ON STAGE

As Much As You Can
Celebration Theatre, through Jan. 27
***

I cannot begin to tell you how charming this show is. The crux is that when Jesse, who is black (author Paul Oakley Stovall, either a damn fine actor for a writer or a pretty good writer for an actor), attends a family wedding, he feels the need to pass off his Swedish boyfriend, a long tall drink of delicious named Christian (movingly and artlessly played by Wes Ramsey), as the photographer, since the event occurs at the home of his Christian fundamentalist sister Evy (Tonya Pinkins, underutilized, I fear). Lively lesbian friend Nina (J. Nicole Brooks, supplying more than her share of the aforementioned charm) and Jesse's siblings (winningly played by Yassmin Alers and Andrew Kelsy) insist that he celebrate his sexuality, an arc that doesn't so much develop as just happen. That said, it's worth attending if only for the bid whist scene, such an efficient and hilarious expression of the entire family dynamic that one wishes the whole play had been staged as a card game. —WENZEL JONES

Love Loves a Pornographer
[Inside] the Ford, through Jan. 20
****

There is no denying Jeff Goode's ear for the genre in his Wildean Victorian drawing room comedy of manners, nor the adept manner in which director Jillian Armenante brings it to sparkling, snarky life. The country manor set is impeccably realized by Gary Smoot, who almost obscenely lavishes the space with hanging art. Respected writer Lord Loveworthy (note-perfect William Salyers) finds he has more in common with his daughter's rustic American fiancé (Matt Ford, being joyously crude) than he is comfortable with as the plot ensnares his diarist wife (an impeccably brittle Gillian Doyle), his insufferable literary critic of a neighbor (Jim Anzide, quietly yet assuredly gnawing scenery) and the critic's neglected wife, whose dire state is conveyed in a thousand delightful ways by Johanna McKay. Kathleen Rose Perkins is enjoyable as Loveworthy's daughter, and only the size of his role prevents Weston Nathanson from walking off with the show as that sine qua non of such pieces, the butler. —W.J.

LIMITED RUN

CITIZEN WELLS
Fri., Jan. 18

Based on an actual event in 1960, Austin Pendleton's Orson's Shadow is a witty depiction of the behind-the-scenes drama of theater. Orson Welles attempts to direct Laurence Olivier and a young Joan Plowright in Rhinoceros. The rehearsal process brims with absurdity as titanic personalities, including Vivien Leigh, wrestle with the muse. Pasadena Playhouse. 8 p.m. $32.-$42. 626/356-7529. www.pasadenaplayhouse.org.

HEAVEN AND HELL
Fri., Jan. 18

Set in a time-bending, darkly comic world between heaven and hell, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot centers around agnostic lawyer Fabiana Aziza Cunningham, who has brought before the court The New Testament's most infamous sinner—Judas Iscariot. This dark courtroom comedy features a cavalcade of witnesses from Sigmund Freud to Satan. Theatre 68. 8 p.m. $20.-$25. 323/960-7827. www.68centcrew.com.

HER OTHER HALF
Fri., Jan. 18

Hedwig and the Angry Inch is the rock musical about Hedwig Schmidt, the unfortunate victim of a gruesomely botched sex-change operation, and an “internationally ignored song-stylist.” She embarks on a journey to find true love in a rock-and-roll odyssey, which leads her across the Berlin Wall, across the world, and from man to woman. MET Theatre. 8 p.m. $30. 323/960-1055.

Homo Must

DEADLY AFFAIR
Sat., Jan. 26

Thrill Me is a chilling musical drama about the original “thrill killers” and gay lovers, Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb. Nathan, obsessed with Richard's affections, helped him commit crimes in exchange for sex and secrecy. After murdering a schoolboy, the two men were thrown into the media spotlight of Chicago's “trial of the century” in 1924. Hudson Backstage Theatre. 8 p.m. $20.-$38. 323/960-4429. www.hudsontheatre.com.