A Beautiful View
Two central figures in the city's theatre scene, Colleen Wheeler and Diane Brown, star in the western Canadian premiere of Daniel MacIvor's comedy. The play is a portrait of a friendship, spanning 20 years, that stretches the sexual identity of both women. MacIvor, one of the country's leading playwrights, directs. Performance Works, until Dec. 13. Shadbolt Centre, Burnaby, Dec. 16 to 19 (rubyslippers.ca).
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels Jeffrey Lane's Broadway adaptation of the 1988 Steve Martin vehicle makes musical the story of two con men trying to out-con one another in a provincial French town. The ditties are forgettable but this production stars a very worthy pair, Andrew Wheeler and Josh Epstein, as the titular scoundrels, and includes a bravura performance by Elena Juatco as the ingénue, Christine Colgate. Vancouver Playhouse, until Dec. 27 (vancouverplayhouse.com).
It's a Wonderful Life
The Arts Club's annual holiday production is buoyed by Bob Frazer (one of the city's most lauded actors), playing George Bailey, the depression-era banker whose miserable life is reviewed by a doting guardian angel (a scene-stealing Bernard Cuffling) on Christmas Eve. Dean Paul Gibson's direction - which playfully injects the action with references to Frank Capra's 1946 film - is safe but undeniably charming. Granville Island Stage, until Jan. 2 (artsclub.com).
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Youths always cotton on to moralizing allegory; today it's Twilight but once it was C.S. Lewis's Narnia fantasy. With the electric Kyle Rideout as a grown-up Peter, who rediscovers with his sister an alternate, yet relevant, world. Pacific Theatre, until Jan. 2 (pacifictheatre.org).
Lives Were Around Me
Battery Opera is interested in making you aware of your body and the space it inhabits. And so: a very curious and intimate guided tour (three audience members per tour) of Vancouver's more storied (read: grim) streets - conceived, directed and hosted by the company's artistic producer, David McIntosh. Due to the provincial government's massive cuts in funding to the arts, McIntosh has elected to raise his ticket price in accordance - the new price is $267.67. Leaving from the Alibi Room, Dec. 15 (batteryopera.com).
White Christmas For several years, tween princesses descended on the Stanley each winter for the Arts Club's sugary re-enactment of Disney's Beauty and the Beast. This year, the blue-rinse set has arrived instead, to take in Irving Berlin's holiday masterpiece. Sara-Jeanne Hosie is magnetic as half of the song-and-dance Haynes sisters, who, teamed with a male duo, cruise through their disjointed ditties on their way to love. Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage, until Dec. 27 (artsclub.com).
The Winter's Tale
Shakespeare's late romance tracks the far-reaching trauma caused by a paranoid Leontes when he becomes convinced his faithful wife is an adulteress. Studio 58's production is garnering a rich buzz, with alumni Mike Wasko as the jealous king. Studio 58, until Dec. 13 (studio58.ca).