Parody among new productions

Everything from a classic operetta to a Broadway parody are part of this week's stage productions.

LESS MISERABLES: A REVOLUTION OF COMEDY is Desert Star Cabaret's comical spin on "Les Miserables," currently having a long-running regional premiere at Pioneer Memorial Theatre. Desert Star's originally scheduled "Indiana Bones and the Shirley Temple of Doom" has been postponed, so its "Les Miz" takeoff is being revived instead, June 14-Aug. 24.

The double-cast ensemble, directed by Mary Parker Williams, includes Garrick Dean and Ryan Poole sharing the role of Jean Valjean, Ashley Grant and Ashley Mayfield as Cossette, Justin Barry and Bryan Matthew Hague as Marius, and Scott Holman and Richy T. Steadman as Javert. Matt Kohler and Bob Longoria will play Thenardier, with Spencer Ashby and Matt O'Malley as Madame Thenardier, Mary Parker Williams and Marrissa Young as Eponine, and Kerstin Davis and Melody Baugh as Fantine.

Performances are Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7 p.m., Fridays at 7 and 9:30 p.m. and Saturdays at noon, 3, 7 and 9:30 p.m.

Tickets are $12-$15.95 for adults, $8 for children, $11 for senior citizens (matinees only) and $12 for students (9:30 p.m. shows only). Group rates are also available (266-2600 or www.desertstar.biz).

The Cabaret theater has optional menu food service.

THE RAINMAKER, Richard Nash's 1954 drama about a brash con artist's impact on a small Dust Bowl farming family — including a spinster anxious to find someone to love — will play Friday through July 28 in Hale Centre Theatre, 3333 S. Decker Lake Drive, West Valley City.

Director John Adams' cast includes Tracie Merrill as Lizzie Curry, and Kevin Goertzen as Bill Starbuck, who promises he can bring rain to Lizzie's drought-plagued family. Also in the cast are Andy Rindlisbach as Jimmy, Neal Barth and David Phillips as H.C., the father; Mitch Hall as Noah, Joel Dehlin as File, Josh Richardson alternating as both Noah and File, and Gary Ceran and Gordon Johnson as the Sheriff.

Performances are Mondays-Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., with Saturday matinees at 12:30 and 4 p.m. throughout the run plus 4 p.m. on July 27. Tickets are $18-$24 for adults and $13-$14 for children (984-9000 or www.halecentretheatre.org).

THE GONDOLIERS, Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta about the complicated lives of two Italian gondoliers, is being staged for four performances by the Brigham Young University School of Music in the campus' Harris Fine Arts Center's de Jong Concert Hall.