PIRATES! (OR, GILBERT AND SULLIVAN PLUNDER'D) | Pirates of the Caribbean? Yes! The Huntington Theatre Company has taken G&S's Cornwall-set musical and moved it to the New World, leaving the music intact but altering the book in the hope of putting a little zing back into the political satire. Can't wait to see what they do with "I am the very model of a modern major general." Gordon Greenberg, who directed earlier versions of the piece at the Goodspeed Opera House and the Paper Mill Playhouse, is at the tiller; the cast includes Anderson Davis as pirate apprentice Frederic and Farah Alvin as his beloved Mabel, a role she previously played at both Paper Mill and Goodspeed. | Boston University Theatre, 264 Huntington Ave, Boston | 617.266.0800 | May 15–June 14 | Curtain 7:30 Mon [May 18] | 7:30 pm Tues [no May 26] | 2 pm [May 27, June 10] + 7:30 pm [7 pm May 20] Wed | 7:30 pm Thurs | 8 pm Fri | 2 pm [no May 16] + 8 pm Sat | 2 pm [no May 17] + 7 pm [May 31] Sun | $20-$82; $5 senior, military discount; $10 BU community discount; $25 patrons 35 and younger, with ID; $20 back row of balcony; $15 student rush, two hours before curtain, with ID
NOW PLAYING
THE BACCHAE | Whistler in the Dark theater company takes on Euripides's tragedy, in which a celebration of the wine god gets way out of hand. Meg Taintor directs a translation by Northeastern professor Francis Blessington. | Boston Center for the Arts, Calderwood Pavilion, Rehearsal Hall A, 527 Tremont St, Boston | 617.933.8600 | Through May 17 | Curtain 7:30 pm Thurs | 8 pm Fri | 3 + 8 pm Sat | 3 pm Sun | $25; $15 students; two for one StageSource members Wed
BETTER OFF DEAD | Village Theatre Project serves up company member Shawn Sturnick's play about a playwright whose new work gets terrible opening-night reviews — but then he reported as having died in a freak accident, and everybody wants to see the play. He's not dead, of course, but there are those who'll be happy to arrange his demise if his reappearance has an adverse effect on ticket sales. | Boston Center for the Arts, Plaza Theatre, 527 Tremont St, Boston |www.vtpboston.org| Through May 16 | Curtain 7:30 pm Thurs | 8 pm Fri | 2 + 8 pm Sat | $35
BUNBURY: A SERIOUS PLAY FOR TRIVIAL PEOPLE | Tom Jacobson's "seriously clever metatheatrical comedy" goes all Stoppard on us by bringing minor (or imaginary) characters from classic drama to the forefront. "Tired of being swept to the sidelines of drama, Bunbury, Algernon's off-stage friend from The Importance of Being Earnest, and Rosaline, Romeo's off-stage first love, are determined to make an impact." Barlow Adamson and John Edward O'Brien are at the helm of this Mill 6 Collaborative production. | Factory Theater, 791 Tremont St, Boston | 866.811.4111 | Through May 17 | Curtain 8 pm Thurs-Sat | 3 pm Sun | $17 in advance; $20 at the door
