If you don’t know your “hasenpfeffer” from your “weltanschauung,“ get yourself to “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” without delay. This is one of the funniest musical comedies ever conceived. Originally a one-act winner of two Tony awards, the Barksdale’s technically flawless production is in two acts—some of us needed the break to give our abs a chance to recover from the nonstop laughter of the first act.

Have you ever wanted to perform in a show at the Barksdale Theatre? If you attend one of the upcoming productions of the two-act musical “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,“ you might get your chance. “Four members of the audience are recruited to participate in the actual spelling bee, up there on stage with the cast during Act I for each and every performance,“ said Judi Crenshaw, publicist for Theatre IV and Barksdale Theatre. “It’s sort of a combination of being in the spelling bee, but also being in a professional show.“

Friday will be a bit like Christmas Eve for the directors of the nine resident companies of Richmond CenterStage. The next day, the performing-arts complex in the core of downtown Richmond will finally open with a smattering of performances from each of them, signifying a victory that naysayers claimed would never occur.

The Kip Williams Quartet will perform a jazz concert at the Barksdale Theater at Willow Lawn on Saturday.  The group, which features renowned local drummer Williams, as well as James “Saxsmo” Gates, Weldon Hill and Brandon Lane, will play with a special guest at Saturday’s 8 p.m. show.

The good news is that “Thoroughly Modern Millie” is a relentless, nonstop period pastiche musical set in the Jazz Age and performed as if each actor’s life depended on it. The bad news is that “Thoroughly Modern Millie” is a relentless, nonstop period pastiche musical set in the Jazz Age and performed as if each actor’s life depended on it. Millie Dillmount arrives in New York City from small-town Kansas, circa 1922. She rips up her return ticket, only to have her purse, suitcase, and even her hat and one shoe stolen in broad daylight—but “Millie” is not about the terrors of the big city. There is a hilarious speak-easy scene, ending with all the participants spending the night in the pokey—but it’s not about Prohibition. She checks into a women’s hotel managed by a former actress whose sideline is white slavery, and there are two “Chinese” henchmen who assist in the abduction of orphaned guests—but it’s not about racism or any sort of political statement. It’s about having fun, and being silly, and falling in love, and having hope.

Things are a little off right from the beginning of “Well,“ the Lisa Kron play at Barksdale Theatre. There’s the nutty music—Harry Nilsson’s “Coconut,“ maybe a little Partridge Family—and that lady snoozing in the La-Z-Boy. Things get weirder when Jenny Hundley, playing Lisa (the playwright), starts to tell the audience about her mother, Ann, an “energetic person trapped in an exhausted body.“ Ann (she’s the one in the recliner) has long had something like chronic fatigue syndrome, but it didn’t keep her from founding and running a neighborhood organization that integrated her Lansing, Mich., neighborhood in the 1960s.

I’m not going to let things stop me because I’m losing my hearing,“ actress Erica Siegel said as she sits in the Barksdale Theatre, where she has been spending many hours of late. “It’s just not worth it. So many people tell you that you can’t do something, and when you hear that enough, you do it, just to spite them!“ Humor tinges her words, but the 31-year-old performer’s resolution is real enough—and she will need every ounce of it as she gears up for her turn in “Children of a Lesser God,“ running at the Barksdale Friday through March 22.

As part of a five-year plan drawn up by Barksdale’s staff and board, the theater is striving to make its programming more accessible to groups that might not overlap with its traditional patrons. One performance of each show in the company’s 2008-09 season has been interpreted for hearing-impaired audiences. In future years, steps will be taken to address the needs of visually impaired audiences and those with physical disabilities, said Bruce Miller, Barksdale’s artistic director.

The Holiday Benefit Cabaret scheduled to be held at the Barksdale Theatre at Willow Lawn today through Monday has been canceled because of illness. Barksdale is contacting those who purchased tickets in advance to inform them of the cancellation. Anyone with questions is asked to call Janine Sears at Barksdale Theatre, (804) 783-1688, ext. 13.

To Richmond theater circles, deep-voiced William Robert “Hutch” Hutchinson was an actor who compelled you to recall his characters years after he played them. To thousands of boys he mentored during more than three decades, he was Mr. Boys’ Club of Richmond. SLIDESHOW: Watch a tribute to the late W.R. “Hutch” Hutchinson, actor, director and Richmond Boys Club leader