstein’

At the Wallis Annenberg Center through March 7, “Frankenstein” gets a stunningly visual world premiere by Los Angeles-based performance company Four Larks.

Physical theater, live music and narration blend to adapt Mary Shelley’s 19th century story about scientific enquiry, moral responsibility and the human heart.

Mat Sweeney created, staged and composed the show, part action-adventure and part Gothic romance, using 12 performers, each doubling as a musician. Jesse Rasmussen wrote the libretto, and Sebastian Peters-Lazaro designed and choreographed the piece.

Shelley (Claire Woolner) narrates while her characters sing arias in melancholic tunes, the performers giving unconventional vocalizations. Costume designer Lena Sands accentuates the “body parts” element of the story, turning the performers into the results of scientific experiments.

Victor Frankenstein (Kila Packett) builds his creature (Max Baumgarten), including a heart. And, as with the rest of us, that heart can break. The unnamed creation watches a family that’s held together with respect and love, which encourages the creature to want to learn and improve himself. But the ignorantly brutal rejection by the family turns him into the monster that fiction has popularized.

Baumgarten’s physicality stuns, some of it resembling the most-complex of Martha Graham technique. Against the scenic design depicting man’s thirst for knowledge, his creature struggles against physical boundaries and emotional surges.

The lighting in this production can get harsh, blasting directly into the audience, and the narrative is often difficult to follow. But the creativity in assembling this piece is worthy of Shelley’s premise that all of us have the potential to make change but must do it wisely.

‘The Winter’s Tale’

At A Noise Within through April 11, “The Winter’s Tale” remains one of Shakespeare’s unclassifiable plays. It begins as a tragedy. Leontes, King of Sicilia (Frederick Stuart), baselessly rages in jealousy, believing that his wife, the pregnant Hermione (Trisha Miller), is having an affair with his lifelong friend Polixenes, King of Bohemia (Brian Ibsen). Leontes sends Hermione to prison. Fortunately, she has the support of the wise Paulina (Deborah Strang), and Polixenes has the support of Leontes’ courtier, Camillo (Jeremy Rabb).

Hermione is then tried in court. Even the god Apollo’s judgment that she and Polixenes are absolutely innocent doesn’t put a dent in Leontes, who pretty much proclaims in all-caps and several exclamation points that he is indisputably in the right. A wintery chill dampens and darkens life in Sicilia and will do so for as long as Leontes operates by ego only.

Sixteen years later, Perdita (Angela Gulner), the daughter Hermione bore, rescued by a fatherly Shepherd (Alan Blumenfeld), is living in Bohemia, beloved of Polixenes’ son, Florizel (Alexander De Vasconcelos Matos). The play has lightened considerably, these characters seeming to live in perpetual springtime.

Geoff Elliott directs, streamlining the script. Frederica Nascimento’s scenic design makes the Sicilian scenes densely somber, the characters living within walls of thick black stone. Brightness and congeniality fill the Bohemian scenes, as the characters dance in pastoral beauty while life blooms all around them.

Leontes realizes his unrestrained jealousy has ruined his life and the lives of too many others. A happy ending, beautifully rendered, reminds us, as do all these productions this week, that we can’t always control others so we must learn to control ourselves.

Opening soon: A Noise Within brings “Alice in Wonderland” to the stage March 7-April 18 (previews begin March 1) and the Geffen will house “Man of God,” March 12-April 12 (previews begin Tuesday, March 3).

Dany Margolies is a Los Angeles-based writer.

If you go

‘The Book of Mormon’

Rating: 4 stars

When: Through March 29: 8 p.m. Tuesdays–Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sundays (no 6:30 p.m. performance on Sunday, March 29)

Where: Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles

Length: 2 hours and 30 minutes, including intermission

Suitability: Mature teens and adults (for sexuality, blasphemy and indelicate language)

Tickets: $45–$229 (subject to change)

Information: 213-972-4400, www.CenterTheatreGroup.org

‘Frankenstein’

Rating: 3 stars

When: Through March 7: 8 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays, 2:30 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Sundays

Where: Lovelace Studio Theater at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills

Length: 75 minutes, no intermission

Suitability: Teens and adults

Tickets: $60

Information: 310-746-4000, www.thewallis.org

‘The Winter’s Tale’

Rating:  3 stars

When: Through April 11: repertory schedule, see theater website

Where: A Noise Within, 3352 E. Foothill Blvd., Pasadena

Length: 2 hours and 40 minutes, including intermission

Suitability: Teens and adults

Tickets: $25-$70; group and rush tickets available

Information: 626-356-3100, ext. 1; www.anoisewithin.org

‘Revenge Song’

At the Geffen in Westwood, “Revenge Song” feels like a comic book come to huge, colorful life. Written by Qui Nguyen (playwright of “Vietgone”), created by the Vampire Cowboys (darlings of downtown Manhattan), it recounts the life of real-life Julie d’Aubigny (Margaret Odette), “the single greatest duelist-slash-singer-slash-degenerate youth of 17th-century France.”

Her father (Noshir Dalal) won’t let little Julie work because she’s a girl, then relents and provides zero oversight, leaving her in the perverted hands of the repulsive Louis (Tom Myers).

Albert (Eugene Young) adores her, but she has eyes only for the relatively logorrheic Emily (Beth Hawkes) and the scabrous owner of the opera house, Madame de Senneterre (Amy Kim Waschke).

Though “Revenge Song” speaks to gender equality and spotlights its love-who-you-love theme, its style overpowers its substance. But what style! Robert Ross Parker’s direction is big and splashy, as if each moment featured a giant “Kapow!” bursting from the stage, with a guerrilla edge that belies the scrupulously detailed fight direction (Maggie Macdonald and Tim Brown).

Self-admittedly sexual, violent and sacrilegious, it’s also satirical and entertainingly visual. The scenic design (Nick Francone) passes for decaying old Paris and contemporary urban America.

A day at the local mall (puppet design by David Valentine), a dash through a nunnery (the cast cleverly plays multiple roles), and a creatively multimedia trip through the sewers of Paris and up the side of a skyscraper (Kaitlin Pietras and Jason H. Thompson’s projection designs in conjunction with a handheld camera) rocket the characters and the audience through grand adventures.

All is backed by music from and reminiscent of pop’s 1980s and ’90s, plus much spitted rhymes (composer Shane Rettig), as Julie finally writes her revenge song against the men who wronged her.

At the show’s end, the audience might feel primed to take on a swashbuckling adventure of our own.

‘Kinky Boots’

Over at Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, the 3–D Theatricals production of “Kinky Boots” likewise shows how fathers can lay a lifetime influence on their progeny, likewise told with visual vibrancy, and likewise featuring thigh-high leather boots.

With book by Harvey Fierstein, music and lyrics by Cyndi Lauper, based on the film by Geoff Deane and Tim Firth, it tells of insecure Charlie (Lukas Poost), who inherits the family shoe factory, and super secure Simon, better known as drag queen Lola (Cornelius Jones Jr.), who has learned to stand firm, literally and figuratively, on very high heels.

Homophobia divides the factory, and perhaps a bit of the audience. With persistence and common sense born of an appreciation for our shared humanity, Lola can fix that. In particular, Don (Javier Garcia) spits his disdain for Lola’s version of manhood. Under Lola’s thoughtful unpacking of maleness, indeed humaneness, Don learns the potent lesson of acceptance.

By the show’s end, the workers will band together, firmly and willingly, to produce a line of high heels for men. Those men are Lola’s dancing Angels, many of whom will stand over 6 feet tall in their new, dazzling, kinky boots.

John Tartaglia directs, and while the production lacks some of the interplay and subtext of the 2014 national tour, it certainly feels every bit as heartwarming and pointed as ever. It also boasts David Rockwell’s Broadway set and Gregg Barnes’ happily flamboyant Broadway costume designs.

Linda Love Simmons’ choreography blends 1970s dances with a few Beyoncé moves, all of which suits the disco-flavored tunes. The conveyor-belt number remains the thrilling conclusion of Act One.

At this show’s end, the audience might feel like dancing the night away.

‘The Father’

Up the road at Pasadena Playhouse, “The Father” tells its crushing story without benefit of the other shows’ big musical numbers, though its visuals are equally remarkable.

Alfred Molina gives an utterly masterful performance as André, a man succumbing to dementia.

Florian Zeller’s “Le Père,” translated by Christopher Hampton, unspools itself as if from André’s mind. We share André’s disorientation. We share his distrust of his own senses. We may share his shame that we can’t recognize the people around him, recall recent conversations, even know where we are.

Jessica Kubzansky directs, using suspense and a bit of gaslighting to keep our minds on the story but also ensuring that we feel every emotion running through André in this work that hurtles crisply yet unfolds imperceptibly.

Keep one eye on Molina. He begins the play as a confident, sure-footed, well-groomed adult. As the story moves forward, he skillfully disintegrates. A walk becomes less certain, a hand clutches at clothes and then helplessly trembles. His thighs contract at bad news, his expressive eyes alternate between fear and disbelief.

To give nothing else away: People around him are played by the fascinating cast of Sue Cremin, Robert Mammana, Michael Manuel, Lisa Renee Pitts and Pia Shah.

Keep the other eye on the visuals. David Meyer’s set begins as a beautifully proportioned Paris apartment paneled in whitewashed wood. At first subtly, and then increasingly obviously, it changes. Note the morphing upstage window, the slowly emptying bookcases, a painting over the dining-room table that almost indiscernibly changes hues and shapes, all while John Zalewski’s sound design grows ever more disturbing.

“The Father” is one of the most-affecting, subtly wrenching, conversation-provoking pieces to grace our stages in too long a while.

Coming up

“Frankenstein” at the Wallis, Feb. 18-March 1; “The Book of Mormon” at Ahmanson Theatre, Feb. 19-March 29; and “The Winter’s Tale” at A Noise Within, through April 11.

Dany Margolies is a Los Angeles-based writer.

If you go

‘Revenge Song’

Rating: 3 1/2 stars

When: Through March 8; 8 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays; 3 and 8 p.m. Saturdays; 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays

Where: Gil Cates Theater at Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Ave., Los Angeles

Length: 2 hours and 10 minutes, including intermission

Suitability: Teens and adults with a tolerance for street language and sexual situations

Tickets: $30-$120 ($10 rush for students with ID)

Information: 310-208-5454; www.geffenplayhouse.org

‘Kinky Boots’

Rating: 4 stars

When: Through March 1; 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays (no Feb. 15 matinee, added show Feb. 27 at 7:30 p.m.)

Where: Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, 12700 Center Court Dr., Cerritos (ample free parking adjacent to the theater)

Tickets: $20-$90 plus processing fee (student and group discounts available) Length: 2 hours and 45 minutes, including intermission

Suitability: Teens and adults

Information: 714-589-2770, 3dtshows.org

‘The Father’

Rating: 4 stars

Where: Pasadena Playhouse, 39 S. El Molino Ave., Pasadena

When: Through March 1: 8 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays

Tickets: $25–$101, prices subject to change

Running time: 90 minutes, no intermission

Suitability: Mature teens and adults

Information: 626-356-7529; www.pasadenaplayhouse.org

That early decade is where the 1998 Broadway musical “Ragtime” begins. Based on E.L. Doctorow’s novel, with gorgeous score by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens, book by Terrence McNally, it tells three intertwining stories about the American experience of the time: for African-Americans, Jewish immigrants and wealthy white suburbanites.

“Ragtime” is currently at Long Beach’s Carpenter Center through Feb. 23, where Musical Theater West gives it a thoughtful, detailed production that discomfits yet inspires.

Mother (Jessica Bernard) and Father (Michael Scott Harris) live a comfortable upper-class life in New Rochelle, N.Y., along with their Little Boy (Malakai Basile), Grandfather (Barry Pearl) and Mother’s Younger Brother (Matthew Malecki). Father has built his wealth thanks to patriotic fervor for flags and fireworks.

All would be well, if only all would stay exactly the same for them. But the battle outside raging will soon shake their windows and rattle their walls.

In Harlem, celebrated pianist Coalhouse Walker Jr. (Terron Brooks) has caught the attention of sweet Sarah (Brittany Anderson). She bears his son, then hides the baby in Mother’s Garden. Living up to her name, Mother sweeps the baby into her arms, and then does the same for Sarah, the start of a blended family.

Through New York Harbor come Jewish immigrants Tateh (Gary Patent) and his daughter, Little Girl (Maya Somers). Vowing to overcome poverty (he does) and prejudice (he does not), Tateh plies his artistry on the streets of a brutal Manhattan and then on the sunny Atlantic City Boardwalk.

Coalhouse Walker doesn’t have a chance to rise far. Thuggish Willie Conklin (Garrett Marshall) and his gang vandalize and then sink Walker’s car. No amount of trying to follow the rules gets justice for Walker, whose situation goes from tragic to horrific.

Director Paul David Bryant stages the work seamlessly, simply, harmonizing the story’s harsh realities with its supernatural elements. The presence of celebrities seems normal, as Booker T. Washington (Dedrick Bonner), Emma Goldman (Hannah Rose Kidwell), Evelyn Nesbit (Monica Ricketts) and Harry Houdini (Lance Galgon) touch the characters’ lives.

But the most interesting character might be Little Boy, whom Bryant sits downstage center, letting him watch history unfold while predicting our future. Presumably, Little Boy will live through two world wars, his eyeglasses saving him from perishing overseas but allowing him the sight of a seer.

Kevin Depinet’s happily simple scenic design, basically consisting of two mobile iron staircases with occasional other furniture and doorways, gives the glory to Kevan Loney’s anything-but-simple projection design and Paul Black’s creative, generous lighting design.

Under Brian P. Kennedy’s music direction, each song builds, peaking where needed, particularly those sung by Brooks and Anderson. Brooks gives a noticeably intimate portrayal of Walker, a real, somewhat gentle, very thoughtful man rather than a raging figurehead as seems to have become customary in productions of this show.

Swirling around the main characters, the ensemble beautifully handles Bryant’s choreography, which abstracts dances of the era.

“Ragtime” ends in hope, with a well-blended family, representing America as most of us would like to see it, full of mutual respect and support, regardless of race, creed and color.

It also leaves us with the feeling that the future of musical theater will be safe in the hands of the youngest generation, including young Basile, with his crystalline enunciation and well-supported voice.

Further, amid all the loss and tragedy, the show’s weep-inducing moments include the final scene and curtain call, when little Somers joyfully shepherds a tiny toddler (Adon Coleman, appearing as the son of Sarah and Coalhouse), one young person helping shape another younger person, with attention and affection.

Dany Margolies is a Los Angeles-based writer.

‘Ragtime’

Rating: 4 stars

When: Through Feb. 23: 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 1 p.m. Sunday (added performances Feb. 13 at 8 p.m., Feb. 15 and 21 at 2 p.m., Feb. 16 at 6 p.m.)

Where: Carpenter Performing Arts Center, 6200 Atherton, Long Beach

Length: 3 hours and 5 minutes, including intermission

Suitability: Ages 10 and up; contains strong language, gunshots, depictions of violence

Tickets: $20-$240 plus Carpenter Center fee (prices may fluctuate)

Information: 562-856-1999, www.musical.org

Yet the supposedly lighthearted entertainment, “Arsenic and Old Lace,” indeed entertains, thanks to highly skilled direction and a superbly capable cast. The other production, “The Last Ship,” just can’t overcome its weaknesses.

At the Ahmanson through mid-February, “The Last Ship” features songs by 1980s pop icon Sting, sung by a stage full of multitalented musical theater performers and Sting.

It centers on a shipyard in northeastern England during the Thatcher era, where a customer has reneged and thousands of jobs will be chopped. Two love stories — a younger couple and an older one — round out the plot lines.

This musical’s book, revised by Lorne Campbell based on the original book by John Logan and Brian Yorkey, is tolerably predictable. After sorting out their interpersonal quarrels, the steadfast shipbuilders will stand together, resisting the tide of changing economics and the likes of Margaret Thatcher (here Baroness Tynedale, played by Annie Grace with Thatcher’s cadence, clad in her signature peacock blue).

Meanwhile, a young lad (Joseph Peacock) who ran away to sea, abandoning his equally young sweetheart (Jade Sophia Vertannes), returns as an adult (Oliver Saville), finding that said sweetheart (Frances McNamee) burns with anger at this lengthy discardment. So does the daughter they have (Sophie Reid).

Meanwhile, the yard foreman (Sting) and his wife (Jackie Morrison) must face the foreman’s fatal illness while steering the workers through precarious strategies.

Sting’s voice has remained poetically raspy, though it befits his punk-pop legacy more than it befits musical theater. His acting chops lag behind those of his fellow cast members. It speaks well of him, however, that he surrounds himself with powerful singers.

The Tonys nominated this musical for its orchestrations, which reportedly used 12 instruments including a Northumbrian smallpipe. At the Ahmanson, the national tour tones it down, with far fewer instruments, minus the bagpipe but keeping the melodeon (accordion). The songs sound, for the most part, like lilting sea shanties, with quite an impressive number of power ballads for the female characters.

Give the show’s multistory scenic design this: It improves the sight lines from the audience. It also makes great use of projections of stormy seaside skies splashed with glints of sunlight. “Designer” credit is given to 59 Productions.

The heart of “The Last Ship” is in the right place, but its rudder points in the wrong direction.

Meanwhile, at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, “Arsenic and Old Lace” has a reprehensible heart, but this production is so flawlessly mounted that its audiences just might ignore the disgraceful aspects of the script.

Joseph Kesselring’s play was undoubtedly meant to entertain, and it probably did in 1939 when it was written, telling of two elderly sisters who murder potential boarders in their Victorian home and then bury the bodies in their cellar, all on the stated grounds that the men must have been lonely.

Since the 1930s, our culture has learned that cold-blooded murder is all-too common and that murder victims are indeed found buried under houses.

The sisters have three nephews, two of whom have morbid bents. Watching this play, we’re made uncomfortable by a supposed comedy featuring deeply mentally ill characters.

But, gosh, scenic designer John Iacovelli has done lavish, detailed, evocative work on this house, with a three-story staircase, charming alcoves, stained-glass windows, wrought-iron balusters and a sunny view onto the neighboring cemetery.

At least we can gaze around the house if the play begins to flail.

It doesn’t, even for a second. Director Casey Stangl has cast such fine actors so impeccably, and provided so many delightful comedic touches, we’re left admiring the work of all involved.

Portraying the two homicidal aunties of this Brewster family, Carol Mansell serves up a gallery of facial expressions, and Lynn Milgrim spikes the giggles with her girlish little skip when a new victim is at hand.

One by one, the Brewster brothers appear. Actor by actor, the performances go from strength to strength. These men would rouse our emotions as Shakespearean heroes. With voices, physicality, detailed character work and well-schooled comedic chops, they turn ugliness into comedic gold.

James Lancaster plays Teddy Brewster, the brother who thinks he’s Teddy Roosevelt, burying bodies in the basement he believes is the Panama Canal.

Ty Mayberry is Jonathan Brewster, a mass murderer escaped from prison and on the run with his plastic-surgeon buddy (Ed F. Martin). (Jonathan is said to currently resemble Boris Karloff, a funnier bit when Karloff played the role on Broadway.)

Jamison Jones is Mortimer, not actually homicidal though he has killed a few Broadway productions with his pen. Mortimer is a theater critic.

Mortimer’s new fiancée, Elaine, gets a period-perfect portrayal by Rachel Seiferth.

A surprise at the curtain call gets the last laugh. And then, at least one of us was a little abashed that we had forgotten about how disturbing the story is.

As one theatergoer put it on his way out after the bows, “That was so wrong on so many levels.” He, however, like many of us, couldn’t stop laughing.

Dany Margolies is a Los Angeles-based writer.

If you go

‘The Last Ship’

Rating: 2 stars

When: Through Feb. 16: 8 p.m. Tuesdays–Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sundays (also 2 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 13; no 6:30 p.m. show Feb. 16)

Where: Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles

Length: 2 hours and 55 minutes, including intermission

Suitability: Teens and adults

Tickets: $35–$199 (subject to change)

Information: 213-972-4400, www.CenterTheatreGroup.org

‘Arsenic and Old Lace’

Rating:  3 1/2 stars

When: Through Feb. 16: 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays-Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays

Where: La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, 14900 La Mirada Blvd., La Mirada (ample free parking adjacent to the theater)

Tickets: $15-$89 (“subject to change”)

Length: 2 hours and 20 minutes, including intermission

Suitability: Ages 10 and up (children under 3 will not be admitted into the theater)

Information: 562-944-9801 or 714-994-6310, www.lamiradatheatre.com

She posits her theses, without conclusions. Not that anyone can resolve the issues she raises to the satisfaction of all.

At least her title is perfectly apt. She, or rather the performer playing her onstage at Mark Taper Forum through February, talks to the audience about this embattled armature on which our nation was built, as well as about how it has shaped her life.

In 2017 when her play premiered, Schreck starred in it, taking it to Broadway in 2019. Her appearances have since been granted to Maria Dizzia — an actor of great warmth, with the skills to make the material seem improvised and the capacity to keep a large audience thoroughly engaged in her ideas, whether she’s playing Heidi at a lively age 15 or speaking as a thoughtful adult.

In high school, Heidi earned her college tuition by winning Constitutional debate competitions across the United States, coached by her mother. The adult Heidi speaks to us from memory, ushering us back to 1989 and the American Legion Hall in Wenatchee, Wash.

If you’re an avid theatergoer and you observe in the program that Rachel Hauck designed the set, you may wonder when this square, paneled room hemmed in by scores of black-and-white photos of legionnaires will split apart and become, say, Independence Hall, or the floor of the U.S. Senate, or a spaceship coming to rescue the greatly distressed among us.

No, we’re visually rooted in this room. Fortunately, Schreck’s and Dizzia’s storytelling skills transport us. We learn of her long family history of spousal and child abuse and the bravery needed to break the patterns. We learn of her great-great-grandmother’s immigration status, as a “good” immigrant from Germany, though purchased from a catalog. We learn of an abortion against the background of then-new U.S. Supreme Court cases.

The American Legion was genius in this respect: asking young debaters to state what the Constitution means to them.

Unfortunately, the lecturing portions of Schreck’s script feel like just that: an evening at a noted-speakers series, a college 101 class, program notes to be read before a play.

This impression is not helped by Heidi’s request, when she first appears onstage, that all in the audience “be” the white men who were the legionnaires at her youthful debates. In that case, are we to be much comforted by her assertions that “person” did not include women nor racial minorities when the Constitution was written?

Another version of “men” appears in the character of deliciously grumpy World War II vet, played with juicy timing and charm by Mike Iveson. This vet emcees the debate, unable to hide his pride in the well-informed young Heidi. Iveson later morphs into “himself,” a modern-day gay man, constantly facing tests of his basic human rights yet still uncertain of his Constitutional rights.

Heidi eventually brings to the stage a teen debater of today. On opening night, Rosdely Ciprian played her (Jocelyn Shek alternates in the role). Ciprian speaks exquisitely, even at top speed, with the flawless enunciation and projected volume too often lacking on today’s stages.

Oliver Butler directs. The debate sections seem freshly improvised. The shaping and timing of the production work relatively well — despite a few false endings and several bits that could be edited out.

At the end of “Constitution,” the teenage debater randomly selects one audience member to act as jury foreperson and decide whether we keep or jettison the U.S. Constitution. As with our 12th Amendment, at least thus far, the popular vote does not decide the result. The foreperson randomly selected (on the night reviewed, luminous performer Jennifer Leigh Warren, who happened be sitting in the front row) is instructed to make the decision without consulting any of the other nearly 750 theatergoers in the audience.

If that’s Schreck’s sneaky little way of spotlighting another of the Constitution’s currently shaky underpinnings, she’s as clever as we would have predicted of her 15-year-old self.

And yet, an odd epilogue closes the production. The two women sit downstage center, as “themselves,” answering questions submitted by the previous night’s audience. The teen answers a variant on “How do you see yourself 50 years from now?” Despite her lofty, legalistic, socio-political debating earlier, the teen dreams of a teenly basic need: a car.

Dany Margolies is a Los Angeles-based writer.

‘What the Constitution Means to Me’

Rating: 3 stars

When: Through Feb. 28: 8 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays, 2:30 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sundays

Where: Mark Taper Forum, 135 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles

Running time: 1 hour and 55 minutes, no intermission

Suitability: Teens and adults

Tickets: $59-$175 (Prices are subject to change)

Information: 213-628-2772, CenterTheatreGroup.org