STAGE

Cirque du Soleil: Corteo

Cirque du Soleil's latest show to hit Portland is something of a back-to-basics package, with little of the tacky flash of the company's Vegas shows. The usual series of acrobatic acts is strung together from the reminiscences and fantasies of a dying clown. The flimsy conceit evaporates entirely by the second half, but that's OK. There is one thing Cirque does better than anyone else, and it’s front and center here: beautiful people performing stunning feats of athleticism you could never even attempt. Lovely ladies in negligees spinning and writhing about, dangling from enormous, swinging chandeliers! Bare-chested men turning themselves into human wheels with huge silver rings! Boys bouncing 20 feet in the air on a springboard! And on and on and on. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of filler—boring comedic sketches that let the acrobats take a rest but pad the show beyond a reasonable runtime. Is it perfect? No. Is it worth the price of entry? Oh yeah. Grand Chapiteau, Southwest Moody Avenue, by the Marquam Bridge., 800-678-5440. 8 pm Tuesdays-Thursdays, 4 and 8 pm Fridays-Saturdays, 1 and 5 pm Sundays. Closes April 13. $35-$205. All ages. Map

Columbinus

Blue Monkey Theater tackles an "unflinching" retelling of the events that led up to the Columbine High School massacre, created by the United States Theatre Project. Too soon? John Monteverde directs. West End Theater, 1220 SW Taylor St., 593-2466. 7 pm Thursdays-Saturdays. Closes April 12. $10-$20. Map

The Comedy of Errors and Timon of Athens

Northwest Classical Theatre Company mounts a double feature of Shakespeare's first comedy and his least popular tragedy, each cut down to 75 minutes and performed in repertory. Grant Turner and Bibi Walton direct, respectively. BEN WATERHOUSE. Shoe Box Theater, 2110 SE 10th Ave., 971-244-3740. 7 pm Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 pm Sundays. Closes April 20. $12-$18. Map

The Diva Daughters DuPree

Kim Euell's comedy about a fractious reunion of three African-American sisters with very different life experiences, presented by PassinArt. Imago Theatre, 17 SE 8th Ave., 321-5163. 7:30 pm Fridays-Saturdays, 3 pm Sundays. Closes April 13. $20. All ages. Map

Dr. Doom Has Gypsy Magic

Three new plays by Andrew Kafoury about the marketing of the absurd. NW Neighborhood Cultural Center, 1819 NW Everett St., 222-4480. 8 pm Thursday, April 3. Free. All ages. Map

Dreamgirls

[EXTENDED RUN] I’ve been harshly critical of Kirk Mouser’s work at Stumptown Stages over the past two years, so I hope you understand that I am entirely serious when I say Julianne Johnson-Weiss’ delivery of “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” is the most affecting musical performance of the season, period. She sings with enough emotional force to bring even the most reptilian critic to tears. Johnson-Weiss is in good company here: Joann Coleman gives a manic, aggressive performance as Deena, and towering Eugene Blackmon (Jimmy Early), sporting a James Brown wig and a succession of silly suits, pulls comic-relief duty while showing off his remarkable stylistic range. Are there problems? Oh, hell yeah. The chintzy set squeezes most of the non-nightclub action into a four-foot alleyway at the front of the stage, and the acting is passable at best and wooden at worst—besides Blackmon and Johnson-Weiss, none of the cast seems comfortable in his or her part once the music stops. But who cares? With singing this good, everything else is parsley. BEN WATERHOUSE. Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center, 5340 N Interstate Ave., 8 pm Fridays-Saturdays, 2 pm Sundays. Closes April 12. $25-$27. All ages. Map

Fools

Theatron Productions resurrects Neil Simon's comedy about the lone sane man in a village cursed with idiocy. The Hinson Annex, 1315 SE 20th Ave., 282-2810. 7:30 pm Thursdays-Saturdays, 3 pm Sundays. Closes April 20. $12, $10 students and seniors. Map

The Full Monty

Greg Tamblyn directs his band of merry nudists at—wait—Lakewood? Wow. We hope they're keeping the defibrillators warmed up! Lakewood Center for the Arts, 368 S State St., Lake Oswego., 635-3901. 8 pm Thursdays-Saturdays, 7 pm Sundays, 2 pm March 16, April 6 and 13. Closes April 13. $26-$28. All ages. Map

Go, Dog. Go!

Kids of all ages will love this colorful, clever and comic production. The live band and over-the-top costumes set the Technicolor tone of the light-on-words show, a simple musical adaptation of P.D. Eastman’s classic book about the wacky lives of dogs. Parents of smaller kids, be prepared to seat your child on your lap for the whole show or bring your own thick booster seat—while some of the sets are vertical, action that happens on the stage itself can be difficult for wee ones to see from the pewlike seats. They won’t want to miss a wink! DEEDA SCHROEDER. NW Neighborhood Cultural Center, 1819 NW Everett St., 222-4480. Noon and 3 pm Saturdays-Sundays and March 25-28. Closes April 6. $10-$20. All ages. Map

Landscape of the Body

In the latest installment of Profile Theatre Project's season of John Guare, Betty (Kelly Marchant), a pleasant single mother from Maine, comes to New York with her 14-year-old son, Bert (Derek Herman), to ask her no-good sister Rosalie (Jami Chatalas Blanchard) to come home. When Rosalie is killed by a careless cyclist (a truly hilarious cameo by a spandex-clad Danny Bruno), Betty takes over her apartment and her job at a fraudulent travel agency, and lives happily for a while—until her son is found floating headless in the Hudson River. It’s a grisly premise, and Guare treats it with his usual mix of flippant whimsy and grim misanthropy. He spends too much time telling us about Betty's sordid affairs without showing them, and sorting out exactly what's going on becomes a tiresome exercise. BEN WATERHOUSE. Theater! Theatre!, 3430 SE Belmont St., 242-0080. 8 pm Thursdays-Fridays, 2 pm Sundays. Closes April 6. $10-$28. All ages. Map

Les Misérables

Staged! Portland's Musical Theatre Series undertakes an underage production of the Show That Would Not Die, with a cast of local students aged 9-20. Proceeds from April 14 show benefit the Gulu Rehabilitation Center for Children War in Uganda, East Africa. World Trade Center, 121 SW Salmon St., stagedpdx.org. 7:30 pm Fridays, 2 and 7:30 pm Saturdays, 4 pm Sundays; 7 pm Monday, April 14. Closes April 14. $21-$25. All ages. Map

Ray Romano, Brad Garrett, Jon Manfrellotti

[STANDUP] Some people still love Raymond. Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway., 224-4400. 8 pm Sunday, April 6. $55-$95. Map

Scotland Road

Integrity Productions presents Jeffrey Hatcher's thriller about a mysterious Titanic survivor and a whole lotta killin'. Theater! Theatre!, 3430 SE Belmont St., 286-3456. 8 pm Thursdays-Saturdays, 4 pm Sundays. Closes April 5. $15. Thursdays are sliding scale $5 and up. All ages. Map

Sometimes a Great Notion

[EXTENDED RUN] Aaron Posner's stage adaptation reduces Ken Kesey’s 1964 masterpiece to a 2 1/2-hour family drama about the messy relationship between half-brothers Hank and Leland Stamper, an odd couple tasked with fulfilling an impossible logging contract. It’s a good story, though it encompasses only about a third of the novel, and Posner’s use of a chorus of townspeople to simulate the novel’s narration actually works quite well. The design work is extraordinary: Tony Cisek’s set is both beautiful and eminently functional, and Casi Pacilio’s falling-tree sound effects shake the Armory’s foundations. The leads are excellent—Karl Miller (Leland) and Tobias Andersen (Henry) are especially good—but there are some weak spots. Local comedy geek Kevin-Michael Moore shouts his way through his lines, and Chris Murray expresses little beyond an adolescent sneer, and they all play up lines about the weather—Kesey’s chief antagonist—for inappropriate yuks. BEN WATERHOUSE. Gerding Theater, 128 NW 11th Ave., 445-3700. 7:30 pm Tuesdays-Saturdays, 2 and 7:30 pm Sundays, noon Thursdays. Closes May 10. $16.50-$61.50. Map

Star of Hope

The three set designers (Director Lorraine Bahr, Barry Hunt and Brett Beserock) for Sowelu Theatre’s remount of Lea Floden’s 1995 Drammy-winning comedy have accomplished the seemingly impossible task of transforming the Back Door Theater into a pleasant living room. The cramped, cold, mildewed venue has recently made an excellent barracks, a prison and a kangaroo court in the Romanian mountains; now it’s actually cozy. A storage room masquerading as a home is an apt setting for this absurdist play in which no one is who they say they are: A nice couple take a pregnant girl into their home—only she isn’t pregnant, and they aren’t that nice. The very fine cast plays the layered false identities for laughs, and the first hour or so is excellent. But the script’s Pinteresque menace devolves into Pythonesque silliness—aliens are involved—and pointless pistol-waving, and delight at the show’s mysteries turns to irritation. This show needs a rewrite, not a revival. The Back Door Theater, 4319 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 730-9066. 8 pm Thursday-Saturdays, 4 pm Sundays. Closes April 5. $12-$18. All ages. Map

Stellaluna

Tears of Joy Puppet Theatre adapts Janell Cannon's story of a baby fruit bat adopted by a family of birds. Winningstad Theatre, 1111 SW Broadway., 248-0557. 7:30 pm Friday, April 4; 11 am Saturdays, 2 and 4 pm Sundays. Closes April 20. $13-$16. All ages. Map

Sweeney Todd

John Doyle's mini-production of Sondheim's bloody great musical hits town. Yep, this is the one with the ten actors who also play all the instruments. Keller Auditorium, 222 SW Clay St., 241-1802. 7:30 pm Tuesday-Friday, 2 and 7:30 pm Saturday, 1 and 6:30 pm Sunday, April 8-13. $23-$65. All ages. Map

Swingers

Curious Comedy presents an evening of improv comedy. Theater! Theatre!, 3430 SE Belmont St., 432-8633. 10:30 pm Saturdays. Closes April 5. $10. Map

Throwing Bones

A grieving mother (Gretchen Corbett) goes to South Africa to meet a traditional healer, Tata (Victor Mack), and find out if he might have been able to help her daughter. Based on director Maureen Towey’s experiences in South Africa, staged in a nursing classroom and punctuated with African drumming and dance, there are about a million ways this new production by Sojourn Theatre could have fallen into tiresome cliché. It doesn’t. While certainly not the best work we’ve seen from this company, Throwing Bones succeeds as an examination of culture clash, medical and otherwise. Hannah Treuhaft gives a remarkable performance as a white South African with a mysterious ailment who gives up on Western medicine and, despite her skepticism, turns to the sangoma for care. Other noteworthy moments: the emotional climax of dance and drums and dirt, and the best visual pun of the season. Garden beds? BEN WATERHOUSE. Concordia University Nursing Skills Lab, 2805 NE Liberty St., #M105., 971-544-0464. 8 pm Thursdays-Sundays. Closes April 13. $10-$15. All ages. Map

Toy Room

Local Bjork-ish performer Sally Tomato premieres her new rock opera. Or, more accurately, her world-jam/alt-country/prog-pop opera, about (what else?) Tomato's childhood, chaotic adolescence and struggle to regain lost innocence. Proceeds from the show benefit Portland Women's Crisis Line. Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell St., 284-8686. 7 and 9 pm Friday-Saturday (21+), 1 pm Sunday (all ages). Closes April 6. $19. Map

Who Stole My Dead Husband?

Lou Pallotta’s Italo-sploitation family dinner theater, starring Jim Caputo. Madison's East Wing, 1125 SE Madison St., 800-966-8865. 7:30 pm Fridays-Saturdays. Open-ended run. $64-$69, dinner included. All ages. Map

CLASSICAL

Bill Crane

The concert organ is often type-cast as an instrument of piety and introspection. You know, church music? But organist Bill Crane says no to all that with lively works by Messiaen, Bach, Hindemith and Vierne on First Presbyterian Church’s 69-rank tracker pipe organ. JOHN MINERVINI. First Presbyterian Church, 1200 SW Alder St., 228-7331. 3 pm Sunday, April 6. $8-$10. Map

David York Ensemble

Sixteen singers perform eight-part harmonies in this concert for double choir, featuring works by Brahms, Ralph Vaughan-Williams and Frank Martin. JOHN MINERVINI. , 805 SE Ellsworth Road, Vancouver., 721-0262. 8 pm Saturday, April 5. $20. Map

Los Angeles Guitar Quartet

Formed more than 20 years ago at USC, the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet plays everything from baroque to bluegrass. Its CD Guitar Heroes won a 2005 Grammy award for “Best Crossover Classical.” At this concert, the quartet will perform works by Liszt and Bach, as well as Brazilian and Celtic music. Presented by the Friends of Chamber Music. JOHN MINERVINI. Kaul Auditorium at Reed College, 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd., 777-7755. 7:30 pm Saturday, April 5. $14-$37. Map

Oregon Symphony Circus Day

Speaking in his Satire X, the poet Juvenal famously asserted that the only things required to keep the Roman people happy were bread and circuses (panem et circenses). Bread—well, you’ll have to take care of that yourself. But the Oregon Symphony has a circus in store: It will be joined by tumblers from Oregon Gymnastics Academy and juggler Dave Clay for a day of musical acrobatics for kids. Circus-themed works to be performed include Fucik’s “March of the Gladiators,” Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Dance of the Tumblers” and Bamert’s “Circus Parade.” The performance will be preceded by a petting zoo and other activities in the concert hall lobby. JOHN MINERVINI. Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway., 248-4335. 1 pm Sunday, April 6. $8-$39. Map

Pacific Crest Wind Symphony

At this concert, directed by Dr. Edward Higgins, the orchestra will premiere a composition by local music teacher and composer Angelo Honjas titled “Legends of Paragon.” Other works on the program include Dello Joio’s “Scenes from the Louvre” and Holst’s “Jupiter.” JOHN MINERVINI. Prairie High School, 11500 NE 117th Ave., Vancouver., 360-885-5000. 7:30 pm Monday, April 7. $10-$15. Map

Willamette Concert Opera: Fidelio

After her husband, Florestan, is imprisoned for crimes of state, intrepid Leonora disguises herself as a messenger boy, Fidelio, and begins devising ways to free him. Beethoven’s only opera, Fidelio, is notoriously unkind to its singers, and it’s a bold choice for this semi-formal opera company. The show stars Eleanor Stallcop-Horrox as Leonora and Alvaro Ramirez as Rocco. JOHN MINERVINI. Scottish Rite Center, 1512 SW Morrison St., 332-2714. 6:30 pm Saturday, April 5. Free. Map

DANCE

Brazilian Caranaval

In times like these—when we’re pummeled with snow, rain and hail over the course of an hour—it’s tempting to dream of warm sands and non-waterproof clothing. Shut your eyes and let the rhythms of the southern hemisphere warm you at Portland State University’s fourth annual Brazilian Carnaval. That said, this is not the Brazil of the travel brochures; it’s a much broader swath of the country, featuring various forms of samba and the cartwheeling, martial arts-like capoeira, from both northeast and southern regions. First, watch the pros in action, with performances by the Afro-Cuban music and dance company Axé Didé, Maracatu group Baque Livre (featuring Brazlian singer/dancer Beto Guimaraes), Samba De Roda. Then everyone jumps in for a dance party propelled by the live music of The Lions of Batucada and Batuque. Food, beer and wine will be sold at the event. (Guimaraes teachs a maracatu class on 7 pm Thursday, April 3 and Ana Laidley teaches a samba class Friday, April 4 in PSU’s Stott Center, Room 207) HEATHER WISNER. Portland State University Smith Ballroom, 1825 SW Broadway., 7pm Saturday, April 5. Free. Map

Metro Dancers

The sooner children understand that we’re all mad here, the better. Metro Dancers, a troupe of classically trained young dancers whose repertory already includes the ballet chestnuts Coppelia and La Fille Mal Gardee, sets Lewis Carroll’s always-pertinent story in motion at a show appropriate to all age and sanity levels. HEATHER WISNER. Newmark Theatre, 1111 SW Broadway., 408-0604. 2 and 7 pm Saturday, April 5. $14-$20. Map

Miracle Theatre Group

Oyá is not someone you want to mess with. In Yoruban mythology, she’s a guardian of the dead and commander of the wind, with the power to unleash tornados, hurricanes and various other meteorological disasters. Miracle Theatre Group stages Oyá: Call the Storm, an Afro-Cuban folkloric dance-theater piece about Oyá’s battle with her own conscience after Iku, a deity of the underworld, challenges her to end rampant corruption by destroying the world. Cuban guest artists join Puerto Rican, Peruvian and Portlandian cast members in this piece, which is staged in English and Spanish, set to a recorded score by local musicians and choreographed by Freila Merencio Blanco. El Centro Milagro, 525 SE Stark St., 236-7253. 7:30 pm Thursdays, 8 pm Fridays-Saturdays, 2 pm Sundays through April 26. $15-$20. Map

Ten Tiny Dances

The moveable feast that is Ten Tiny Dances is celebrating six years and 15 episodes of dancing in small spaces, often in close proximity to food. This time, servers will dodge a 4x4 stage featuring contemporary dance and performance artists including Robin Conroy (performing a solo created for her by producer Mike Barber); BodyVox’s Lane Hunter, Mary Oslund/Tere Mathern regular Jim McGinn, dance and music collective Key Turn Project, and other new and repeat visitors. Clyde Common, 1014 SW Stark St., 997-7514. 7:30 pm Saturday, April 6. $15-18. Map

Urban Bush Women/Compagnie Jant Bi

Seven women from Brooklyn and seven men from Senegal have a very physical exchange in Les écailles de la mémoire/Scales of Memory. Urban Bush Women, locally known from previous White Bird appearances, created the work with new-to-Portland ensemble Compagnie Jant Bi, based on their artistic and cultural commonalities. UBW specializes in African-influenced movement and stories from the African-American experience (including the black lesbian vampire experience central to choreographer Jawole Willa Jo Zollar’s Bones and Ash: A Gilda Story). Jant Bi’s movement vocabulary is specifically West African, with ballet and modern-dance accents; founder Germaine Acogny is French-born Senegalese and knows full well about migration, integration and communication among cultures, which is what Scales of Memory is all about. African dance aficionados will recognize signature movements—swivel-footed jumps, arms flung back from arched torsos—as the piece progresses from solemn gathering to freewheeling party. Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway., 790-2787. 7:30 pm Wednesday, April 2. $20-50. Map