Las Vegas theater season offers wide variety, including many famous scripts

Hearing the names of shows scheduled for the upcoming Las Vegas theater season is like opening gift boxes: You never know what treasures are just moments away.

Theatergoers will be treated to early and late Stephen Sondheim with "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" at Nevada Conservatory and "Sweeney Todd" by Butcher Block/Ragtag Entertainment at Green Valley Ranch Resort. Insurgo Theater makes major inroads in the market by inhabiting a new space at the remodeled downtown Plaza (its premiere production this month is Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot"). And Las Vegas Academy tackles two big musicals -- "Guys and Dolls" and "Big River" -- as well as Thornton Wilder's revered "Our Town."

This season -- which officially begins today and ends next August -- finds us in the company of Anton Chekhov, Noel Coward, Charles Dickens, A.R. Gurney, Harvey Fierstein, Moss Hart, Alfred Hitchcock, Hal Holbrook, George Kaufman, Harper Lee, Frank Loesser, Roger Miller, Moliere, Stephen Schwartz, William Shakespeare, August Strindberg, Frankie Valli, Alice Walker, Andrew Lloyd Webber, E.B. White, Tennessee Williams, August Wilson -- well, you get the idea, an eclectic group, and more than enough to keep a theater fan busy.

Some curiosities of the season: The College of Southern Nevada and Las Vegas Little Theatre each open a Kaufman/Hart play on the same night; the Nevada Conservatory Theatre and Las Vegas Little Theatre each present Gurney's "Sylvia"; there will be two productions of the musical "Oliver!" (Super Summer Theatre and Rainbow Company); and the Utah Shakespeare Festival will present the musical "The Drowsy Chaperone," which just closed in June at Super Summer Theatre.

Wilson's powerful and violent "Seven Guitars" debuts at Nevada Conservatory and Coward makes one of his frequent trips to Las Vegas with "Blithe Spirit" at Las Vegas Little Theatre. Rainbow Company offers an unusual adaptation of "Sleeping Beauty" in which our heroine winds up saving the prince.

Things get off to a big start this month with more than a dozen shows.

Tonight, the first new show of the new season sets up camp at the Onyx Theatre: Harvey Fierstein's well-known "Torch Song Trilogy Part 1," directed by Las Vegas Academy instructor John Morris.

Other famous scripts being brought to life in September include "No Sex Please, We're British" (Las Vegas Little Theatre); "The Taming of the Shrew" (Nevada Conservatory Theatre); and the fall productions at the Utah Shakespeare Festival: "Dial M for Murder," "The Winter's Tale" and "The Merry Wives of Windsor." Plenty of unsung titles debut as well: "Stop Kiss," a violent and romantic tale of change, at Las Vegas Little Theatre; "Love Scenes," from the San Francisco Fringe Festival, at Onyx; and even a traditional British pantomime of "Aladdin" at the Summerlin Performing Arts Center.

Two shows continue from their summer runs. "Naked Boys Singing," a naughty story with a wholesome moral, is in its second year at the Onyx, drawing whistles from men and women alike. The Utah Shakespeare Festival extends its summer show "Noises Off" -- about the chaos of the actor's life -- through October.

A steady flow of new shows continues throughout the coming season. But you'll find "no drama" at the main stage of Las Vegas Little Theatre where its audiences seem to prefer comedies and this year they'll be getting plenty of them. The Black Box and the Studio, however, will regularly perform unusual, provocative works. Signature Productions continues its preference for musicals with "Oh, What a Night!" (a tribute to Frankie Valli) and the Broadway hit "Hairspray." Signature also will host its traditional Christmas-with-song celebration.

Nevada Conservatory at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas will plunge into at least three classical modern dramas: "A Streetcar Named Desire," "Miss Julie" and "The Seagull." The College of Southern Nevada is suffering the pangs of budget cuts and will offer only two shows this season, as well as host the Utah Shakespeare Festival's student production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream."

Add to this some offbeat, little-known campy material -- such as "Evil Dead: the Musical" slated for the Onyx -- original plays, one-acts and one-person theater cabarets and Las Vegas yields a full season of hope.

In addition, several theater troupes in town don't announce seasons in advance; they tend to plan one play at a time. The highly regarded Cockroach Theatre, for example, has nothing listed yet, but it's safe to say it will have something to offer. Also, new troupes constantly pop up (and disband).

A couple of warnings: Most theaters perform only on selected nights during the dates of their run, and at various times. Some are notorious for changing schedules, sometimes without notice. So be sure to contact the playhouse before you schlep across town.