Simon play heads crowded calendar

A Neil Simon play leads this week's crowded calendar of new stage productions.

• "BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS," the first of Neil Simon's autobiographical trilogy (with "Biloxi Blues" and "Broadway Bound"), is generally regarded as the playwright's masterpiece. Pioneer Theatre Company is reviving it Wednesday through Feb. 28, with guest Paul Barnes directing a cast of mostly New York-based Equity performers.

Alexis Verson, a 10th grader at West High School, is the one local, non-Equity player. But she's not inexperienced, having performed in "Anne Frank & Me" and "John Lennon & Me," both at the Babcock, and "Pride's Crossing" at the Rose Wagner Center. Bobby Stegger, who plays Eugene (based on Simon himself), was previously seen here in this season's "Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde." Harris Doran, who plays Eugene's older brother, Stanley, performed in Roger Benington's recent production of "Sir Richard Burton's Arabian Nights" at the Rose Wagner.

Performances are in the Pioneer Memorial Theater on the University of Utah campus, 7:30 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays, and 8 and 2 p.m. Saturdays. Tickets are $20-$39 (581-6961).

This engagement's "Drama and Dinos" event, which allows parents to leave their children at the nearby Utah Museum of Natural History during one matinee, will be Feb. 14, $20 per child ($14 for museum members). Children, 5-10 years of age, must be enrolled in advance by calling Kwin Peterson at 581-6270 or signing up online at www.pioneertheatre.org/box/dinos.html. Special "Brighton Beach Memoirs" performances for the hearing-impaired will be Feb. 23 and 24 at 7:30 p.m.

PTC management cautions that the play does contain some strong language.

• "TONY 'N' TINA'S WEDDING," playing Thursday through Feb. 28 in the Grove Theatre, 20 S. Main, Pleasant Grove, is an audience-participation comedy. The show is still playing in New York, Chicago, Australia and Great Britain and had a brief run last year in Salt Lake City. This is its Utah County debut, one of the first "local" productions authorized by the show's New York-based creators.

Ticket-holders are not just theatergoers; they're guests at what turns into an out-of-control wedding and reception (the latter includes dinner and dancing). What happens during the evening pretty much depends on how the audience reacts.