Opening

ANNE OF GREEN GABLES A musical adaptation of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s novel about a resourceful orphan who is sent to live in a farming village. Directed by Jane Staab and featuring Jennifer Beth Glick as Anne Shirley, with a cast that includes Kippy Goldfarb, Maureen Keiller, Jacqui Parker, and Robert Saoud. Through Nov. 18. Wheelock Family Theatre, Boston. 617-879-2300, www.wheelockfamily
theatre.org

44 PLAYS FOR 44 PRESIDENTS Brief biographical sketches of every commander in chief from Washington to Obama. Oct. 27-Nov. 11. Bad Habit Productions. At Deane Hall, Calderwood Pavilion, Boston Center for the Arts. 617-933-8600, www.bostontheatrescene
.comDON AUCOIN

Now playing

VOLTAIRE AND FREDERICK: A LIFE IN LETTERS A staged reading, featuring Thomas Derrah and John Kuntz, of Detlef Gericke-Schönhagen’s new play, which is built on the decades-long correspondence between the irreverent French author of “Candide’’ and Frederick the Great. Directed by Guy Ben-Aharon. German Stage, Goethe-Institut Boston. Oct. 22 at Mandel Humanities Center, Brandeis University, Waltham. 781-736-2756, www.brandeis.edu/cges. Nov. 1 at Adolphus Busch Hall, Harvard University. 617-496-2222. www.box
office.harvard.edu

THE LILY’S REVENGE If Busby Berkeley had dropped acid while watching “Pee-wee’s Playhouse,’’ this might have been the result. Cutesy and ham-handed though it is at times, Taylor Mac’s five-act, four-hour-plus extravaganza about a flower that wants to marry a human sweeps you up in its gaudy, irrepressible theatricality. Through Oct. 28. American Repertory Theater. At Oberon, Cambridge.
617-547-8300, www.american
repertorytheater.org

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

A screening of a production staged last year in London at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, starring Eve Best as Beatrice and Charles Edwards as Benedick, a duo who delight in verbal volleying. Oct. 23 and 29 at Kendall Square Cinema, Cambridge. 617-621-1202, www.landmarktheatres.com.

Oct. 29 at Showcase Cinemas, Lowell; Showcase Cinema, Legacy Place, Dedham; and Showcase Cinemas, Woburn. 800-315-4000, www.showcasecinemas.com

DON AUCOIN

UNCLE VANYA A revival of last winter’s production of Anton Chekhov’s classic study of wasted lives, with Diego Arciniegas replacing John Kuntz in the title role. Craig Lucas’s adaptation is Americanized to a fault, but staging each of the four acts in a different room makes the audience feel like privileged guests on a provincial Russian estate. (Reviewed January 2012.) Through Nov. 11. Apollinaire Theatre Company. At Chelsea Theatre Works, Chelsea. 617-887-2336, www.apollinairetheatre.com

JEFFREY GANTZ