African American Repertory Theatre has begun its residence at Richmond CenterStage’s Gottwald Playhouse with “Mahalia,“ Tom Stolz’s 1993 musical biography of gospel singer Mahalia Jackson. As in previous local productions of the play at Swift Creek Mill Theatre, “Mahalia” features the powerful singing of Cora Harvey Armstrong in the title role.

Herb Gardner’s “I’m Not Rappaport” won the Tony Award for best play in 1986 and ran for a couple of years, but in 2009 it’s not so easy to see why. It has some laughs, it mulls over some serious issues, but it feels pretty lightweight. It starts with two guys in their 80s sitting on a bench in front of a bridge in New York’s Central Park. (The cleverly designed multilevel set by Eric Kinder is one of the strongest elements in the production.) The white guy regales the black guy relentlessly about how he’s an undercover agent going by the code name Hernando. The black guy, Midge, is annoyed by the codger, who’s clearly Jewish, not Cuban.

Theatre IV’s production of the children’s classic, “The Ugly Duckling,“ is bright and child friendly, but the story sure has changed since I was a child—or even since I was the mother of a young child. Rollicking scenes like the upbeat “Rock’n Roll Mole” and a disco dancing eagle may not have been inspired by Hans Christian Anderson, but they sure do contribute to an enjoyable evening of theatre. (Not all the patrons of this children’s theatrical event, targeted for ages 3 and up, were children—or even accompanied by children. One of the most enthusiastic participants in the Eagle dance was one such unaccompanied adult!)

Richmond Triangle Players may still be wandering in the desert as they wait for their new theater to be completed, but they’re right in home territory with Paul Rudnick’s “The New Century.“ The season opener, directed by John Knapp at HATTheatre in western Henrico County, is a laugh-a-minute bill of four short plays first presented together in New York last year, and it is hilarious.

Richmond Shakespeare has inaugurated its long-awaited residency at CenterStage with a sparkling production of “Much Ado About Nothing.“ The beloved comedy, which features a nasty character trying to foil a pair of young lovers and the witty sparring of Beatrice and Benedick, is spun into hilarity by director Grant Mudge and his attractive, energetic cast of 18.

The pain of faulty connections permeates “Shining City,“ the 2004 Conor McPherson drama that opens Henley Street Theatre Company’s third season. McPherson is the 30-something Irish phenom whose skill has been stunning New York and London audiences for a decade. Richmond A-list actors Larry Cook and Joe Inscoe inhabit the core of the play. Cook is Ian, who’s left the priesthood and set up a psychotherapy practice in Dublin. Among his first patients is John (Inscoe), who’s grieving the recent death of his wife in a car wreck.

Well-timed for Halloween merrymaking, Swift Creek Mill opens its season with “The Mystery of Irma Vep,“ Charles Ludlam’s 1984 sendup of the Hollywood horror genre. It’s a mashup of werewolf, mummy and vampire films, with a little “Rebecca” and “Jane Eyre” mixed in, seasoned with Shakespeare and Poe. Ludlam, famous for his cross-dressing roles, engineered the comedy for two actors, each of whom plays four roles, some male, some female. To make this work, you have to have a stalwart and speedy backstage crew to facilitate many quick changes of costume, along with sound effects and sight gags.

Love abounds in Barksdale Theatre’s season opener, “Boleros for the Disenchanted.“ José Rivera’s 2008 play, a tribute to his parents’ marriage, details the dizzying trajectory of a relationship from its inception in 1950s Puerto Rico to its waning days in 1990s Alabama. And with a spectacular cast recruited in New York, it is a delicious, funny, heartbreaking journey.

Howard Korder’s 1988 “Boys’ Life” is a mostly comic play about three 20-something guys wallowing in their immaturity. But there’s more to this Firehouse Theatre Project season opener than bad behavior. The play was nominated for a Pulitzer (it lost to “Driving Miss Daisy”). It’s an acid-tongued, gimlet-eyed look at three young men who lack direction and morality, but they’re not the guys Vince Vaughn plays in movies—they actually reveal rudimentary consciences and hints of depth.

One man, 42 personalities. But there’s no need to call a psychiatrist. Ironically, television personality Dr. Phil McGraw is one of the many characters actor Scott Wichmann pulls from his wiry frame on the set of “Fully Committed,“ the show that earned Wichmann his Actor’s Equity card in 2001. Playwright Becky Mode’s outrageously funny one-man play captures a day in the life of Sam Peliczowski, the reservations clerk at a tony Manhattan restaurant.

A beautiful play, beautifully played. Alfred Uhry’s 1987 “Driving Miss Daisy” won the Pulitzer Prize, and it’s easy to see why. Uhry uses a narrow focus on three characters to tell a story that is nevertheless broad and deep—life in the South between 1948 and 1973, touching on race, class, aging and companionship. Present this gem with an ideal cast and a simple production and you have a winner. That’s what Barksdale Theatre did last summer at Hanover Tavern. This summer, it’s reprising the show at Barksdale’s Willow Lawn location, with all the quality intact.

It’s a familiar coming-of-age story, set in the summer of 1942. The country is at war, and Hermie, Oscy and Benjie, three teens from New York and New Jersey, are spending a summer on an island off the coast of Maine. The boys’ biggest concern is girls, and except for an air raid drill, a few cursory efforts at conserving goods, and a single, pivotal telegram, the summer islanders are relatively unaffected by the war.

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.

What favorite American comedy takes as its themes mental illness, elder abuse and serial murder? Why, “Arsenic and Old Lace,“ the 1941 Joseph Kesselring chestnut about two old ladies with a body in the window seat. This is the reliable farce about elderly sisters living in their family’s longtime Brooklyn home who like to dispatch lonely old men by serving them poisoned elderberry wine. They have three nephews: Mortimer, the drama critic for a New York newspaper; Teddy, who thinks he’s Teddy Roosevelt; and Jonathan, who has been away for a few decades but is back after a stint in an institution for the criminally insane.