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Critics’ picks: theater

OPENING

AMERICAN IDIOT A rock opera about young rebels on a quest for adventure and meaning, featuring the music of Green Day, lyrics by lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong, and book by Armstrong and Michael Mayer, who also directs. Van Hughes stars as Johnny, a role he played on Broadway. Presented by Broadway in Boston. At Boston Opera House. Jan. 24-29. 800-982-2787, www.broadwayinboston.com

THE WIZARD OF OZ Maybe you’ve heard of it? John Kane’s stage adaptation for the Royal Shakespeare Company (from the screenplay of the 1939 film classic, itself based on L. Frank Baum’s book) features immortal songs by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg, with direction by James P. Byrne, known for his work with the Gold Dust Orphans. Jan. 27-Feb. 26. Wheelock Family Theatre, Boston. 617-879-2300, www.wheelockfamilytheatre.org

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DON AUCOIN

NOW PLAYING

THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW When you’re Ryan Landry, nothing succeeds like excess, which makes him just about perfect in the role of Dr. Frank N. Furter, the pansexual transvestite/mad scientist/alien who gleefully debauches a pair of young innocents. Through Jan. 27. Presented by Oberon and the Gold Dust Orphans. Oberon, Cambridge. 866-811-4111, www.cluboberon.com

DON AUCOIN

THE VOICE OF THE TURTLE John Van Druten’s unapologetic 1943 romance unfolds as a lovely antidote to cynicism. The era of the play is World War II, but universal themes and unpretentious performances make these sympathetic characters feel remarkably contemporary. Through Jan. 29. Merrimack Repertory Theatre, Lowell. 978-654-4678, www.merrimackrep.org

RED A magnetic performance by Thomas Derrah and deft direction by David R. Gammons make John Logan’s play, which could have been an intellectually stimulating art history lecture, a breathtaking, high-stakes, achingly human drama. Through Feb. 4. SpeakEasy Stage Company, Wimberly Theatre, Boston Center for the Arts. 617-933-8600, www.speakeasystage.com

TERRY BYRNE

SUPERIOR DONUTS Tracy Letts’s latest Broadway play is about race relations on Chicago’s North Side, and specifically about how the aging-radical, Polish-American owner of the title doughnut shop and his young, energetic, African-American assistant become friends. It’s feel-good, and there’s a dated aspect to the script, but it’s also very funny, especially in this lovingly detailed production, with Will LeBow and Omar Robinson leading a talented, mostly veteran cast. Though Feb. 4. Lyric Stage Company of Boston. 617-585-5678, www.lyricstage.com

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JEFFREY GANTZ

LAST CHANCE

UNCLE VANYA Craig Lucas’s adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s classic study of wasted lives on a provincial Russian estate is Americanized to a fault, and the acting in this production from Apollinaire Theatre Company isn’t always stellar, but John Kuntz gives a powerful performance in the title role, and the staging of each of the play’s four acts in a different room of the Chelsea Theatre Works building makes the audience feel like privileged guests on the estate. Though Jan. 22. Chelsea Theatre Works, Chelsea. 617-887-2336, www.apollinairetheatrecompany.com

JEFFREY GANTZ