Play On! — A New Virginia Theatre will bring the world’s longest-running musical to its home stage at the Theatre at Ix.

Four County Players will start its first concert series at 8 p.m. Saturday with the music of John Carden and Greenwich Swing Time at Barboursville Community Center.

Hoping to sneak in one more vacation break before the official end of summer? Opera fans can make a quick escape on Sunday with Italian food and arias.

School’s back in session for students across Central Virginia, and right after the ABCs, there’s D — for dance.

IFC Films has acquired the North American distribution rights to a film by a Charlottesville team.

The Miki Liszt Dance Company will present a modern dance master class with Donna Costello of Cora Dance from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday in Studio 20 at McGuffey Art Center.

Offstage Theatre will present “InsideOut,’’ an evening of monologues and plays written by inmates from the Fluvanna Correctional Facility for Women, at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Bridge Progressive Arts Initiative.

Mark Nizer will bring an evening of juggling feats, comedy and technology to the Paramount Theater starting 7 p.m. Saturday.

Fans of the rhyming world of Dr. Seuss will get two chances today to see local dancers and singers ages 9 to 16 bringing his characters to the stage.

If you’re stuffed to the gills with worrisome news about gas prices and groceries and the credit crunch, you’ll want to escape for a while to sample Thursday’s catch of the day.

Searing and haunting, Ash Lawn’s “Carmen” will leave you breathless.

“The Backyardigans Live: Tale of the Mighty Knights” is coming to the John Paul Jones Arena for performances at 4 and 7 p.m. Sept. 18.

If you liked Four County Players’ lighthearted “Twelfth Night” last summer, odds are you’ll also enjoy “As You Like It,” this year’s offering.

“The Backyardigans Live: Tale of the Mighty Knights” is coming to the John Paul Jones Arena for performances at 4 and 7 p.m. Sept. 18.

“The Light in the Piazza” is not your grandfather’s musical. More to the point, it’s not composer-lyricist Adam Guettel’s grandfather’s musical.

All the world’s a stage in Barboursville tonight when Four County Players opens its production of “As You Like It.’’

The intense action in Georges Bizet’s “Carmen’’ is so strong that Ash Lawn Opera’s singers won’t just stand for it. They’ll be too busy dancing and trying to stay out of saber fights.

When the curtain rises on “The Light in the Piazza’’ Wednesday night in Culbreth Theatre, Heritage Theatre Festival audiences will find layered themes of family devotion and romantic love. So it’s no surprise to find a sentimental family tie at the heart of the show.

Good Foot Dance Company will be presenting its annual summer dance concert twice — with a little help from its friends. Head to the Hamner Theater at 8 tonight or the Rehearsal A space at Live Arts starting 8 p.m. Saturday.

The Paramount Theater stage isn’t just for today’s big names anymore. Local young people will get two opportunities to perform on the Paramount Theater stage this weekend, giving audiences a glimpse of tomorrow’s stars.

Play On! — A New Virginia Theatre has a busy schedule planned for its 2008-2009 performance season.

Here’s a quick and easy way to bone up on American history — with the emphasis on the funny bone.

Some characters have the world on a string. Others get tangled up in tough circumstances. But in the end, the colorful characters of Michele Low’s “String of Pearls’’ are the right match for anything.

Sometimes a child inherits a parent’s dimpled chin or wacky sense of humor. Other times the legacy may be quite different.

Who knew, 58 years ago, when Frank Loesser’s “Guys and Dolls” opened on Broadway, that someday people would be able to carry tiny telephones that could ring to the music of the show? Imagine the difference in the “If I Were a Bell” number.

When the Martha Graham Dance Company performs Tuesday at the Paramount Theater, its central work won’t need a single line of dialogue to speak volumes.

Live Arts will open its production of Amy Freed’s comedy “The Beard of Avon’’ at 8 tonight.

Albemarle Ballet Theatre and Studio for the Performing Arts will present their fourth Spring Dance Gala at 7 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday in the V. Earl Dickinson Building at Piedmont Virginia Community College.

Some of the best singers in Charlottesville-area theater can now be seen onstage in Four County Players’ funny production of the Ken Ludwig farce “Lend Me a Tenor.”

Somewhere between the dancing vegetables and the drowsy rendition of the toothbrush song from the back seat, a little superness sinks in for young audience members of “Sesame Street Live: Elmo! Ready for Action.’’