Big Dresses: Little Women at Keller Auditorium.

STAGE

The Case of the Dead Flamingo Dancer

[CLOSES SUNDAY] This show has everything going for it—a smokin' orchestra, catchy tunes, and a cast of talented belters—except for a decent script. If this painful montage of Broadway clichés is what passes for satire these days, book me a ticket on the sincerity express. The mostly local ensemble, featuring the sultry velvet vocals of West Linn teach Annie Kaiser, makes the most of this song-and-dance murder mystery, but Broadway Rose should have known better than to choose such a mercilessly mediocre musical. BEN WATERHOUSE. Broadway Rose Theatre Company at Deb Fennell Auditorium, 9000 SW Durham Road, Tigard, 620-5262. 8 pm Fridays-Saturdays, 2 pm Sundays. Closes Aug. 20. $19-$26.

Fuddy Meers

[CLOSES SUNDAY] Only David Lindsay-Abaire could turn a harrowing tale of domestic abuse, mental illness and amnesia into relentlessly funny farce. Clackamas Repertory Theatre at the Osterman Theatre, 19600 S Molalla Ave., Oregon City, 657-6958. 7 pm Thursday-Saturday, 2:30 pm Sunday. Closes Aug. 20. $10-$15.

Lend Me a Tenor

[CLOSES SUNDAY] World-famous tenor Tito Merelli's gone missing, so the Cleveland Grand Opera drafts a twitchy production assistant to play the lead. Mount Hood Repertory Theatre at Mount Hood Community College Main Stage, 26000 SE Stark St., Gresham, 491-5950. 8 pm Friday-Saturday, 2 pm Sunday. Closes Aug. 20. $20, $15 students and seniors.

Little Women

[CLOSES SUNDAY] A musical adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's guide to Civil War-era gender stereotypes. Broadway Across America at Keller Auditorium, 222 SW Clay St., 241-1802. 7:30 pm Wednesday-Friday, 2 and 7:30 pm Saturday, 1 and 6:30 pm Sunday. Closes Aug. 20. $20-$65.

Menopause the Musical

[OPEN-ENDED RUN] This cheesy, silly, hackneyed and trite musical revue converts all the poppiest pop songs of the '60s and '70s into ballads about hot flashes, weight gain and dildos. Short on plot, character and insight, but a baby-booming good time nonetheless. Winningstad Theatre, 1111 SW Broadway, 224-4400. 8 pm Tuesdays-Fridays, 4 and 8 pm Saturdays, 2 pm Sundays. Selling six weeks out. $44.50+ (Ticketmaster).

The Merry Wives of Windsor

Shakespeare's crowd-pleasing romantic comedy relies on one of comedy's universal constants: Angry fat people are inherently funny. Oliver Hardy, eat your heart out. Portland Actors Ensemble Portland Public Parks. For times and locations, see portlandactors.com. Closes Sept. 4. Free.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

[CLOSES SUNDAY] Oberon, Puck, Bottom and the rest in yet another hippie staging of Shakespeare's otherworldly comedy. In its attempt to capture the energy of the "Summer of Love," it feels more like middle-aged suburbanites trying to recapture their youth. ANDRA BROSY. Lakewood Theatre Company at Lakewood Center for the Arts, 368 S State St., Lake Oswego, 635-3901. 8 pm Thursdays-Fridays, 7 pm Saturdays, 2 pm Sundays. Closes Aug. 20. $24, $22 students and seniors.

The Rainmaker

Home Planet Productions' hyper-realist staging of N. Richard Nash's subtly poetic comedy of love and faith in drought-ridden, Depression-era Oklahoma is as parched and joyless as the Dust Bowl. It would take a mighty hard rain to make anything grow in this soil. BEN WATERHOUSE. Home Planet Productions at the West End Theater, 1220 SW Taylor St., 1-888-287-6318. 8 pm Thursday-Saturday, 3 pm Sunday. Closes Aug. 27. $15, $10 students.

Sea Marks

[CLOSES SUNDAY] Ever wondered what happens when you write love letters to a publisher? That's right, bucko—the whole world will read them. Mount Hood Repertory Theatre at Mount Hood Community College Main Stage, 26000 SE Stark St., Gresham, 491-5950. 8 pm Friday-Saturday, 2 pm Sunday. Closes Aug. 20. $20, $15 students and seniors.

Summer in Brodavia

Summertime improv from the Brodys. Brody Theater, 1904 NW 27th Ave., 224-0688. Saturdays at 9 pm. Closes Sept. 2. $10, $7 students.

Tartuffe

An updated, politicized production of Molière's perfect religious satire. Masque Alfresco at George Rogers Park Memorial Garden, Ladd and South State streets, Lake Oswego. 6 pm Friday and Sunday. Closes Sept. 3. Free.

Theatresports

Two teams of improvisers compete while judges keep score. Brody Theater, 1904 NW 27th Ave., 224-0688. 9 pm Fridays. Closes Sept. 1. $10, $7 students.

The Two Plays Project

[SHORT RUN] Three one-act plays about violence, performed by local youth. Two Plays Project at Augustana Lutheran Church, 2710 NE 14th Ave. 8 pm Thursday-Saturday. Opens Aug. 17. Free.

CLASSICAL

PDXV Jazz QuintetConcert

With Dick Titterington on trumpet, Rob Davis on sax, Greg Goebel on piano, Dave Captein on bass, and Todd Strait on drums, you can enjoy some great jazz standards and new pieces. The Old Church, 1422 SW 11th Ave., 222-2031. 7:30 pm Wednesday, Aug. 16. Free.

Music at St. James

During each noon hour on Fridays in August, you can enjoy music for two pianos at St. James Lutheran Church in the South Park Blocks. Angela Carlson and Rebecca Jeffers play Mozart's D major sonata and selections by Beethoven, Fuchs, Ligeti and Schoenberg. St. James Lutheran Church, 1315 SW Park Ave., 227-2439. Noon Friday, Aug. 18. Donations accepted.

Northwest Oboe Seminar Recital

Seminar participants give a variety of solo and varied ensemble performances in a finale that includes English horns, bassoons and oboes. Acclaimed oboist Humbert Lucarelli plays an oboe duo with Victoria Racz, the seminar director, in a piece composed by Norman Leyden while he was working on the Mitch Miller TV show. How's that for old school? All Saints' Episcopal Church, 4033 SE Woodstock Blvd., 360-696-4084, ext. 3. 7:30 pm Saturday, Aug. 19. $5.

Sunriver Music Festival

The final two concerts of this festival feature new music and an exciting soloist. On Aug. 18, you can hear a commissioned work called Made in America by composer Joan Tower. Also on that program are pieces by Gabrieli, Cherubini and Mozart. On Aug. 19, Rachel Barton Pine, a dynamic, young redhead will fire off Beethoven's Violin Concerto, and the orchestra will play Dvorák's Serenade for Winds, Celli and Bass. Great Hall, Sunriver, Ore., 541-593-9310. 7:30 pm Friday-Saturday, Aug. 18-19. $7-$50.

William Byrd Festival

This unique festival celebrates the music of William Byrd, an English Renaissance composer who lived from 1540 to 1623. Cantores in Ecclesia, an award-winning chorus that specializes in this music, sings during the High Mass on Saturday evening after Dr. Kerry McCarthy, who teaches at Duke University, talks about Byrd's music that morning. Mark Williams, an organist from London, performs on the magnificent Rosales organ in Trinity Episcopal Cathedral on Sunday afternoon followed by a special choral evensong service. St. Patrick's Church, 1523 NW 19th Ave., 295-2811. 11 am and 7:30 pm Saturday, Aug. 19. Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, 147 NW 19th Ave. 4:30 and 5 pm Sunday, Aug. 20. Free.