DANCE FEVER: Frida, un Retablo, at Miracle Theatre.

STAGE

As the Knife Turns

A "murder mystery cocktail party" designed for those who can't afford $65-a-plate dinner theater. Would you like a switchblade in the back with that lemon drop? Ferris Wheel Productions at Blue Dragonfly, 1195 SE Powell Blvd., 234-2585. 6:30 pm Saturdays. Closes June 9. $12-$15.

Bad Dates

You've seen most of this one-woman show before: A single mom who runs a New York restaurant tries to get back into the dating game and—surprise!—has a series of miserable experiences. The story, jokes and fetishistic shoe fixation are the same off-the-shelf Hollywood stuff you'd find in any big-screen romantic comedy, which, considering that playwright Theresa Rebeck helped write Catwoman, isn't all that surprising. Fortunately for Portland, Carol Halstead tackles the role with gusto, turning what would otherwise be a tiresome 90 minutes of costume changes and man-hating into a pleasant enough evening filled with more laughs and joy than this script has any right to produce. BEN WATERHOUSE. Portland Center Stage at the Gerding Theater, 128 NW 11th Ave., 445-3700. Noon Thursdays, 7:30 pm Tuesdays-Saturdays. Closes June 10. $16.50-$41.50.

Chicago

[CLOSES SUNDAY] Soap star Lisa Rinna pulls out the old razzle-dazzle. Fred Meyer Broadway Across America Portland at Keller Auditorium, 222 SW Clay St., 248-4335. 7:30 pm Wednesday-Friday, 2 and 7:30 pm Saturday, 1 and 6:30 pm Sunday. Closes June 3. $23-$68.

Frida, un Retablo

[ONE NIGHT ONLY] Dañel Malán's popular play about the life of Frida Kahlo returns from tour for one last night in Portland. Miracle Theatre Group, 525 SE Stark St., 236-7253. 7:30 pm Thursday, May 31. $13-$18.

Glory Be

[OPENS FRIDAY] Molly Jaeger debuts her one-woman musical about love and romance. Performance Works NorthWest, 4625 SE 67th Ave., 971-212-2554. 8 pm Fridays-Saturdays, 2 pm Sunday, June 10. Opens June 1. $10.

Grease?

In this "30-year reunion" production, director Kirk Mouser focuses on the camp and corn in what could be a very moving and disturbing play, but that's OK—the band is great, the songs are well performed, and Amy Palomino's choreography is up to her usual high standard. But despite a few excellent performances and the killer material, the show isn't very much fun. The cast's energy drags painfully between songs, and the white hair and bald pates make it awfully difficult to suspend disbelief. The cast is obviously having a blast; if the same could be said of the spectators, this would be a great production. It isn't. BEN WATERHOUSE. Stumptown Stages at the World Trade Center Theatre, 121 SW Salmon St., 381-8686, stumptownstages.com. 8 pm Fridays-Saturdays. Closes June 30. $22-$27.

A Lesson from Aloes

[CLOSES SATURDAY] Playwright Athol Fugard's examination of the effects of totalitarian repression on human relationships is a work of terrible sadness played with stifling desperation by the excellent ensemble. BEN WATERHOUSE. Third Rail Repertory Theater at the Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center, 5340 N Interstate Ave., 235-1101. 8 pm Thursday-Saturday, 2 pm Sunday. Closes June 2. $15-$24.

Macbeth

[CLOSES SUNDAY] Director Brian Allard soaks the audience in the bloody witches' brew of Macbeth's claustrophobic remorse-world at the Shoebox Theatre and holds it under to dodge sword swipes, fake blood and delicious cookies served gratis from wenches at banquet scenes. Even a back-row seat in the small theater puts you nearly onstage in the gore of swashbuckling action. WILLIAM CRAWFORD. Northwest Classical Theatre Company at the Shoebox Theater, 2110 SE 10th Ave., 971-244-3740. 7 pm Thursday-Saturday, 2 pm Sunday. Closes June 3. $12-$18.

My Matisse

[CLOSES SATURDAY] You don't have to know the sordid details of the French master's numerous affairs to appreciate CoHo Productions' one-woman show. With the colorful brilliance of one of Matisse's bright paintings, Sandi Milne switches seamlessly between seven intense women from various stages of the painter's turbulent life. Milne captures the love, anguish and burning need that his mother, daughter, wife, lovers and larger-than-life friend Gertrude Stein each felt toward this most difficult of geniuses. Originally performed in Britain with seven actresses, My Matisse makes its world debut here as rewritten by Howard Ginsberg and directed by Robert W. Holden. WILLIAM CRAWFORD. CoHo Productions at the CoHo Theater, 2257 NW Raleigh St., 220-2646. 8 pm Thursday-Saturday. Closes June 2. $20-$23.

Oklahoma!

Corn as high as an elephant's eye, etc. Dan Murphy directs. Lakewood Theatre Company at Lakewood Center for the Arts. 368 S State St., Lake Oswego, 635-3901. 8 pm Thursdays-Saturdays, 7 pm Sundays, 2 pm June 3 and 10. Closes June 10. $26-$28.

Orson's Shadow

A rueful blend of glamour, regret and self-deception, Austin Pendleton's play gets a passionate treatment from director Jon Kretzu's cast--perhaps more than the stage-door anecdote deserves. Celebrity critic Kenneth Tynan (Michael Mendelson) stammers and struts his way through innumerable cigarettes while attempting to forge a bond between old rivals Orson Welles (Todd Van Voris) and Laurence Olivier (David Carey Foster) over a stage production of Eugene Ionesco’s Rhinoceros. All sorts of Kane is raised, the banter is as nonstop as Welles' postprandial snacking, and while the material occasionally threatens to slip into farce ("Larry" Olivier is ill-conceived as a stereotypical diva), the second act congeals agreeably around the mutual melancholy of Van Voris and Foster. But the production is stolen by Susan Maginn as Vivien Leigh. Maginn taps into Leigh's calculated mania with an ease that never feels calculated or manic. AARON MESH. Artists Repertory Theatre Main Stage, 1516 SW Alder St., 241-1278. 7 pm Tuesdays-Thursdays, 8 pm Fridays-Saturdays, 2 and 7 pm Sundays, 11 am June 9 and 16. Opens May 25. $15-$42.50.

Picasso at the Lapin Agile

[OPENS FRIDAY] Einstein, Picasso and Elvis walk into a bar. Yep, that's Steve Martin for you. Arts Equity at the Main Street Theatre, 606 Main St., Vancouver, 360-695-3770. 8 pm Thursdays-Fridays, 2 pm June 10 and July 8.

"Song of Myself"

[ONE NIGHT ONLY] One-man repertory company Johnny Stallings performs a one-hour version of Walt Whitman's transcendentalist classic. Hipbone Studio, 1847 E Burnside St., #104, 347-6869. 8 pm Thursday, May 31. $12.

Uncommon Women and Others

An episodic retelling of one year in the lives of seven seniors and one freshman at Mount Holyoke College in the early '70s, Wendy Wasserstein's first professional play is a smart, entertaining show about the terrifying transition from academic life to reality. Director Julie Akers assembled a remarkably talented ensemble of local actresses for this production, including Val Landrum as Rita, a sex-obsessed and directionless would-be writer, and Laura Faye Smith as Leilah, a nervous, hardworking student who turns to anthropology as an escape from a culture she finds stifling. There's not a weak link to be found in the ensemble, who trade barbs and reminiscences on a refreshingly minimalist (and nicely lit) set. BEN WATERHOUSE. Profile Theatre Project at Theater! Theatre!, 3430 SE Belmont St., 242-0080. 8 pm Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 pm Sundays. Closes June 17. $10-$28.

COMEDY

Barry Diamond, stand-up

The actor, singer and comedian of Bachelor Party fame, live! Harvey's Comedy Club, 436 NW 6th Ave, 241-0338. 8 pm Wednesday-Thursday, 8 and 10:30 pm Friday, 7:30 and 10 pm Saturday, 7 pm Sunday. Opens May 30. $15.

Coolio's Homeland Security System, sketch comedy

[OPENS FRIDAY] Renob Control's latest sketch show includes dance, mime and puppets. Theater! Theatre!, 3430 SE Belmont St., 750-5363. 10:30 pm Friday-Saturdays. Opens June 2. $7-$9.

Theatresports, improv

[OPENS SATURDAY] The Brody is back! Theatresports resumes for the first time since December. Brody Theater at the CoHo Theater, 2257 NW Raleigh St., 224-0688. 10:30 pm Saturdays. Opens June 2. $8.

CLASSICAL

Portland Opera Chorus

Opera choruses get no respect. While their top-dollar colleagues in the orchestra pit saw away in climate-controlled bliss, they sweat balls in heavy costumes and makeup on stage belting out high C's, usually for an inequitably low paycheck. But when opera choruses are good—and assistant conductor Robert Ainsley has trained the Portland Opera chorus scrupulously this season—they help boost a production to thrilling heights. In a benefit concert for longtime tenor chorus member James Steele, the ensemble exercises its chops in selections from Die Fledermaus, Lucia di Lammermoor and everyone's favorite Italian anthem, the "Va Pensiero" from Verdi's Nabucco. Hampton Opera Center Studio Theater, 211 SE Caruthers St., 241-1802. 7:30 Friday, June 1. $10.

On a Lighter Note

Life is not funny. Georgina Philippson's Consonare Chorale knows this but insists on finding "a humorous look at our lives in song" in this season-ending program, the humorous contents of which have yet to be announced. Parkrose United Methodist Church, 11111 NE Knott St., consonarechorale.org. 7:30 pm Saturday, June 2. $12-$18.

Something Sacred Here

The David York Ensemble—that gem of the Northwest choral community—reprises most of its deeply satisfying program from earlier this spring at the Grotto, with two added bonuses: cellist Adam Hurst and Portlander Craig Kingsbury's own Ave Maria setting. Cedar Hills United Church of Christ, 11695 SW Park Way, 1-800-838-3006. 8 pm Saturday, June 2. $20.

ViVoce

Why so many choral concerts this weekend, anyway? The women's vocal ensemble of Portland Revels offers a program of French, Italian, Welsh and Gaelic tunes. St. Michael & All Angels Episcopal Church, 1704 NE 43rd Ave., 224-7411. 7:30 pm Saturday, June 2. $10-$25.

Animated Rhythm

Remember when life was only as complicated as deciding between Cocoa Puffs and Lucky Charms when you sat down to Saturday morning cartoons? Third Angle New Music remembers it well, and it's bringing to life some of the best music from those Disney and WB cartoons of yore with a talented trio featuring TANM artistic director Ron Blessinger (violin), cellist Hamilton Cheifetz and pianist Susan Smith. First Presbyterian Church, 1200 SW Alder St., 228-7331. 3 pm Sunday, June 3. $5-$10.

Aurora Chorus

Another women's chorus presents a program titled "Standing on the Side of Love," with folksy guest musicians Claudia Schmidt, Steven Walters, Kate Power and Steve Einhorn. Not exactly clear on which side of love they're standing. Newmark Theatre, 1111 SW Broadway, 287-6721. 3 pm and 7 pm Sunday, June 3. $15-$25.

DANCE

Glory Be

That maverick performance artist Molly Jaeger premieres a new solo show incorporating storytelling, Gershwin tunes, movement and dance that's out to "console the bitter and goad the smitten." Whatever that means. Performance Works NorthWest, 4625 SE 67th Ave., 971-212-2554. 8 pm Friday-Saturday, June 1-2. $10.

Bellydance

Serpentine bills itself as Portland's "premier fire fusion belly dance duet"—a rather dubious claim to demifame. But it's headlining a decidedly awesome belly dance-athon—its fourth annual—with 10 other hips-don't-lie rump shakers, followed by an epic dance party with DJs spinning tribal belly dance music. Bring your belly rings, your beats and your badonkadonk. Outlaws, 722 E Burnside St., 233-7855. 9 pm Friday, June 1. $13.

It Could Happen...

The deliciously named dancemaker CoCo Loupe is new to the Portland dance scene. A recent appointment to University of Oregon's burgeoning dance program down in Eugene, Loupe makes her Portland debut with a one-night concert of solos and duets with dancer Christine Rice, musicmaker Christian Cherry and trumpet whiz Brian McWhorter. Conduit Studios, 918 SW Yamhill St., 614-316-7025. 8 pm Saturday, June 2. $15.