When "Morning's at Seven" opens one late fall afternoon, the sisters are in a dither about Homer. After seven years he's finally bringing his fianc�e, Myrtle Brown, home for a visit.

Kathleen Conlin has directed a polished cast that includes well-known Salt Lake actress Anne Cullimore Decker as Esther — the same role she played earlier this year at the Grand Theatre.

She's joined by an ensemble of mostly familiar, longtime USF performers:

Leslie Brott is the caring Ida; Richard Kinter is her husband, Carl, who has frequent "spells," brought on by his sense of failure; and David Ivers, as their son Homer, 40 and still living at home (even though his carpenter-father has constructed Homer and Myrtle a home of their own just a couple of blocks away).

Joe Cronin plays the gruff-spoken Theodore (Thor) Swanson, with USF newcomer Jane Ridley as his wife, Cora, who's at the center of her sisters' long-standing tensions. And Anne Newhall is high-strung spinster Aaronetta. A. Bryan. Humphrey plays Esther's domineering husband, who stirs up some of the family problems, and Corliss Preston is Homer's extremely patient fianc�e (they've been dating for 12 years and engaged for seven).

R. Eric Stone's scenery (the adjoining back yards of the neighboring Swanson and Bolton clapboard homes) and Bill Black's period costuming take audiences back to what we like to think of as a simpler time.

But the Gibbs girls and their families show us that life back then maybe wasn't quite so simple.

Sensitivity rating: Some mild profanity.

• FOREVER PLAID (running time: one hour, 45 minutes, with one intermission).

I've lost track of how many productions of this off Broadway hit I've seen over the past few years, but one thing never changes — it's immensely entertaining and just plain fun.

First staged at the festival in 1999 (during its premiere fall season), the show is packed with popular "guy-group" music from the mid-1950s to the mid-'60s. But it's more than just a revue; there is humorous, informative banter that lets audiences into the lives of the four Plaids as they perform a string of nostalgic pop hits . . . probably not the least bit familiar to a younger generation. (USF Founder Fred C. Adams noted during a brief conversation last weekend that some of the cast members and most of the festival's young concessions workers didn't have a clue about Perry Como or Ed Sullivan — two famous names mentioned in the show.)