Theater Minis

OPENING

• Les Liaisons Dangereuses — Actors’ Theatre of Washington. The Vicomte de Valmont and the Marquise de Merteuil form an unholy alliance and turn seduction into a game — until they discover mysterious rules they cannot understand. 8 p.m. Opens tomorrow at the Source Theater. 800/494-8497.

• The Persians — Scena Theatre. A modern version of Aeschylus’ play, where the action shifts from Persia to modern-day Iraq and asks Americans to question their views of a recently defeated foe. Opens tonight. 703/684-7990.

• Peter Pan — Wolf Trap Filene Center. In her farewell tour as Peter Pan, Tony nominee and two-time Olympic gymnast Cathy Rigby takes flight on the 100th anniversary of this immortal tale. Opens Tuesday.8 p.m. Information, 703/938-2404. Tickets, 703/218-6500.

NOW PLAYING

• The Beauty Queen of Leenane Keegan Theatr—e —.*** relationship between an elderly woman and her middle-aged daughter in the west of Ireland is taken to grotesque and funny extremes in this highly charged production of Martin McDonagh’s play. Don’t expect charming, colorful storytellers. The people are loony, vindictive or majestically lazy. The humor, though abundant, is black. This is a macabre character study written with an acid-dipped pen — and since Mr. McDonagh seems to have no sympathy for his characters, neither does the audience. That means they can just sit back and savor the spectacle of them railing against the misery that is their lives. Through July 23 at the Church Street Theater. 703/527-6000. Reviewed by Jayne Blanchard.

• Central Park West/Riverside Drive — Theater J — ***. Woody Allen’s two one-act plays prove that Mr. Allen may be an icon of urbane, New York Jewish intellectualism, but beyond his image as a tweedy, bespectacled jazz buff who quotes Kirkegaard lurks a potty-mouthed clown just itching for a little song, a little dance, a little seltzer down his pants. Zestily directed by Steven Carpenter, these find the playwright as funny and frantically neurotic as ever, with a gleefully randy side. The audience is convulsed with laughter. Through July 24 at the District of Columbia Jewish Community Center. 800/494-8497. Reviewed by Jayne Blanchard.

• James and the Giant Peach — Imagination Stage — **1/2. Roald Dahl’s book about a lonely, mistreated boy who grows a magic peach that takes him from home in England to New York is a storybook favorite, and David Wood’s adaptation is workmanlike. But even good direction and an adept cast can’t overcome its pallid, forgettable songs, static staging and clunky special effects. Much of the magic has gone missing. Through Aug. 14. 301/280-1660. Reviewed by Jayne Blanchard.

• Lady Windermere’s Fan — The Shakespeare Theatre — ***. — Oscar Wilde’s satire of upper-class rules, his first comedy, shows him at his wittiest as a highborn and cosseted young lady is tempted to infidelity and snatched just in time from scandal and disgrace. The mannerly and genial production looks refined, elegant and moneyed. Directed like a well-executed dance step by Keith Baxter, it’s funny and glib but lacks the heart and unexpectedly touching nuances found in other productions. Through July 31. 202/547-1122. Reviewed by Jayne Blanchard.

• The Last Five Years — Metro Stage — ***1/2. Tracy Lynn Olivera and Jane Pesci-Townsend have teamed up for this intimate, affecting chamber musical that charts the arc of a marriage from first kiss to breakup. Miss Pesci-Townsend directs expertly and Miss Olivera plays the lead, as an aspiring actress who falls in love with a wunderkind writer (Mark Bush). The couple tells their story from different angles and through song, only pairing once at their wedding — for an impassioned duet. Otherwise, the musical is a searing “he said/she said,” as the woman moves from devastated wife back to hopeful girlfriend and the man unravels from an exultant wooer to spent husband. The conceit is an inspired one, lending a bittersweet air to a musical that could have been a conventional dissection of a modern relationship and marriage. Through July 24. 800/494-8497. Reviewed by Jayne Blanchard.

• The Lion King — France-Merrick Performing Arts Center — ****. Director Julie Taymor’s brilliant stage adaptation of the Disney animated movie brings the entire African savannah to pulsing, heat-struck life through the use of African masks, headdresses, textiles and puppetry ranging from traditional marionettes and life-sized animal figures to bunraku and shadow puppet forms. The vibrantly beautiful musical is as visually and musically dazzling as it was when it premiered in 1997. Artistry, spectacle, a terrific score and a talented acting ensemble all combine to make it that rarest of beasts, a perfect musical. Through Sept. 4 at 12 N. Eutaw St., Baltimore. 410/547-7328. Reviewed by Jayne Blanchard.

• Take Me Out — Studio Theatre — ***1/2. Richard Greenberg’s heart-shaped tribute to the diamond follows the seismic ups and downs of the fictional world champion New York Empires in a baseball season fraught with drama — as the team’s superstar center fielder reveals to the press that he is homosexual. The performances are excellent, but Rick Foucheux wins the MVP award for his exultant, endearing turn as a homosexual accountant and schlubby, Johnny-come-lately baseball fan, a portrayal so memorable it sticks in the mind even more than the full nudity of the locker-room scenes. Through July 24. 202/332-3300. Reviewed by Jayne Blanchard.

• La Tragedie de Carmen — Olney Theatre Center — **1/2. Peter Brook’s 1981 adaptation of Bizet’s tragedy is so stripped of romanticism and operatic trappings that it begins in dirt and ends in the dirt. Director Jim Petosa gives us a bracing, boot camp version of the voluptuous classic, but what’s left after Mr. Brook strips the 1845 opera to the bone is a smattering of famous arias and familiar music and plenty of squalor. Not one speck of romantic idealism or sensuality remains, only the clawing machinations of a prostitute who lives off the meager largesse of men. And when Don Jose stabs Carmen in the back we are not so much shocked as relieved. Through Sunday. 301/924-3400. Reviewed by Jayne Blanchard.MAXIMUM RATING: FOUR STARS